Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

We recently saw a house that is for sale by owner. The guy selling it is asking almost $100,000 less than what the other houses in that neighborhood just recently sold for. It's a fantastic deal but to be honest we're very skeptical. We have a lawyer but he does not yet. The situation is that it was his mother's house, she passed away and left the house to her 3 children. The father is still alive but in a nursing home. According to the seller, the father has no rights to the house (but who really knows if this is true).

We made a verbal offer but the guys wants to let it sit for a few more days. It SEEMS like he is wanting to get into a bidding war bc he has another similar verbal offer. We're concerned that he's just playing games to see how much he can get

Anyone buy a for sale by owner that can share their experience? I feel like we've had terrible luck with houses. We've lost 2 already and this one seems shady as well. Maybe it's not and we're just being cautious... Do for sale by owners usually take longer or more complicated? Just trying to get a feel for how this might play out.

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

He is asking 100k less than other houses in the area yet he is waiting for a bidding war to see what he can get?

Why wouldn't he just be asking more money. he couls have gone 50k less and been a better deal than most of the houses in the area. Does seem kind of weird to me. Does the house need a ton of work that he would be willing to price it that much lower than what the neighborhood warrants? I get pricing to sell but 100k less seems like a lot.

I would be weary.

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

Estate sales can be messy. Especially if there a are 3 children and each has to agree to sell sign contracts because if you negotiate with just 1 they might not all be on board. I say proceed with caution. Good luck!

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

Definitely proceed with caution!! If he has other siblings they're entitled to a decision on the sale of the house unless the house is in his name.

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

we bought our house this way but it was the woman(old lady who died)'s sister selling it. There were no other parties/children involved. it was less that other houses we had looked out that were through realtors, but it was also "as is" which meant furniture & all (even some of the old woman's cheapo jc penney jewelry & picture frames were left!!!)

we had no problems, but if i were you i would still proceed with caution. this sounds a little shady. our person accepted right away when we made an offer, & although she was a bit of a P I T A, it all worked out great.

I wouldn't rule it out, but def be careful!

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

Well BF called today to formally verbally make an offer of only $10,000 less than the asking price (and he made it known that contingent upon a contract, he would be willing to be flexible by $5,000). The guy pretty much was like "well you're my only offer but I'm going to let it sit until next week" He's playing games. BF and I are so done with games...we've lost 2 houses already to people playing games and trying to milk everything. It's so discouraging at this point. I'm ready to just walk away but unfortunately I dont think BF is. I guess we'll wait and see.

ETA: for spelling

Message edited 6/16/2011 12:55:22 PM.

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

i wouldn't give up so soon. we purchased a FSBO and i found that the guy was more willing to "let it sit" just because he wasn't a RE agent and thought/expected someone would walk in with more. the entire process after he accepted went very smoothly. he'll have to get an atty and after that the attys will work a lot of the stuff out.

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

Re: Has anyone purchased a for sale by owner?

My first house was a FSBO. The house was priced about $40k less than all of the similar houses for sale in the neighborhood and in the beginning I was convinced he was scamming us. I think if I had a realtorexplaining the process I would have felt better. I was pretty young and had no idea what I was doing.

But he didn't have to pay any realtor fees and he owned it outright and needed to sell it. He was just paying taxes on it and not living it so it was a waste of money in his eyes. If the guy is trying to get rid of the house bc it was his mother's he may just be pricing it low so it goes. It took DH's mother YEARS to sell her mothers house and ended up losing money. She would have been better dropping the price and selling it quickly.