Meet today’s buyer: A saver steps up

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It’s always interesting to hear from recent buyers, and this e-mail caught my eye. Because the buyer is still in escrow, he asked that I refer to him as ‘West L.A. Buyer.’ Here’s his story:

‘I just wanted to give you and the L.A. Land blog my experience with my recent house purchase. My bid was recently accepted and I am in escrow right now.

‘To give you a little background on the kind of buyer I am, I saved roughly $120,000 over the past seven years. I saved it by driving a motorcycle and living in a one-bedroom apartment I sometimes shared. I got out of debt the first year and stayed out of debt, putting all my money into fairly conservative investments. Using that, together with some money from my parents and my fiancee, we were able to put down around 35 percent down on a $385,000 purchase.

‘I did wait as I saw the market going up a few years ago and I think now is a good time to buy. Let me caution, though, that the market out there is very mixed. I feel like I got a good deal on my place, but in many of my bids the seller was unwilling to negotiate much lower than their listing price.

‘I’ll give you an example. I put in a bid on a condo in West LA that was small -- only 800 feet, a one bedroom unit with a loft. I was attracted to the building because it had many amenities, gym, pool, etc. I noticed that other units recently sold for approximately $385,000 to $410,000. So I began the bidding process at $385,000. The seller was listing this unit for $499,000. They countered back at $495,000. Of course I stopped the bidding process and moved on.

‘I give you this example because I think the places available now are a mixed picture. I found some sellers responsive to a bidding process and willing to negotiate around prices that are the current market value. I also found many sellers, though, that still wanted very high prices and were not willing to negotiate.

‘For other buyers I would say move on if you find the seller non-responsive, as there are many sellers who are willing to negotiate.’

Thanks, West L.A. Buyer, and good luck.

-- Peter Viles

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
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