Property listing is "Pending" -- do you still view/make offer, or let it go? (appraisal, agent)
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In this case, do I give the realtor my cell phone to call me the minute the current deal falls apart?
Good advice. As long as I cancel first, I should get my earnest money back. But if I get contacted on two "pending" properties on the same day, then it sounds like I may have to forfeit the earnest money on one of them.
Yes, your agent should have your cell number, or whatever number it is you answer most often. When a buyer is interested in a property, it's usually just a call to the agent with, "Please call/email me if anything happens to your current buyer as I have an interested buyer." The agent will usually call before putting it back Active in the MLS.
In Texas, you wouldn't be out earnest money if you just bought two houses because there are still ways out, like the inspection period which is an "unrestricted right to terminate" so any reason will do, and the earnest money is refunded.
A few years back when we bought our home our realtor wouldn't even take us to homes that were pending, Contingent, or what have you. I learned a lot of new terminology back then. we also found a home that we love and loved being the one that was holding it up from others. LOL One of the homes that we looked at we still see, as it is a few blocks from our home. We are so glad we didn't get that home. We love the one we are in.
A house I looked at was under contract. It popped back into the MLS one morning and my agent gave me an immediate email while I was at work that it was available again. The financing didn't work out. Made an offer that afternoon and bought the house.
So I don't know if I would make an offer while pending but I found it worth the money to have a buyers agent keeping an eye on things just for me.
In this market... I don't know because the home I really wanted I was never able to get out of back-up position.
44 days of a roller coaster that the buyer was able to close on the 45th or last day of escrow.
In the past, I have bought several homes making back-up offers... one, I insisted and was in third position and ended up with the property.
In a rising market, people will be much more aggressive and not walk away nearly so easily...
If you really want the home... why not put in a back-up?
Fair warning... a back-up might be just the push needed to get the first person to close...
My back-up was $100k over the accepted offer and when the accepted offer was balking over a inspection report... the broker said not a problem... we have a full price, as-is, non contingent back-up in second position... wasn't 100% true because I did have one contingency... I was to pay for a survey and approve the property boundary because there was some vagueness as to the fence lines.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 03-29-2013 at 08:20 PM..
Many properties I am interested in list their current status as "Pending." It could be an offer was recently accepted, but could fall apart.
Do you advise to still view "pending" properties and put in a written offer, or is that usually a waste of time?
I would still see them, as a buyer.
You never know what is going to happen to a deal and if you are able to separate emotion from reality, it can't hurt.
I was under contract to buy a short sale for 6 months. The listing showed "pending". When the bank got back to us we were told that they wanted $30K more, so we walked. Place is still for sale 8 months later and at the original asking price which is $70K more than what the bank is willing to take (including the $30K).
If the property is in attorney review, and your offer is higher than they one the seller accepted, you might get lucky.
What I have found, but only in the market I'm in (investor in an investor market), is that an additional $10K in an offer doesn't reap that much more in commission, so some offers that come in during AR will get "lost" by the listing agent. They just want the property to get to closing. We've run in to a lot of slime balls.
A few years ago, my agent and the listing agent were from the same office. A property we were interested in and submitted an offer for during AR went nowhere b/c they agents weren't allowed to "compete" within the office. It was a well known local mom and pop shop that we thought would help us in the local market as they've been in the RE business in the city for 50+ years and like I said, are very well known. Don't deal with them any longer - switched to the other family of realtors that has been in the same city and for longer than the first set of fools.
Another time, my agent couldn't get a call back (have run in to that a lot) for DAYS from the listing agent to find anything out. So I called the listing agents office, asked to speak to the owner-broker, and he told me the property was in attorney review, but I should "feel free" to submit an offer through my realtor. I left it at that. My realtor was MAD. He told me to call the owner of the property (he could not) to let the owner know I would like to make an offer on his property and his (owner's) realtor wasn't returning my realtor's calls. So I did, and told him what I'd like to offer. Nicest man you'd ever want to speak to. He asked me where I was earlier that day because he had just come out of AR the day before and was under contract. Took my phone number and told me that if it didn't "work out" he would call me. Apparently it worked out.
So basically, it never hurts.
My disclaimer is that not all REAs are as seedy as the ones I've run in to here and there, but I'm constantly buying and selling, so I run in to all types.
Many properties I am interested in list their current status as "Pending." It could be an offer was recently accepted, but could fall apart.
Do you advise to still view "pending" properties and put in a written offer, or is that usually a waste of time?
"Pending" can mean a lot of things.
The question is if you have anything to lose by making the offer. If it is just time, so what? Lots of buys in pending fall out. It isn't like you're spending days agonizing over how to write the offer.
The only guaranteed way not to get something is not to ask for it. Everything else is a positive, even if the chance is slight.
If a REA tells you it is a waste of time remember one thing, they aren't buying or trying to buy either. It is so easy to say it is a waste of time. The most important part of buying a house is what you want, not what some REA or Realtor wants, don't forget that.
If you really like the house and they're accepting back-up offers, it doesn't hurt to make one. I got a great little gem of a house in San Francisco 20 years ago when the original buyer counter-offered on a buyer for her condo, and the buyer walked, so she had no contract. We had a 72-hour kick out clause so we ended up first in line after she couldn't come up with the money.
I never would have put an offer on the place if my realtor hadn't suggested it was worth a try.
If you're in a really tight market, it can work out for you. Buyers cancel for a myriad of reasons, most surrounding inability to get financing. If you are in the 1st backup position, you become the buyer under contract when the first buyer cancels.
But before showing a home and writing a backup offer, I call the listing agent. It's not uncommon for them to have multiple backups already. And some prefer to put it back on the market for competitive offers if the first buyer cancels. So it just depends.
The question is if you have anything to lose by making the offer. If it is just time, so what? Lots of buys in pending fall out. It isn't like you're spending days agonizing over how to write the offer.
The only guaranteed way not to get something is not to ask for it. Everything else is a positive, even if the chance is slight.
If a REA tells you it is a waste of time remember one thing, they aren't buying or trying to buy either. It is so easy to say it is a waste of time. The most important part of buying a house is what you want, not what some REA or Realtor wants, don't forget that.
What if the seller told you they were selling because they knew you had been asking for years and then turned around and sold it to someone else without even giving you the option of bidding?
Whenever my properties are under contract, I list them as "Pending-Taking Backups" until we are through inspection and have a signed from both parties BINSR. Once we have that I change it to "Pending"
Trent in AZ
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