Sellers beware! Taxpayers too!

You're all aware that the real estate market in the U.S. is a crapshoot right now. It's a "buyer's market" in most places; it certainly was when Paris Hilton bought our house in Michigan last July. Still, we consider ourselves lucky that we didn't need to come to the closing with our checkbook (which is essentially paying someone to take your house from you). Paris didn't give us as much as we would have liked (I thought she was rich?), but we figured we would make it up when it was our turn to be the buyer, in the Philadelphia area.

The tables have turned. Well, sort of.

Philly, it turns out, is a "buyer's market" too, but not everywhere. We've found that sellers in the more desirable communities are getting pretty close to what they ask for. Seems like that's the story everywhere, not just Philly.

But the X-factor out here are the taxes. Think you're paying a lot in property taxes? Try $6000 to $7000 on for size. Yeah, ouch. That's what they are in most places around here. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, and it looks like Pennsylvania isn't too far behind. Delaware taxes are low, but that's a little bit of a haul.

So I said the tables have "sort of" turned. That's because we've been looking for a house in New Jersey. The taxes are high, but we really like the communities on this side of the river. The people here are very nice too. We decided to put down roots in the Garden State, and started looking seriously for a house in October. Since then we've seen many houses (probably about 100), and made offers on three of them so far. Here is a little bit about them:

Avondale Road,
Haddon Township

This house sits on a fairly busy corner in the Haddonleigh section of Haddon Township. We first came across it while driving around in October. It has three bedrooms and one and a half baths. The front of the house is stone and has a very rich looking exterior. It has a tiny backyard, but there is a good-sized side yard. And although this house sits or a corner, the landscaping makes it very private.

But the bathrooms, and especially the kitchen, needed updating, the windows probably needed to be replaced, and there was no A/C. Also, there was a mold remediation issue in the basement, and there was some evidence of termite damage.

We paid $70 for a contractor to come out and see the house. He said there were some issues, but overall it was a well-constructed house and an excellent opportunity. After taking this into consideration, we decided to make an offer on the house. The seller countered, but we were far apart on a final number. It didn't look like we were getting any closer to bridging the gap after a second offer and counteroffer, so we walked away.

Stockton Avenue,
Wenonah

Another corner house (why were we looking at corners?), but this one was a ranch. Not nearly as busy of a corner as Avondale. The house has three bedrooms and two full bathrooms, one of which was off the master bedroom. The best part about this house was the full, unfinished (and dry) basement. There was some work that needed to be done: the hardwood floors needed to be sanded, the kitchen needed updating, and one bedroom had to be taken down to the studs because it had paneling on the walls, but no drywall behind it. But overall this was a good house.

We made an offer just before Christmas, and the seller made a verbal agreement at that price. What happened after that gets complicated, but basically the seller changed her mind. She actually RAISED the price of the house, probably to avoid a "short sale" situation. There was also some confusion about what the house was assessed at with the boro. We were disappointed, but we decided it would be better to move on.

10th Street,
Haddon Heights

This was a 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom house in the boro of Haddon Heights. It's on a very cute street where all of the houses in the neighborhood are different and well-maintained. Amazingly, this house is not on a corner. There is a very big backyard, and the lot is about 200 feet deep. The basement is full and unfinished. The entire house is clean, and in move-in condition. The kitchen is from the 50s, but it is in good shape, has quite the retro look, and has (we later found out) coveted Youngstown brand cabinets.

There was some downside: No A/C, oil heat, and a HUGE sweet gum tree in the backyard. Not familiar with sweet gum? It's a real crowd pleaser. It's a fruit tree that makes hundreds of little brown balls with spikes on them. We had one in Michigan about a third of the size of this one.

We made an offer, and it was accepted. We then signed a purchase agreement. But the next day we decided to pull back on the offer because of several uncertainties: my ongoing job search, Jena's eye health, and the news that Countrywide was being purchased by Bank of America, and that the Federal Reserve had lowered interest rates. We decided that maybe it would be a smarter idea to wait another month or two and see what happens. We really liked this house, and the town, so it was a difficult decision to make. But I think we will eventually wind up in Haddon Heights.