school me on buying an apartment

[patrick409]

Hi ATOT,

I'm planning on buying a condo early next year (prob Apr/May). Anyone bought recently and would like to share their experiences? School me on what I should know?

Some facts:

- location is Chicago (specifically somewhere in the Loop for the Chicagoans)
- 2BR apartment in a high rise, most likely constructed in the last few years
- I will have 20% down by the time I buy. Just saving up for the other things like furnishings/closing costs etc..
- I am single. Current plan is to stay there at least 8-10 years.


How flexible are sellers usually on the list price? I know there are a million factors involved, but maybe some people who have bought (or know someone who did) in the Chicago area can share a rule of thumb on what their offers were and where they finally settled?


Thanks

edit:

For numbers sake, I will be looking for a 2br apt costing roughly $300k

 

[Cal166]

-Agents are dime a dozen, s/he not doing what you asked, find another.
-Do not use the home inspector recommended by your agent.
-Always get at least 3 Good Faith Estimates and beat the each of them as much as you can to get it lower. Watch out for junk fees.

 

[The_Dude8]

how much is the HOA?
is there a mello roos?

sexy time with gf, will be heard by your neighbors.

 

[patrick409]

how much is the HOA?
is there a mello roos?

sexy time with gf, will be heard by your neighbors.

I had to google Mello Roos. This seems to be a California thing? I don't think Illinois does something similar, so I only have to worry about property taxes (around 1.5% for the apt I'm looking at).

HOA - Depends on the building I guess, but I'll use one specific condo I'm looking at for my numbers. The assessments are about $320 a month, and it covers doorman and all utilities except electricity(avg $25-50 a month for current residents).

Loud sexy time is not a problem. Walls are thick and building is concrete. You can't hear your neighbors unless you're really destroying the furniture.

 

[Blackjack200]

If you're not destroying the furniture you're doing it wrong.

 

[patrick409]

-Agents are dime a dozen, s/he not doing what you asked, find another.
-Do not use the home inspector recommended by your agent.
-Always get at least 3 Good Faith Estimates and beat the each of them as much as you can to get it lower. Watch out for junk fees.

I haven't looked into agents yet, but the condo I'm looking at was constructed in 2009 and I'd be buying a new unoccupied apartment directly from the realty company. Do you still recommend getting an agent? Or would talking directly to the realty company be more advantageous to me?

 

[Tiamat]

Because you are effectively doing most of the work for the agent (you already found the place you want), you can negotiate with the agent how much of their profit you can take. In my case, when I bought my house, my agent made 3% from the seller, and the agent agreed to give me 2 of the 3%. In addition, I got the seller to pay for me breaking my apartment lease 9 months ahead of schedule (8k$ credit). In addition, for going with the seller's prefered mortgage bank (major bank), I got almost all of the closing costs credited towards my principle.

You don't know until you ask. ymmv

BTW, I didn't tell the seller I had an agent until after all of the other credits were negotiated and it came up at the end of negotiations.