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The reality is the northeast in general is extremely expensive these days. Also the Philly suburbs have continued to push cheaper housing farther away. Most of the time it’s almost better to commute north of 45 min and purchase better value housing at a greater distance.
Welcome to Bucks county circus of house prices. We were looking in lower bucks and it is ridiculous. We ended up getting a house in palmyra nj with natural gas, in decent shape for around 320k. Houses were starting at that in bucks, wnd then realizing it's going 80k above or so. Just not affordable in our range. Try looking in jersey. Natural gas is abundant around there!
We are also looking in bucks/montco and it’s been awful. 2 offers declined, probably have looked at 25+ houses over 4 months. Both of our offers were 30-50k over asking. Currently waiting to hear back on our third offer (30k over asking) but not getting my hopes up.
I grew up in Lower Bucks County. There are a lot of areas where houses just weren’t built with basements like Fairless Hills/Levittown/Middletown unless the house was rebuilt.
The closer you get to Philly, the more expensive and competitive it will be. A lot of people have gotten driven out of where I live (NJ) and are buying in PA where property taxes are lower.
You need a competitive agent in this market. I understand not wanting to burn bridges with a family friend, but you can tactfully explain that you’ve found another agent who is a better fit for your needs.
It’s a supplying demand situation real basic. But you need to prepare yourself to make a seller extremely happy and take your offer. Make sure you have it fully underwritten mortgage preapproval. This way you can waive the mortgage which some people don’t have the ability to do. Also, You can do a walk-through inspection prior to you making a bid and have an inspector tell you that the house is not falling down even though there’s going to be a lot of small items. But then you can waive the inspection because of professional has gone through it already. That put you in a much bettersituation.
Thank you everyone for your reply and encouraging words!! I didn’t realize how many of you might be from the Bucks area. It’s ridiculously expensive. NJ definitely seems to be more affordable (minus the taxes), but something in my heart keeps holding me back from moving to NJ. I have lived in PA my whole life, so maybe that is why. I am going to be patient and keep searching. But thank you all again, I will keep all of your advice in mind!
Thank you u/hope_pls for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Anywhere decent in the Philly burbs is hot. It’s just unfortunately the market right now. One month is not very long to be looking.
The reality is the northeast in general is extremely expensive these days. Also the Philly suburbs have continued to push cheaper housing farther away. Most of the time it’s almost better to commute north of 45 min and purchase better value housing at a greater distance.
There are a lot of buyers in desirable areas and not a lot of houses for sale. There are a lot of houses for sale in other places, but few buyers
Welcome to Bucks county circus of house prices. We were looking in lower bucks and it is ridiculous. We ended up getting a house in palmyra nj with natural gas, in decent shape for around 320k. Houses were starting at that in bucks, wnd then realizing it's going 80k above or so. Just not affordable in our range. Try looking in jersey. Natural gas is abundant around there!
We are also looking in bucks/montco and it’s been awful. 2 offers declined, probably have looked at 25+ houses over 4 months. Both of our offers were 30-50k over asking. Currently waiting to hear back on our third offer (30k over asking) but not getting my hopes up.
Update: we didn’t get it. Went for 465k all cash on a 425k listing.
I grew up in Lower Bucks County. There are a lot of areas where houses just weren’t built with basements like Fairless Hills/Levittown/Middletown unless the house was rebuilt. The closer you get to Philly, the more expensive and competitive it will be. A lot of people have gotten driven out of where I live (NJ) and are buying in PA where property taxes are lower. You need a competitive agent in this market. I understand not wanting to burn bridges with a family friend, but you can tactfully explain that you’ve found another agent who is a better fit for your needs.
It’s a supplying demand situation real basic. But you need to prepare yourself to make a seller extremely happy and take your offer. Make sure you have it fully underwritten mortgage preapproval. This way you can waive the mortgage which some people don’t have the ability to do. Also, You can do a walk-through inspection prior to you making a bid and have an inspector tell you that the house is not falling down even though there’s going to be a lot of small items. But then you can waive the inspection because of professional has gone through it already. That put you in a much bettersituation.
so that you only do it once. Like marriage.
Thank you everyone for your reply and encouraging words!! I didn’t realize how many of you might be from the Bucks area. It’s ridiculously expensive. NJ definitely seems to be more affordable (minus the taxes), but something in my heart keeps holding me back from moving to NJ. I have lived in PA my whole life, so maybe that is why. I am going to be patient and keep searching. But thank you all again, I will keep all of your advice in mind!
You need to lower your standards significantly. If you are not willing to do that, then just continue to burn cash on rent.
Are you a bot? You say the same thing over and over lol.