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We are coming up on the dreaded home on the market during the Holidays. Even hot markets hate having homes viewed during this time of year. If the OP puts a sundown clause before a weekend, the sellers risk coming up dry until the 1st of the year, costing them even more money.
OP, can your agent find out more about the seller's situation? Are they asking for a contingency for finding home of choice? If so, they have no clock they must meet. But if there's a pending relocation or a new home being built, a clock with a deadline exists.
You still do not get it. Business does not slow down a lot in a hot market for the rest of the year as you are thinking. A friend of mine started in the real estate business, on Christmas Eve. As the new man, he was to run the office that day, and he was to be there till 3 pm. He was just ready to close when a couple came in. They needed to buy a house that day, as they were flying out that night. He had just gotten a job at the big electronics firm in town. By 5 pm they had found a home, signed the papers, and it was approved by the sellers, and they left to catch their plane. It was a better than average quality home, listed in that office, so he got 3% commission. A real nice Christmas Bonus on his first day at work.
I was an investment real estate broker, and the last half of Nov. and all of December was always a good time for me. I worked with a stable of investors, buying, selling and exchanging for them time after time.
Reason it was good, was we were putting my clients into the best position to have a good full year in their investment portfolios, by making changes, to improve their positions. Second best was January, when they would have found more money to invest closing out the previous year, and we would put their money to work for them.
I did not sell homes for personal use, but bought a lot for rental properties (upper middle class homes). When I placed them back on the market to sell in the future, I did not find much slow down in the market no matter what month it was.
$.02 in my market, and just a personal opinion as someone who has been selling properties recently..
Low offer + closing cost concession requests = pain in the butt buyer who really can't afford the house & is expecting to ding the seller again with inspection repairs for non-issues.. The attitude I've personally seen from buyers who both nail you on price and want closing costs is "I'll buy the house if you make it perfect and pay for everything ".. right or wrong, that's what I *hear* as a seller when I see an offer like that from a buyer.
Personally, I'd much rather see a fha 3% down buyer at full price & let the appraisal reduce the value if they can support it logically. Those buyers aren't both demanding a "deal" and refusing to scrape up any of their own funds.
That would be the last buyer I would pick if there was more than one & someone I just wouldn't want to go under contract with over the holidays unless I was desperate.
From a strategy standpoint, the seller would rather wait for a stronger buyer at the same price, just because they're less-likely to get nickled-and-dimed based on the inspection.. since no home is "perfect", inspections have evolved into "round two" of negotiations, where the buyer & seller play chicken with days-on-the-market & the risk of having to re-list the house (and explain to future buyers why the property fell out of contract).
Carrying costs for another month of ownership aren't anywhere near $20k, and the seller can always drop the price by $15k & likely still net more than your offer. It won't be "stale" as a listing for another month, no need for a seller to pee their pants & roll over now.
Has nothing to do with affordability on our end. We could offer the listing price and cover closing costs but if there's an opportunity to not do that, why not take a shot?
Just an update: we saw an end unit townhouse on Thursday at about 5K less than this interior so we tried to pounce on that quickly. It was in another area entirely. We came in at the full listing price w/no closing help, and added an escalation clause w/a cap since there were multiple offers. We lost out on the home so that was a bummer. Sounded like we were the runner up.
However, we're putting in another offer on this home today. It's still on the market, no pending offers. Our agent finally spoke to the listing agent and basically the seller rejected another offer that was below the listing price and w/closing help. The listing agent alluded to the fact that the house is probably overpriced but the seller is not at that point yet. So we're submitting another offer and see what happens!
Personally, I'd much rather see a fha 3% down buyer at full price & let the appraisal reduce the value if they can support it logically. Those buyers aren't both demanding a "deal" and refusing to scrape up any of their own funds.
As a buyer, I woudn't want to get $1k into a house only to find out it won't appraise and I can't buy it. And even if it doesn't appraise, there's no guarantee that the seller will let it go at the appraisal price (even though it's kind of illogical not to). An FHA buyer probably doesn't have that kind of money to waste.
Has nothing to do with affordability on our end. We could offer the listing price and cover closing costs but if there's an opportunity to not do that, why not take a shot?
Just an update: we saw an end unit townhouse on Thursday at about 5K less than this interior so we tried to pounce on that quickly. It was in another area entirely. We came in at the full listing price w/no closing help, and added an escalation clause w/a cap since there were multiple offers. We lost out on the home so that was a bummer. Sounded like we were the runner up.
However, we're putting in another offer on this home today. It's still on the market, no pending offers. Our agent finally spoke to the listing agent and basically the seller rejected another offer that was below the listing price and w/closing help. The listing agent alluded to the fact that the house is probably overpriced but the seller is not at that point yet. So we're submitting another offer and see what happens!
From the seller's end, they don't *know* what you can or can't afford- pretty much every buyer's agent claims their buyer is "golden"- the only thing the sellers have to look at is the offer. And if you're asking for concessions, the impression is that you're not that strong.
However, we're putting in another offer on this home today. It's still on the market, no pending offers. Our agent finally spoke to the listing agent and basically the seller rejected another offer that was below the listing price and w/closing help. The listing agent alluded to the fact that the house is probably overpriced but the seller is not at that point yet. So we're submitting another offer and see what happens!
As a buyer, I woudn't want to get $1k into a house only to find out it won't appraise and I can't buy it. And even if it doesn't appraise, there's no guarantee that the seller will let it go at the appraisal price (even though it's kind of illogical not to). An FHA buyer probably doesn't have that kind of money to waste.
The seller doesn't have any reason to care about your $1,000 investment in an appraisal & inspection- they still have house payments, taxes, insurance & maintenance going out while they're under contract with a buyer - even if that buyer can't close or waffles & walks.
You still do not get it. Business does not slow down a lot in a hot market for the rest of the year as you are thinking. A friend of mine started in the real estate business, on Christmas Eve. As the new man, he was to run the office that day, and he was to be there till 3 pm. He was just ready to close when a couple came in. They needed to buy a house that day, as they were flying out that night. He had just gotten a job at the big electronics firm in town. By 5 pm they had found a home, signed the papers, and it was approved by the sellers, and they left to catch their plane. It was a better than average quality home, listed in that office, so he got 3% commission. A real nice Christmas Bonus on his first day at work.
I was an investment real estate broker, and the last half of Nov. and all of December was always a good time for me. I worked with a stable of investors, buying, selling and exchanging for them time after time.
Reason it was good, was we were putting my clients into the best position to have a good full year in their investment portfolios, by making changes, to improve their positions. Second best was January, when they would have found more money to invest closing out the previous year, and we would put their money to work for them.
I did not sell homes for personal use, but bought a lot for rental properties (upper middle class homes). When I placed them back on the market to sell in the future, I did not find much slow down in the market no matter what month it was.
I would agree with you, but Maryland is not a hot market. Yes, inventory is down, but only by 1/2 of 1%. New home units for sale actually rose. Appreciation is well under 3%. And, it does slow down here, we are seeing it right now. Most of my calls from buyers are waiting until the first of the year. Sure, there's some out there bottom-fishing, but they are not beating offers off with a stick. Far from it.
They're mulling our offer, there are no other offers on the table, hopeful to hear something back this week.
Edit: This is pretty much it, unless we find something we really want to move on (like the end unit we lost out on last week), we're holding off until the new year. We've gone to a couple of open houses but overall there's not a lot out there at the moment.
Just an update: our 2nd offer was officially 415K with 3% closing. We were told by the listing agent (who seems to be more responsive now that a) we're legit and the only buyers and b) the house has been on the market 5 weeks) that the seller was looking for a 415 net and she could either do 415 with no closing, or the list price (which is 425) with 10K closing. While we didn't submit another contract, we decided to go up to 420 with 3% closing. Seller countered with 410 and no closing.
So that's where we're at. The listing agent said there are no other offers on the table, so we're essentially bidding against ourselves here. It's basically a game of who will blink first.
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