Beaverton Gladwin Real Estate: May 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Why was my offer not accepted although it was higher than list price?

Why was my offer not accepted by the seller even though we offered higher than the list price? Missing piece

In my neck of the woods in Alameda ,Oakland and Piedmont CA, we’ve had listings during which the winning buyers were not always those who wrote the highest offers.

This is not unusual. Buyers who track the progress of sold properties on which they submitted offers are very surprised when they found out they wrote higher offers but lost anyway.

NOTE: List price should NOT be the sole basis of your offer. List price is all part of the pricing strategy -- some agents list less than market value in order to stimulate a bidding situation.

So what are some of the reasons why the highest offer doesn’t always win?

Take a close look at the details of your offer. Highest price alone doesn’t guarantee the offer is the best one, especially in a competitive situation where there are several offers on the table.

Initial deposit	You submitted less than 1% of the offer price as your initial deposit. The higher the better. The higher initial deposit shows seriousness on the part of the buyer to commit resources to complete the transaction. It also shows how much buyer is willing to risk.
Down payment	Are you getting an FHA loan? This may not be as attractive to sellers who are receiving offers for cash or conventional loan. In short sales, negotiators typically want 30 days or less to close escrow from the time they grant approval. Some FHA lenders may need longer than 30 days which could put the short sale transaction in jeopardy
Escrow period	Sellers are in a hurry to close (heck, they’ve already moved) but you want an escrow period longer than 30 days. *Conversely,* seller may have wanted to wait a little longer or even a rent back. But you wanted them out sooner than when they're ready. Did the seller have a contingency to find a replacement property?
Buyer investigation period	It’s a competitive situation, but you still specified 17 days to do your inspections. Most realtors can find you inspectors who can get there sooner. And typically, buyers will know from the results of the inspections whether they want to move forward or not. And if you decide to back out, the sooner you back out, the sooner the seller can put the property back on the market.
Pest Inspection mentioned in the contract	You asked the seller to pay for your inspections. And you specified wood-destroying organism/pest inspections. Didn’t you and your realtor know that this raises a huge RED flag among loan underwriters who may insist that Section 1 items of the pest report are cleared/repaired/replaced before they approve the loan? Most seller will NOT agree to this up front.
Escrow fees and closing costs	You asked seller to pay for your escrow fees and closing costs. Do you know how much your escrow fees and closing costs are, and is it worth losing out on this sale for that amount?
City and county transfer taxes	It’s best to go with what’s customary in your area. Most sellers will accept that condition. But if you ask the seller to pay for all of these, then you might as well just move on to your next offer.
Repairs and credits	If it's an AS IS sale (typical of short sale or bank-owned listings), it's NOT a good idea to ask for repairs/credits in the offer before it is accepted and before you even have inspections done. You can wait to ask for it later, depending on the degree and amount of repairs that must be done, and assuming you’re still willing to move forward.
HOA fees where applicable	Sellers will normally pay for the cost of getting the HOA documents/ And they are also responsible for keeping up with the HOA payments. But transferring the HOA membership from theirs to the new buyer is typically borne by the buyer. This is a minor issue, but could be an irritant if the buyer asks for seller to pay for all HOA-related items.
What stays with the house	The MLS usually states what the seller is willing to leave behind. But you asked for the sun and the moon, including some of the seller’s personal property.
Short sale specifics	Most short sale listing agents want total commitment from the buyer to stick it out, and will ask buyer to open escrow upon acceptance by the seller and before receipt of short sale approval longer waiting period But you don’t want to commit, and didn’t do either one. Whereas your competition did. So which buyer do you think the seller would believe more?

Other REALTORs will surely weigh in on more reasons why some offers are rejected by the seller, even when such offers at first glance appear to be decent (but not the best) offers.

What does the seller want?

Candi DeFore

Kehoe Realty

989-313-9145

989-426-0664

Candi@kehoerealty.com

Monday, May 21, 2012

Homes for $40,000 or less!!!

Looking to buy a house on a budget? Thought homes were too expensive? Well now is definitely a the time to shop for a new home, or investment! Kehoe Realty has a variety of homes on the market for under $40,000. Follow the links below to see what might interest you, and contact me for viewing or any information for your real-estate needs. Looking forward to working for you. Candi DeFore 989-313-9145

157165 5202 Irene, Gladwin $6,500 *NEW*

156456 1740 Janet Lane, Harrison $9,777

156793    3313 Calhoun Rd, Beaverton $19,500(REDUCED!)

156537 1238 Ranger, Gladwin $19,900

155991     3970 Lutzke Rd, Beaverton $17,900 (REDUCED)

157190 319 Beech, Gladwin $24,900 *NEW*

156783    220 W. Beech, Gladwin $29,900 (SOLD)

156092     1101 N. Antler, Gladwin $34,900 (REDUCED!)

154501      5379 Morrow, Gladwin $39,900

CANDI DEFORE

KEHOE REALTY

989-313-9145
989-426-0664

CANDI@KEHOEREALTY.COM

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beaverton-Gladwin-Real-Estate

Friday, May 4, 2012

Mortgage Qualifications might be changing soon!

What's a QM – And Why Should I Care?

We've often discussed the difference between the cost and the price of buying a home. Price is clearly a critical piece of the overall cost. But what about available financing? Well, we agree with the folks at Keeping Current Matters; available financing is the other crucial piece. Right now, the federal government is making major decisions regarding house financing moving forward. These decisions could negatively impact many buyers, including implementation of the new term, "QM."

But what exactly IS a QM? The term is short for qualified mortgage, and it's a product of the newly developed Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), which will be setting guidelines for developing consumer parameters to be followed by banks and lending institutions before issuing a mortgage.

Richard Cordray, the Director of CFPB, plans to finalize the definition this summer. The Center for Responsible Lending quotes American Banker about this:

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will issue a final rule by the end of June defining what constitutes a ‘qualified mortgage’ that will be exempt from new rules compelling lenders to verify borrowers’ repayment ability.”

Many real estate industry professionals fear that the definition will be too ‘narrow’ resulting in many purchasers not being able to qualify for a mortgage under the QM definition. If a buyer doesn't qualify under the new ‘QM’ rules, the cost of financing a home will increase.

So what's the bottom line? Plain and simple, securing a mortgage before these new guidelines take effect may make sense to many buyers.

Have problems with Bacteria in you well??

Bacteria….Now What?

When it comes to Wells, and real estate transfers many water sample results show bacteria in the water. This is often a scary thing for home owners and those who do not know much about wells. Thankfully there is an easy way to rid the water of bacteria.

Chlorination is a process every local well company should be familiar with.

It’s a relatively painless and inexpensive procedure (when you take into consideration the sale of a house, or digging a new well. Chlorination roughly runs around $500.00 depending on your well company. The service technician will drop in several (calculated to how deep the well is) chlorine tablets. This will circulate through the well along with through the faucets. Before they leave all techs should chlorinate all water fixtures (including toilets) to remove all contamination. The price indicated includes the retest for bacteria after the procedure is complete and up to 4 hours of labor to have the technician flush the chlorine throught the entire facility/ house . This high concentration of chlorine must be purged through every point of entry/ exit the water goes through hot and cold water. Once the high concentration is fully saturating the residence and well it then sits for 24/48 contact hours to thoroughly break up the build up in the sytem. Bleach/ Chlorine is inexpensive but counting the man hours, Chlorine test strips (about 2 bottles per treatment) and labratory fee's to retest. All in all it's not so bad of a deal.

Please remember~ DO NOT DRINK OR USE WATER DURING THIS PHASE~

After 24 hours you should begin to flush your well. Run a hose outside or several faucets running to remove the chlorine. (You may higher the company to do this but it gets pretty expensive and unnecessary). After the chlorine has been flushed from the system the company will take a sample of your water and take it to an independent laboratory. Please note that during the flush of the system its common for debri to plug the screens of faucets and also come through the fixtrues themselves not to worry thats just what has built up in the pipes allowing the bacteria to breed flushing out.

It takes about 3-7 days to get results back from the laboratory but if the process was done correctly your well water should be free of all bacteria! Now you may ask how the bacteria got their to begin with that question does not have one answer. Changing any fixture in the plumbing of the house or well can cause a bacteria outbreak. HAving a non water tight well cap is also a common culprit. The final reason could be that surface water from flooding or a breach in the casing is infiltrating the ground water supply which can be a lot harder to treat but not impossible. When Bacteria is reaccuring then A UV Filtration system would be considered.

as seen on Active Rain...