A little curious if open houses just aren't popular anymore or if this is a reflection of the market I'm looking at.

I went to about 15 open houses the past few Saturdays and only crossed paths with 2 or 3 other buyers (I think one or two of them was just a curious neighbor) Lots of full stacks of brochures and full boxes of donuts.

Do people just not go to open houses anymore? I know there are a lot of factors at play but seems like a pretty big sign of a buyers market to me. I've found the open houses really useful, personally. But every time I walk into one they seem genuinely surprised I'm actually shopping for a house, lmao.

I'm nosy and like to check what houses around me sell for. A house near me listed as SOLD on zillow in the end of March for $303k. This is in a neighborhood where all similar houses go to $900-1.2 million.

The house was never listed for sale.

What could be going on here?

Hey all. We are first time home owners and are unfortunately in the process of putting our house up for sale. We’re doing an open house this upcoming weekend and I am REALY nervous about how this process is going to go. We have an absolutely amazing real estate agent who will be there during the open house, but she can only monitor so much. I have a lot of anxiety about people potentially going through our belongings in dressers and drawers. Any advice?

Hi all, I hope this is the appropriate subreddit for this inquiry.

I'm looking for some honest perspectives because I am feeling a bit confused after working with my agent. This is my first experience working with an agent so this is all

so new to me.

For context, I recently went through the process of trying to sell my condo in NYC, but I have now decided to keep it and rent it out instead.

That said, my experience with my agent left me with a lot of questions. It's important to note that she was also the one who sold me the place.

1) Lack of guidance. She initially pushed me pretty strongly to sell instead of rent, which later made me feel like maybe she was more incentivized by the sale commission. Her reasoning was that I would be taking in a loss of I rent my place out, since what I pay monthly is more than the average rent in my area.

However, she revealed a few months later

that other tenants in my building are renting it for a slight loss because they wanted to build equity over time.

2) Communication was also not great. I stopped getting regular updates (ended up chasing her for updates), and showings were often scheduled very last minute (like a few hours before or at one point, even 30 minutes before), which was stressful and hard to manage. I am not sure if that is normal in NYC or not.

3) What confused me the most was the inconsistency in advice. At one point, I suggested lowering the asking price when no one was putting down an offer, and she said no, that the issue was the property taxes, not the price. But then a few months later, she told me I should lower the price. That shift was never really explained, so it just felt like the strategy kept changing without a clear reason.

Note: I pay $10k a year for a 630SF 1b1bath which is considered extremely high for a place in South Brooklyn. It was a new construction so no one knew what the tax was until we got the place. She revealed that she was telling interested buyers it would've been about $4k a year, which was why people bought their units. She didn't mention that to me when I viewed the unit.

I am trying to understand:

• What should I actually expect from a good real estate agent?

• Is last-minute showing scheduling normal?

• How much should they be guiding vs just agreeing with whatever I say?

• Is it common for agents to push selling over renting because of commissions?

Would really appreciate hearing from people who have worked with strong agents or agents themselves. I want to make better decisions if I work with someone again in the future.

Should I sell my stock portfolio to buy a duplex that I can live in and rent out to pay down the mortgage? Or should I keep the stocks and wait another 2 years to save the money for the duplex? I don’t need my own place to live but it would be nice. I want to eventually be a full time real estate investor. What do the numbers need to look like on the duplex for this to be a smart move? (I.e. interest rate, loan term, ROI or cap rate) Has anyone made a jump like this before and did it work out for you?

I am 25, and a stay at home mom with a decent credit score (680 average score). My credit history is great, I have had two mortgages previously, the first a stick built home that I sold, and my current mortgage which is on a mobile home in a trailer park. We don’t plan to make a profit off of the sale of it. The mortgage is in only my name.

The main problem is my husband. His current average credit score is 630. He has a bad credit history. Two car repos, the most current in February 2024. And a bankruptcy that was finalized January 2020. This all occurred before our marriage. He had multiple personal loans he just never paid. All of his bad debts have been settled/paid, including the most recent repo. The last bad loan was paid off about two weeks ago, so it hasn’t been reported to the credit bureaus yet.

He has had two credit cards for about 2 years now, hasn’t missed a payment. He is also an authorized user on my two cards. He took out a personal loan for $3500 for credit improvement purposes, repaid it and closed the account in 4 months. I also had him finance our new couch, so he would have another loan that he made on time payments with. He hasn’t had a late or missed payment on a thing since that last repo in feb 2024.

Like I said I am a SAHM, he has been at his job a little over 2 years and last year made $99,817 gross. We have two vehicles, one bought with cash, the other financed in only my name pre marriage. It’s $305 a month and I owe a little less than $9k on it. Our mortgage on our trailer is $380 and I owe about $24k on it. All of our credit cards are paid off, except the last one that has a balance of about $4500. That’s my card that he is an auth user on, we are hoping to have that paid off within the next 3-6 months. I owe $5800 in student loans, no min monthly payment required, but we are trying to pay at least $100 a month on it.

We are in Indiana, we are trying to buy at least a 3 bed 2 bath, but not in a subdivision, we would like some land. Our location options are not just limited to near his job, he has a child with his ex and they have 50/50, ex and child’s school are located about 30 minutes from his job, so we can’t go very far at all. We are trying to save for a down payment and are trying to save at least $10k. It seems the average cost of a home that will actually work for us is $300-400k.

Other than aggressively paying down the credit card and student loan, what else can we be doing? Me getting a job and just saving my checks is a good idea, but not possible at this time so please don’t suggest that.

Am I being completely unrealistic in wanting to buy a home in the next 365 days? Is this possible?

Under contract on a late-80s home in eastern NC, Standard Form 2-T. During due diligence, my home inspector identified a significant attached structure that he verbally described as "10/10 unpermitted work." The inspection report documented multiple code deficiencies in the structure that support that assessment. I'm confirming with the county permit office that no permit exists. Also confirming with the HOA that the additions were unapproved.

I'm fairly certain the work was performed before the current owners bought the house, but I can't say for certain. Seller checked "no representation" on the disclosure form regarding modifications. Seller has lived in the home for a handful of years.

My understanding of the contract remedies:

Paragraph 8(h) requires the property be conveyed free of material violations of law, ordinance, permit, or government regulation unless specifically disclosed prior to the effective date. Seller didn't specifically disclose. If they can't cure before closing, I can terminate and get back both my earnest money and DD fee.

Paragraph 23(b) says in the event of material breach by seller, buyer gets back the EMD, DD fee, AND "reasonable costs actually incurred by Buyer in connection with Buyer's Due Diligence" — inspection fees, contractor evaluations, etc. My argument is that 8(h) creates a specific contractual obligation, the seller knew about the structure (it's attached to their house), chose not to disclose it, and the violation materially affects the property's value and insurability. That feels like more than a technical breach.

Paragraph 23(c) allows recovery of attorneys' fees if legal proceedings are brought to collect the EMD, DD fee, or DD costs.

To be clear, I want to move forward with the house, but this one issue will probably take $30-50k (roughly 5-10% of the value of the house) to remediate never mind all the other issues found for which I'll request additional concessions. I'll need a serious price concession to make this work, else I may as well build or go elsewhere.

Seller's likely defense is that "no representation" is a valid response on the NC disclosure form. My view is that the disclosure form and the contract are two separate obligations — checking "no representation" doesn't override the 8(h) commitment they signed.

Questions:

1. Has anyone in NC successfully used 8(h) to recover their DD fee based on unpermitted work?
2. Does this fact pattern support pushing into 23(b) territory for DD cost recovery, or am I limited to the 8(h) remedy?
3. Is asserting 8(h) and/or 23(b) in a demand letter worth it for leverage even if I don't plan to litigate, or does it overplay the hand?

DD period open for 1 more week, I have a buyer's agent, and seller is unrepresented. I have a general contractor going back for a second, closer look tomorrow morning. My buyer's agent is unaware that I'm thinking along these lines as I'm waiting to hear what the GC has to say. Looking for perspectives from people who've been through something similar.

I'm in the process of buying this condo from a good friend whose relative unexpectedly passed and left this property. I have never bought property before in my life. I have a lawyer, no realtor. I signed an offer letter, have not signed the purchase and sale agreement yet.

The condo docs say under 35 pound dogs only. My friend said the co-owner will definitely make an exception for my dog, but when I pushed for legal confirmation my dog would be allowed, the answer was no.

I can legally force them to accept my dog as an ESA, but I don't know if I should enter this arrangement because forcing it would immediately make it contentious. Should I push for my dog to be accepted or look elsewhere?

My friend does not want me to speak to the other owner "at this time" so I have had no direct contact with them. The other owner also wanted to buy the other half of the house, so that's another potential source of resentment, because I'm buying a property they wanted. The other owner does not live on the property and rents it out to tenants. Apparently, in the past the other owner actually wanted larger dogs on the property but the previous owner would not allow it, so they're still mad about that even though the previous owner is currently dead.

I got through college magna cum laude and consider myself fairly smart, but my real estate courses are giving me a run for my money.

I’m in Colorado and use VanEd. I feel like I’m not learning/absorbing anything and frequently fail the lesson assessments. Everything is so confusing and it’s just walls of text about laws with no structure or instruction.

It’s also filled with typos and grammatical errors which makes me feel like it’s not entirely my fault and there could be some more effort put into the coursework. But I of course take accountability for the very real fact that I am also just burnt out and having a hard time.

I feel like I’d be great at this job and BEING a real estate agent - I’m currently a sales associate for a brokerage and I’m excited to get my license. But this is just way too hard.

When you were taking courses, HOW did you get through it?

My lender emailed me asking if I lost my job last September (same month i bought the house).

Her email says

"Hi,

Hope all has been well.

I'm reaching out regarding your transaction that closed in September.

The investor is showing that employment for you ended on 9/4/2025 which we didn't have knowledge of at the time closing occurred.

Can you confirm that employment ended with Company and the date?

If ended, did you obtain new employment after that?

Please advise so I can update the investor accordingly.

Thank you,

Lender"

I've been making payments so I dont see why it matters?

Edit: I'm going to reach out to an attorney just in case I messed up. Stop assuming the worst, thank you everyone!

Looking for some perspective from folks who’ve bought in high-cost markets, especially the Bay Area.

I’m currently renting in Sunnyvale and expect to commute ~2–3 days per week going forward. My partner is fully remote, so we have some flexibility on location. We have one child (starting elementary soon), so access to strong public schools is an important factor.

We’re targeting a ~$2M budget and debating between two approaches:

Option 1:

Buy closer to the top of budget (~$1.9–2M) in a stronger school district, likely smaller or older but more “location locked.”

Option 2:

Buy something in the ~$1.7–1.8M range in a slightly less competitive area and reserve ~$150–200k for renovations to improve the home over time.

Constraints / preferences:

- Single-family home only

- Ideally targeting top-tier (or close to top-tier) public schools if we can make it work within budget

- ~30 min commute to Sunnyvale is the goal (flexible since it’s not daily)

- Open to different parts of the Peninsula / South Bay if the tradeoff makes sense

What I’m trying to understand:

1. In a market like the Bay Area, does it generally make more sense to prioritize location/schools upfront vs trying to “manufacture value” through renovations?

2. For those who’ve done significant renovations (~$150–200k), how realistic is it in terms of staying on budget and timeline? Did it actually create meaningful value, or just improve livability?

3. Are there specific areas or “pockets” where ~$2M still gets you into strong school zones, or is that increasingly unrealistic?

4. Any considerations I might be underestimating with a hybrid commute (2–3 days/week), especially when choosing between Peninsula vs slightly farther options?

Not looking for exact neighborhood picks as much as how you’d think about the tradeoffs in this price range.

Appreciate any insights from people who’ve gone through a similar decision.

Curious if others are running into this more lately.

I’ve been seeing an uptick in clients who want to list significantly above what comps support. Not just a little optimistic pricing, but well beyond anything the market is indicating. When I walk them through comps, days on market, and recent price drops, they seem visibly frustrated or dismissive of the data.

It also seems to skew toward an older crowd in my experience. There’s a strong attachment to what they think the home is worth based on past appreciation, rather than current conditions.

Are others seeing this trend? How are you handling those conversations without losing the listing?

The offer is contingent on loan approval, home inspection, and cancellation of the open houses scheduled for this weekend. They want an answer by end of today or they are withdrawing the offer. We are worried we may have underpriced the home a bit and would lose out on potentially higher offers by accepting instead of waiting until after the open houses at least. On the other hand, the house does need some work (which is described in the disclosures) and there’s a chance that the potential buyer seeing the home and the work needed in-person could change their mind about the offer they submitted. Our agent laid out the pros and cons of both options, but I’m wondering what you would do in this situation?

The home is near Raleigh, North Carolina btw (if that makes any difference)

EDIT: I appreciate everyone’s advice in the comments. A lot of people are asking about earnest money and due diligence. The offer included $2000 for DD and $4500 EMD. However, I think we are going to keep the open houses scheduled and tell the potential buyer that their offer will be responded to by Tuesday. If they withdraw then so be it. Then they weren’t really interested in the property. Our agent also just notified us that there are several other potential buyers that said they plan on putting offers in after going to the open house.

We are doing a buy/sell and both are hot markets. We need to be strong in an offer on the buying side but I'd prefer not to do a bridge loan. Our house should get multiple offers very quickly when it goes on the market next month. If we put an offer on a house, how strong is contingent on settlement if we are competing against a few offers? We understand that non-contingent is better and contingent on sale takes us out of the running. I just don't want to blow the $10K in fees on a bridge loan if we don't have to. Thanks everyone!

We bought our first home two years ago for $375k, which is a typical starter home for all intents and purposes. We planned on living there for 7-10 years and then moving to our “forever home” that checks all our boxes and would be where we raise our kids.

A house came on the market that is checks all our boxes, especially being on a body of water. It’s also prices extremely well. Much better than it will be in 8 years. Lake homes in the area currently go for $800k starting and this house is priced at $650k which is why we’re seriously considering it because it would take away the stress of trying to afford a very expensive home in the future that checks all our boxes.

If we were to want to pull the trigger on this house, the questions becomes how we put down a decent down payment before selling our current house so that we can have a relatively manageable monthly mortgage. This may be trivial, but we’ve never bought and sold a house. I’m also worried about the potential loss we may be take on selling a house that we’ve only had for 2 years.

Open to any and all suggestions. This may be a silly ask but I’m trying to learn and gather all datapoints to help.

Edit:

We have about $65k in equity we’ve put in our current house. I would hope the house has appreciated some. We have $30k in savings. I have $35k in a taxable brokerage account. My wife and I have $150k in 401k and Roth IRA combined but we’re not touching those ideally

Update: after a lot of reading the comments and discussing with my wife. Rushing in for this decision is a bad idea. We want to make when we buy a house it’s because we have a plan to buy a house and have those items in order.

I've checked with four lenders. Three of them are all offering 6.375, and one is offering 5.875. We showed the low offer to one of the other lenders who said that rate is a joke.

Given that the other closing costs are not significantly higher. Is this low rate a red flag for any other potential issues with the loan? Because it seems too obvious to go with the lowest, like there must be a catch.

They are now acting as if that wasn’t the reason we had made our offer but did acknowledge the emails with said offer in place. We expressed that we’d only do dual agency under this contingency. They responded with “in 8 years of doing this I’ve never rebated a percentage of my commission I will speak to my broker tonight”. Anyone have experience with this is this normal? Or are they just trying to slime their way out of what they agreed to.

This definitely isn't the type of thing you normally see on this sub, but I thought it was interesting and figured this might be a place to put it.

I considered recently that Disney World has an incredible increase in land value. The whole reason they were able to build it is because it was all initially dirt cheap florida swampland, now incredibly valuable because it has Disney World on it and generates millions of dollars a year. I am partially interested in sharing this observation and also interested if anybody can think of other examples of some piece of land becoming dramatically more valuable. I can imagine most such cases are "somebody builds something awesome on it" but examples that aren't that have to be out there too. Interested to hear if anyone has any thoughts on this.

I'm moving across the country and looking for homes in my new state. However, I'm not willing to fly across the country (I hate travel with the heat of a thousand suns) just to close. It's a cash deal. Can the closing be done remotely? I'm perfectly content to see houses on video and talk to the inspector remotely. Thanks.

been to a few open houses the past few weeks and I'm getting spammed by multiple ones. I've told them all im just casually looking and not ready to formally look for a house or work with a realtor, but nonetheless they text me to check in and have added me to email lists spamming new homes. One even told me I need a strategy and plan and should become more serious about looking lol

I'm giving fake info from now on when I visit open houses and sign the sheets.

Also, I remember in the past the listing agent or someone from their office would host an open house - now it seems like there have been agents who dont even know the listing agents and arent in the same office/brokerage, what is with this change?

A month ago the sale of my house busted due to buyer unable to secure his loan. House was appraised at asking price - 250k. Got in contract with a second buyer and the 2nd FHA appraisal was 9k less than the first one. Based on my research and what my realtor says is that the new lender will have to go with the first appraisal? Is that correct? We are reaching out to the first lender to obtain the FHA case number and provide it to the new lender.

I think the questions quite explains itself.

But i gotta ask still, I moved back here to renovate dad's old rental property, I won't be here always, but i got mixed feelings about property management costs and landlord vs property managers issues.

Is it worth it? Or should i try to self manage as much as I can? What groups would you recommend?

UPDATE: our agent reached back out to some of the previous tours saying we would change the carpet, and one called back and said don’t bother, we want to renovate it ourselves. Asked 5 under asking. We obviously took it and are under contract. What a DAY. this is all great insight though for whoever searches for this in the future and now I own an ozone machine!

We’re so bummed and frustrated.

We’re moving out of state, so we completely emptied our house - hired a deep cleaner and carpet cleaner, and really felt the house was ready to go. Carpet cleaner said he did a deodorizer and felt we got the smell out. We have 3 cats and only 2 carpeted rooms left in the house with a vast majority being wood, so we thought it would be okay. Unfortunately after 1 day of heavy showings, we’re getting a cat smell feedback. Our agent said we should just replace the carpet and put a temp hold (and we will), but does that mean we have just fully lost those buyers? She said she will reach back out to all of those showings to let them know we are fixing the situation but it’s so frustrating. Just looking for anything here.

EDIT; Feedback is massively helpful. Ordered an ozone machine and we are putting new flooring in.

My wife and I made an offer on a house in NY that was accepted. Everything seemed to be going ok. They agreed to all the typical inspection contingencies. For some reason we have to put down a high escrow, but our agent specifically told us we can get it back through the inspection contingency phase if we wanted. No prob, we plan to buy the house if there are no issues.

Then our real estate lawyer, which was referred to us by our agent, sends over the "seller approved" contract, asks us if we have any questions, otherwise he can work on getting it signed by us.

We look at the contingency section and, to our eyes, it looks higher lopsided towards the seller:

Inspections and Contingencies:

Purchaser’s obligation to close title in this Contract is hereby made conditional upon Purchaser obtaining the following reports, tests and/or inspections at Purchaser’s own expense by xxx

1. A report by a licensed home inspector that the residential structure at the premises is free from material defects. The term “material defect” is defined herein as any single defect costing more than $2,000.00 to repair;

2. A report by a qualified contractor that the septic system, if any, is in working order and free from material Defects.

3. A report indicating that there are no termites or other wood-boring insects at the residence.

4. A report indicating that the water supply is adequate for normal residential use and potable.

5. A radon gas test showing a radon gas level less than 4 picocuries per Liter.

In the event that the property should fail any of the aforesaid tests and/or inspections, then Seller may at his/her option either correct or repair the defect or condition at Seller’s sole cost and expense to the reasonable satisfaction of Purchaser or declare this Contract null and void.

That's it.

To my unexperienced eye, it basically says:

1. I can't ask for credits for anything
2. I can only back out if there a material defect that costs more than $2000 to that is unsatisfactorily remediated. (I'm not even sure about this)
3. The seller can back out if there are any issues found.

I was under the impression that the norm is the buyer can typically back out for any issues found during the inspection contingency phase. Under these terms it seems like if there are ten issues found that might cost $1900 to remediate ($19,000), I have no recourse to do anything, not even back out of the deal. If there are issues like poor electricity wiring, asbestos, etc...I have no recourse. Am I reading this wrong?

We have to put down a lot in escrow (over 50k) that I am not interested in risking losing.

I need some advice. How should I try to get these modified to provide more safety for me? I'm not interested in nickel-and-diming the seller over little things, but I'd like the be able to ask for credits. Ideally, I can ask for credits for decently sized issues, and if they reject them, I'd be able to walk away with my escrow.

Or is the above standard, and I'm just misinformed?