To entertain myself while I'm sidelined from the housing market, I've been reading articles from the late 70's and early 80's to try to imagine what buyers back then felt like :) I'm pretty impressed with Money's digitization effort!
https://money.com/archives/1980s/1980/march/bottom-dollar-for-a-tip-top-house/?ref=/now-and-then-1980-this-isnt-the-first-tough-housing-market-weve-faced/When it comes to buying a house, Tom and Maryann Byrne are a pair of shrewd Yankee traders. Last October, the Byrnes, both Boston schoolteachers, purchased the 1840 Pembroke, Mass, farmhouse at right for $6,900 less than the $79,900 that the seller was asking. As part of the deal, they also persuaded him to throw in two adjacent acres and to accept a $15,000 second mortgage at 10% interest instead of a full down payment. “We got a bargain,” says Tom Byrne.
Imagine a magazine hiring a home inspector for a story!
It's a small reassurance to know that homebuying has always been an emotional journey, even at half the price (median household income adjusted :)...)
Question:
In shopping for any house — new or used — the best sources of information may be the next-door neighbors. If the builder cut corners, if the local schools are a mess or the garbage pickup sporadic, you can expect them to complain.
Is it okay or normal to ask the neighbors about their houses before you make your offer...? Obviously, today, you just probably won't have time - but I'm a first time buyer partially waiting for a less frantic market so I can take more precautions and make fewer (or no) concessions.
