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Old 02-15-2010, 04:44 PM
 
3 posts, read 3,422 times
Reputation: 10

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please excuse me but i am livid right now. after many months of looking, we finally found our dream house. unfortunately, horridly, it's an FSBO, and they are seemingly clueless about the process. it's also an estate sale where the parents died and the house is owned by three sisters, who are all lawyers but have never sold a house FSBO before. they put the for sale sign up about 2 weeks ago and we saw the home last week. we made an offer today; they have no other offers yet. they are asking 300k and our offer is for 275k. we are prepared to go up to 300, perhaps a little more.

when we made our offer they seemed surprised to get an offer so quickly, seemed taken aback, and one of the sisters said that she did not expect anyone to show interest in the house, let alone so quickly, and then proceeded to say:

1. "well we are not in a hurry. we've gotten so many calls and who knows what will happen" (dunno what this means; are they interested in selling, OR NOT!?)
2. "2008 was the bottom of the market and the house has gone up in value since then, which is why we want at least 300k" (sold comps show this is not true, however this is the cheapest--read: DESIRABLEST--house is a very exclusive neighborhood)
3. "i think you'll need to give us more than 48 hours to respond because we've all got to talk it over which is difficult; it is what it is" (do these people not realize that offers have deadlines?).

can one of you experts interpret this behavior for me, PLEASE? i don't want to show desperation but at the same time i don't want these people dragging us along or being unprofessional either. is there anything that you recommend we do in dealing with these people? by the way i couldn't find a decent buyers agent to represent us, otherwise we would have had one

i cannot stand to have my heart broken over another house. i think i'll end up in the hospital.
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Old 02-15-2010, 05:05 PM
 
Location: Austin
7,244 posts, read 21,757,022 times
Reputation: 10014
You've been looking at houses for months, but don't have a buyer's agent? Who have you been using to look at houses? Was that agent not good enough to help you through this??

Blind leading the blind doesn't seem like the smartest way to go in this situation...
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Old 02-15-2010, 06:50 PM
 
3 posts, read 3,422 times
Reputation: 10
we lost our agent when she was diagnosed with cancer and we were not able to find a replacement before this house came up
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Old 02-15-2010, 07:06 PM
 
Location: Northern Virginia
274 posts, read 706,840 times
Reputation: 99
Oh my, you have my sympathy. It's difficult enough for an agent to keep both sides moving when he/she represents the buyer or the seller in a deal like this. I'd advise that you get a strong agent to help move things along and explain the process, especially for the sellers' benefit. There are a lot of risks involved, and with both sides unrepresented, it's bound to get really messy, as you might understand. I can't explain the behavior, though I understand it. They're busy professionals, no one is in charge, they're waiting for a higher offer, etc.
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Old 02-15-2010, 08:23 PM
 
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
1,570 posts, read 5,978,072 times
Reputation: 1405
I've heard of this in estate deals .... too many Chiefs, not enough Indians. Yep, this is going to be a mess. I'm sorry about your agent. Could his/her broker assign another agent to you - it might help.
Hang in there.
Best of luck.
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Old 02-15-2010, 09:20 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 85,164,534 times
Reputation: 18726
I suspect that the sisters probably have at least one among them who is vehemently opposed to paying any commission to a real estate agent. That will make getting any agent involved a losing proposition.

It would also not surprise me that the sisters do not really agree on the need to sell ("Wouldn't it be great if we could 'keep it in the family'..."). Another strike.

The reaction that you got upon making an offer is sadly NOT uncommon at all (WOW that was fast, I told you we should have ASKED FOR MORE MONEY...) but the fact is that when folks are CLUELESS about the real pricing trends (which seems very likely in this case...) they won't know if they priced correctly or not.

It is entirely possible that you COULD suggest to them that you will get an independent appraisal (which you will need to get financing anyway..) and they can get their own if they wish (which, as it involves spending money from their pocket, they are unlikely to do) to help reassure them that the offer you made (or a counter offer they come up with...) is FAIR and what they should accept to get the estate settled in a TIMELY manner.

Similarly if you would have presented your offer in a way that suggested there was some urgency that can be helpful in these situations where "family concerns" can lead to foot dragging...

GOOD LUCK!
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Old 02-16-2010, 01:12 AM
 
Location: Irvine - Orange County, CA
214 posts, read 648,990 times
Reputation: 72
As was mentioned before, it sounds like not all of the sisters are on the same page about selling the home. Also, do not your show hand (i.e. that you guys love the home). I would give them up to 3-5 days to respond. The other question you should ask them is whether they have an escrow company in mind to handle the transaction? How about the Title Company to do the Prelim Title Report?

I'll be the first one to say that most agents are worthless and can only complicate a transaction, but good ones can steer you through the process and get things done in a timely manner. See if they would agree to have an agent handle all of the property work for a nominal 1-2% commission.
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Old 02-16-2010, 07:56 AM
 
Location: Cookeville, TN
179 posts, read 451,832 times
Reputation: 144
Or you could take it a step further and offer to pay the commission to the agent yourself. Buyer's agents (where the buyer pays the commission) are becoming more prevalent in the business. That way things are handled professionally, you don't have to deal with the yahoo sisters, and you have someone looking out for your best interests. **and this would be the part where USCTrojanCPA mentions to be sure to ask that agent to work for you for peanuts jk**

Our first home was purchased by owner. Also an estate deal - only the two sisters involved hated eachother, didn't speak, and lived on opposite sides of the country. It was awesome . At any rate, it took awhile (about three months), but eventually we were able to work out the details. I don't envy you, but be of good cheer - it can be done!! Fingers crossed for you!!
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Old 02-16-2010, 08:26 AM
 
3 posts, read 3,422 times
Reputation: 10
thanks all so much for the words of enouragement. we submitted the offer yesterday about 6 p.m. and of course haven't heard a peep about it. so you think because it's an FSBO we should be giving them more time than we said on the offer? (more than 48 hours)? my husband wants to only give them an extra 24 hours after that because he doesn't want them "screwing around" with us. but it sounds like fsbo sellers need extra care and feeding. at this point i don't know whether to involve an agent and intimidate them even more; maybe we will wait to see when and if they respond and then involve an agent to get us to closing. basically we have all of our ducks in a row and we are ready to close, like, TOMORROW, and these people are like "well, um, yeah, we are selling, but, ya know, we'll get around to it, and wow, thanks for the offer but don't even think about rushing us"

i simply don't understand why they would not sell to us, unless someone comes along and offers more, which we would clearly match; in this market where so many people are dying to have a buyer, here we are ready to go. i guess they could decide not to sell period. i gotta remember that this was the family home, one owner, and that there must be a lot of drama and emotion involved. anything is possible and i am going nuts with anxiety.

by the way i forgot to mention that when we submitted the offer we asked for the sellers disclosure and they also freaked out about that, saying "oh we don't have that yet; do you really need that? and oh our parents kept an impeccably maintained home so there's nothing to disclose anyway"; needless to say our offer has a contingency regarding getting the disclosure ASAP
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Old 02-16-2010, 08:43 AM
Status: "Open for work" (set 10 days ago)
 
Location: Just south of Denver since 1989
11,822 posts, read 34,358,409 times
Reputation: 8950
What disclosures are required in your state?

I think you need a local real estate attorney.
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