In search of a "fixer upper" on a budget
My family and I are struggling to find housing. We have lived here most of our adult lives (now in our 40's), but have always rented and skated by with little space and being in the right place at the right time. Given the rental market, we are considering whether purchasing a home might make more sense for us financially, and we have some savings to assist us in this effort.
BUT....We have a specific number that we can spend (well well below "market rate" at $500,000), and are looking for a "fixer upper". My husband is a carpenter, and I have previous experience fixing up a home. We would prefer not to go through a realtor in order to save the commission (I'm sure that there are many sellers who would also prefer this!), but I have no idea how or where to find potentially interested parties. It occurred to me that the BPN forum might be a good venue for doing so. I browse Zillow and other online sources, but never see anything within our price range. We are open to *all* neighborhoods in the inner East Bay area, but especially Oakland, as that is our "home base." Our one major requirement is that there is outdoor space! Shooting for the moon, perhaps, but it never hurts to ask. We are really hoping not to have to leave the area!
Please contact me if you have any leads, ideas, or are looking to sell your home in need of some love! Thank you!
Parent Replies
Sorry to be a downer, but can only confirm what your own research is telling you. Nothing, even small "fixer uppers", is listed at below $649,000 now (unless you move out maybe to Manteca, which people do!), so we imagine that only if you were blessed enough to find someone who specifically wanted to "donate" (sell at below retail, just to you) would $500,000 find you anything. It is so tough now. Best of luck in your decision.
#1: you do not pay anything to realtors, either yours or theirs. When we bought our home in 2012, we had an arrangement with our realtor that if we bought below a certain purchase price, that we would pay her a fair rate for her time and effort. We did not buy such an inexpensive house, so her excellent services to us were free.
#2: your realtor is there to make sure everything is done well, legally, and that you are best represented in this major, legal exchange. I would highly recommend that you get an excellent realtor. We interviewed several before finding someone who was excellent (thanks to BPN reviews, actually!) and we would have had a very different experience with any other realtor. Ours made the process go smoothly and efficiently and with the lowest possible stress, we have since seen and heard horror stories of realtors who screwed up deals by being irritating, unprofessional, messy and turning in paperwork with excessive errors, not fully representing their clients well, etc. So choose wisely.
#3 your best bet for getting a good deal is being flexible on where you live. Explore towns a lot - this helped us find a great town that we still love, and a home that we adore. You won't get a great home in Berkeley for that price, but there are some nearby towns where that may be attainable.
#4 I'm happy to share our success story if you want to contact me. Good luck!
You may be able to find something in San Leandro. A friend lives there and said it's affordable.
I would check out fixers in Hayward, Benicia, Rodeo, Crockett, Pinole, Martinez, Pittsburg; maybe Castro Valley or SL might be an option. Once you find a community you like, I agree with the other respondents, that your best bet is to officially work with a realtor based there who will help you land the deal. Or, try moving out of the Bay Area entirely. You can buy a nice McMansion in Redding! But it's a little different than Oakland. :)
Forgot to say that as the buyer, you don't pay the realtor's commission. The seller pays it to his/her agent, who then splits it with your agent. So it REALLY does you no good to try to bypass having your own realtor.
We were very priced out of Berkeley, where we were renting, and bought a house in Hercules with nice outdoor space. We have been very happy with this family friendly town and have no regrets. There are plenty of houses in the 5-6 range and I imagine a fixer would go lower. Pinole is also in this range, prices are lower there than Hercules.
I know you said you want to stay in Oakland but with you budget it is very tough. Have you checked out the city of Richmond? There are still sub $500k houses in the flatlands. For sale by owner is very rare in the bay area markets that I've been following because sellers are pretty savvy and know they will get top dollars when their house hits the open market. Plenty of buyers and not enough inventory.