Need help, Evaluate my deal: How much over home's asking price would you pay?
Hello, I'm in need of some help and I was hoping BP could give me some guidance.
I'm starting my family, and it's time for my wife and I to buy our first house. She's interested in a home-house in which we can live in, and have a good experience living in. (good neighborhood, good schools, good parks, etc.) I'm interested in those, but it's important for me to also build equity in the house from a financial standpoint. We've both decided we want to buy a house, that is a short sale, or REO property that needs some cosmetic updates (holes in walls, carpet and flooring needs changing, new kitchen and appliances are fine). But we want to buy a house under market value, so we can build some sweat equity while living in our home.
We've found a great 4bed 2.5 ba house in our area that's priced at 177k, and comps in the area are selling from the low to mid 200's. The Zestimate on the property is 230k (and I expect over the next few years, the value of this particular property will increase). It is an REO property that, from what we've seen, needs new kitchen appliances, counter tops, carpet upstairs, kitchen and laundry room flooring, and a new window, as well as some basic yard work (which we will do).
There is a problem though. The property has been on the market for only 6 days, and the bank is only taking offers til tomorrow night. Currently, there are 2 other offers on the properties. The bank will take the best offer, so I plan to go over the 177k asking price. So my question is: how much over the asking price should I go? And how can I calculate how much it'll cost to make the few known repairs?