How long did it take you to find/buy your first apartment?
Happy New Year, fellow Brownstonians! I’ve often lurked on this forum and found great advice about the nuts and bolts of apartment shopping and owning. My husband and I have been seriously looking to buy our first place for over 1 1/2 years. Off the top of my head I can think of 30 plus…
Happy New Year, fellow Brownstonians! I’ve often lurked on this forum and found great advice about the nuts and bolts of apartment shopping and owning.
My husband and I have been seriously looking to buy our first place for over 1 1/2 years. Off the top of my head I can think of 30 plus apartments that we’ve seen in the past 6 months and I know that there are likely more than that–after a while they all blend together a bit.
In the past 3 months we’ve really kicked our search into high gear and we’ve come very close to closing on several properties. 2 were accepted offers that we walked away from because of big red flags with our due diligence and one that we underbid b/c we thought the apartment was priced high for various reasons, but even in this supposedly slowing market someone else came in over asking. As the New Year begins, I’m trying to remain optimistic that we’ll find a place, but I can’t help feeling somewhat defeated by the whole process. I know that you have to see a lot and really get out there before you find your place, but it’s hard when you put so much effort into something and it always seems out of reach. How long did you search before you found your apartment?
Agree Zeebee My search happened in two phases. First, I spent a few months going to open houses. I was a little unsure about what I wanted to buy- I would guess that I saw approximately 50 places during this time. I put in a bid on one place and was outbid. I kept renting and then started looking after another year. By that time I had a really clear idea of what I want and what I would not negotiate on. Over a period of three months, I saw about fifteen apartments, bid on two, and bought one.
Both apartments I’ve owned were quick searches, a month or so. (Our house was a yearlong off-and-on search, but that’s a different situation). We knew what we wanted, we found it and we made aggressive first offers so the sellers took us seriously.
For the apartment searches, it helped us to make a list of non-negotiable criteria and eliminate any apartment that didn’t measure up. That way you don’t get sucked into a broker’s “if you’re willing to expand your search area to X neighborhood….if you can deal with a smaller living area in exchange for outdoor space…if you don’t really NEED a second bedroom…”. With a defined list of what you want, you shouldn’t be seeing more than 10 or 15 apartments, TOPS. If it’s not out there after those, stop looking for a few months, then start up again.
Agree with 8:18, we planned to look for 6 months but within 3 months and 20-25 apartments we finally found a place that works and were exhausted by the process.
Looking for a year and a half tells me you are indecisive and not really ready to pull the trigger on anything.
Sorry to tell you but your not going to buy anything . Your just way too picky a buyer .Then when you do find something you find a reason to get out of it 1 1/2 yrs is way too long .
Armchairwarrior makes sense, but still, don’t be scared off from placing offers on properties others are making offers on if you love it and it’s in your price range. It’s good to buy something that’s considered generally very desirable. However if there are no offers it doesn’t mean the property is a dog either. It could be the place isn’t showing well, and you see the potential better than most. Or, and this was the case for us, the photos were terrible on the RE listing. So hardly anybod was coming to the open houses. So if you see a listing in the price range and location you want and the photos suck – go look at it! Bad photos and/or no information on the listing like no floorplan reduce your competition. Lastly, do look in the price range that’s higher than what you are aiming for and if you love something, just keep an eye on it. Because if it doesn’t sell they may lower the price and you can be the first to snatch it up.
My apartment – one month, about the sixth place I saw in 1997. Was great, quadruple in value in four years.
My current house, two months, 8th place I saw in 2001. Like it, but probably could have done better at the time (location sucks).
Obviously I took very different approach than you guys. But best of luck!
@:55: Thanks for giving me hope! We’ll keep plugging.
clementine16: We’re also looking for a 1+ co-op or condo.
With one of the places we walked away from there were issues with the building financials, the sponsor and the apartment itself. With the other place we had an inspection and discovered there were a lot of things that needed to be addressed. The seller wouldn’t budge on the price and while we were willing to do the reno work, we couldn’t afford the price they wanted and the work that the apt needed.
From our experiences I’ve learned it’s really important to do your due diligence. Read those board minutes and get a good attorney who knows what they are doing. Good luck as you begin your search!
I am curious what you’re looking for- a co-op apt in a brownstone? how many bedrooms? etc.
The New Year brings the real beginning of our search for an apt – we will begin seriously looking in the next couple of weeks/months for a one + bedroom apt in a brownstone, hopefully we will find something in need of some work and not “renovated” to death. We’ve been watching the market closely for the past year and it looks like everything is at a standstill right now.
I am also curious – what were the red flags you mentioned. Any advice for newbies?
9 months and still searching. We’re not in a rush, so we’re willing to wait to find something that we consider special and that meets most of our needs as well as budget.