If I had a nickle...

Kristal, you're not alone.

Naperville is a great city. Everybody wants to live here. In a 3 bedroom house with 2,000 square feet and a half acre lot for $200,000.

Well, folks. Not goin' happen.

1) We DON'T use square footage. Yes, that's right! Forget square footage.

2) Our lots routinely run 60-75 x 120-150. That's it. Most of the single family homes are in sub-divisions. And, they START realistically at $300,000.

3) And our property taxes are high!!! But, then again, our schools are TOPS and a large amout of our taxes are paying for those schools.

4) There are lots of nearby areas with less expensive housing. Just won't be Naperville.

I get calls/emails all the time wanting multiple acreage for under $200-300k... first, you're not going to even find 1 acre, muchless multiple acres or even 1/2 acre.  Dallas is just like almost every other metropolitan area where the houses are one after the other piled on top of each other...  I once had a buyer tell me that her son would never come visit if they didn't get at least 1 acre.  I guess he's not going to visit because they bought a track home last year...

Everyone knows Dallas is just farm land with acres and acres of land... not!

I get those too, but the issue is more about expectations rather than style.  One of the more recent ones was a couple moving here from Texas wanting a 2 bedroom house for $150,000.  Another, was in the market for a 1,000 sq ft downtown condo with water view for under $250,000.  Couldn't do anything for the TX couple but at least the condo guy was willing to adjust his requirements.

It's hard...I look forward to the relos, but I seem to be the bearer of bad news more than anything else.  

 

We get those same calls/emails over here on the Seacoast of New Hampshire as well.  Portsmouth, NH is a very popular town--a mini Boston or Portland, ME.  You can buy a $200-$300K home here but it isn't going to be downtown.  Try doubling or tripling that or more if you want downtown.  I do get lucky on occasion when I get someone from NY or CT looking for homes on the Seacoast and they are amazed at what they can get for the money vs. where they are now.  It really all depends on where people are coming from and the market they are currently in.  Big thing I do is explain to a client what they can get in surrounding towns to Portsmouth, NH.  For example, Dover, NH which is 15-20 mintues away and you can get way more bang for your buck.  We know our market and just need to explain it to others...good and bad.    

I seem to get a lot of the $50 an acre folks; nothing fancy, 20-50 acres, little cabin, "we don't mind doing a little work".

"Cash??, cash??, we don't got no steenkin cash, we get 120% financing". ;-)

One guy wanted me to send him a list of everything for sale within a 100 mile radius. He seemed puzzled when I told him I was only licensed in 1 state. ;-)

 

I particularly like the calls that want 1500 sf 2 bedroom/2 bath beachfront condo for under $300,000....  Cheapest listed right now is $795,000... Now I can get a lot closer to that $300,000 number if they reduce the number of bedrooms to 1 and sf to 500 -- then I have a great deal for $365,000!  The fun begins once they hear that!  

Kristal...can I have that cabin in your picture??? please, please, pretty please??? I'll get some spinning, blinkey, flashey things, please???

Ok, now here is the real story, send them our way. When you get those unreasonable people who want a great log home on acreage for under $300,000 we've got it. Check out this listing:  http://realfocus.kaarmls.com/view/default.asp?CacheID=4365203&v=2

Now,  this is not my listing, but I can certainly show it to your customers. Log house, Cumberland Plateau, 1.4 acres, drum roll please...county taxes per year "$493" that's per year folks!! Ok so it might go up a little for the new buyer...but not much!!

Call me, it's beautiful up here and the values are amazing!!

 

Goodness, I could get rich on the number of calls over the years I've had requesting a little log cabin in the woods, and for prices we just don't have here.  Miles and miles away from the areas I service, one might find something tucked away in the woods, but not right here on the coast of New Hampshire and southern Maine!

I will say we do have a log home scattered here and there in the outlying parts of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire market, but these are full-sized homes and they aren't tucked away in the woods like people dream about.

Maybe way up where the moose live.......

We don't get requests for log cabins - we get:

4 bedrooms, newer home, large lot, on the water for $200-300,000.

Dream on!

If it's just a web inquiry, we send a template answer of sorry, that's not available here - you could get that for $850,000 or you could eliminate the large lot and water, commute 45 minutes and find what you want for $350,000.

If they are serious and relocating, we send them two sets of possibilities - what they want, removing the price; and what their price will buy, removing their requests.  They do get the point. 

LOVE the cabin photo!

I frequently get relos, especially from the East Coast, that ask for an acre lot, trees, water view, 3000 sq ft, and willing to go up to $200-250! Ain't gonna happen! Criminee ... this is central Ohio!

I don't get requests for Log cabins but many requests from dreamers. I thought by putting prices on my website and a minimum on my form I would stop getting requests for 2 bedrooms with outdoor space and views for $250,000. If I could only find that needle in the hay stack I'd buy it for me.

A really nice place In the French Quarter with parking that we can use on weekends for under 200k. The investor who wants to buy repos with no money down?

Unbelievable!!  We get lots of those "dream-on" requests here in Miami.  The funnier ones are people requesting basements (none here!) or 3 car garages in older neighborhoods (you would be lucky to find a 2-car garage that has not been converted). 

Let's face it, even though the Internet can provide a lot of great information, there are a lot of people that never look for there answers before they ask. 

I once had someone ask me "where are the Igloos?" At the time we  were in Toronto, it was June and the truck he was driving had New York license plates.  The fact that some parts of New York get more snow in a month than Toronto might get in a winter did not seen to have connected with him.  It was too bad for his vacation as he was going to have a hard time using the skis that he had strapped to the roof on his truck.

I also get the Acre requests for next to nothing.  Sometimes I can find them something if they are willing to move an extra 20 drive further away then they had wanted.  But, if they want to be in Richmond Hill then they need to be upwards of $800,000.

I get calls from people who think it's still possible to get a 2-bedroom condo on the beach (Greater Fort Lauderdale) for under $150,000.  Then there are those that don't want to pay "high" condo maintenance fees (they typically mean under $100/mo.).  I could go on and on with examples, but that would take too long.  It really makes me wonder where they've been for the past few years.

Kristal:

I get a a lot of calls from people who want tons of acreage under 150-200K. They simply don't realize in that price range, they will need a major credit card from an oil supplier, patience to make the daily trek and they may find that they are too far out in the boonies and have no neighbors now to complain about. :)  I maintain my comosure and my patience with them and do my best to educate them what they can actually buy in that price range. I also offer to drive them around different neighborhoods so they can get a feel for them and the associated prices homes are ACTUALLY selling for in those neighborhoods.

 We were out in Colorado this past July/August and logged about 1000 miles in our rental car. Saw a lot of nice ares from Breckenridge down to the Narrow Gorge Bridge and everywhere inbetween. Colorado was absolutely beautiful and I hope to come back for a visit real soon.

 Hopefully you'll get some serious inquiries on the types of real estate you do handle in Denver and refer the rest out to outlying agents. Keep smiling.