RE: We got an offer/deposit on our house!

Acts 2:38 girl · Sep 28, 2003, 07:05 PM

After exactly 2 weeks on the market, we got an offer and deposit on our house! [

] [

] Best of all, it was for our asking price! This is really good because physically I don t have it in me for anymore showings! God is good!! I cleaned 4 hours yesterday, 1 1/2 today, and was almost in tears because I was so tired. I just prayed and said, " Lord, you know how much I can handle, but I just don t know if I can do it anymore" We prayed in church, and when we left because of the open house. We went to go visit the poeple who s house we are buying just to let them know we do want thier house and will sign ASAP! Then I talked to my Mom, who s selling it for us - and she let us know! We also have another person who almost put a deposit on it too!
Hang in there Fivegonefishing - it ll happen!!

The potential buyers called yesterday and withdrew the offer [

] Oh well they ll be more! First something about the contract, then about how much $$ they d have to spend to fix the place up to thier liking (garage, etc) We re still getting a lot of calls about the house, so I m not to bummed out. Gods timing is perfect - even if it s not my idea of when! [

] [

]

tlhdoc · Jul 06, 2003, 07:24 PM

Acts 2:38 girlCongratulations on the sale. I hope everything works out and you are in the new house before the baby is born.

brainpause · Jul 06, 2003, 10:52 PM

Acts 2:38 girlI told Holly (in the other room), and she said, " GREAT!!!"

Glad it didn t take long!

Larry

fivegonefishing · Jul 07, 2003, 08:23 AM

Acts 2:38 girlThat is great news, congratulations!

We almost put on offer on a very nice house but they wanted an early closing date and we wern t willing to close in 60 days. I d really like to buy that house but it s too scary to put a short closing when we still have ours listed.

birol · Jul 07, 2003, 09:13 AM

Acts 2:38 girlTammy,

You are not moving to South Oshawa, are you ? North Oshawa is beautiful [

] Send me an e-mail if you wish .....

AustinBoston · Jul 07, 2003, 12:32 PM

Acts 2:38 girl

QuoteORIGINAL: Acts 2:38 girl

After exactly 2 weeks on the market, we got an offer and deposit on our house! [] [] [] [] Best of all, it was for our asking price! This is really good because physically I don t have it in me for anymore showings! God is good!!

Congratualtions!

I wish He d be so good to us right now[

]. After exactly two months and at least 50 showings (yes, 50 showings) we have had one offer (waaaay below our now reduced asking price).

It s not the price. The smaller, older house next door with fewer everything (square feet, rooms, land, etc.) sold 7 months ago for more than our asking price. And we ve dropped the price...significantly below what the realtor recommended.

It s not the location. Uh, that smaller, older, house next door...is also one lot closer to all the " bad" stuff. This is walk to all schools (without crossing the street), walk to train, walk to convenience store, walk to town hall...5 minutes from I-95, I-93, 8 minutes from I-495...

It s not the economy. Houses are selling like hotcakes around here.

It s not the customers. We ve had a wide variety of economic/social/ethnic backgrounds look at it including older couples, unmarried/not yet married couples, married s with children (very small children, grade schoolers, teenagers), first time homebuyers, real estate investors, extended families, blended families, empty nesters, European Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, Hatians, Brazilians, locals, those trying to escape the city, those moving closer to the city...

It only takes ONE family to want this house...just one.

What is frustrating is knowing that although PJay and I looked at maybe two dozen houses before buying this one, we hadn t gone past the driveway when we both knew this was the one. Somewhere out there, someone has to have the same reaction! Puleeeeese come look at our house...your house! It is THE house YOU want!

QuoteI cleaned 4 hours yesterday, 1 1/2 today, and was almost in tears because I was so tired. I just prayed and said, " Lord, you know how much I can handle, but I just don t know if I can do it anymore"

OK, we can take more...we re not expecting a daughter...but we ve been taking it for quite a while. We ve had many 8-10 hour days of cleaning/packing/stacking boxes/throwing out. I d say we re now 60% packed up, with a third of our furniture packed onto the front porch. Anything we re not moving to Minnesota with us has been hauled to the transfer station or left on the side of the road. We re about to get a Self-Store or U-Haul locker in order to empty the front porch. For the first time ever, the Taj MaHaul will go into storage.[

]

QuoteWe prayed in church,

In church, at home, at every meal, when dropped off for the train, when going to bed, when leaving for vacation, when driving home from vacation...

We don t care about asking price any more! Make us an offer!

Austin

Acts 2:38 girl · Jul 08, 2003, 08:18 AM

Acts 2:38 girlsee edited post above [

]

AustinBoston · Jul 08, 2003, 09:03 AM

Acts 2:38 girl

QuoteORIGINAL: Acts 2:38 girl
The potential buyers called yesterday and withdrew the offer [] Oh well they ll be more! First something about the contract, then about how much $$ they d have to spend to fix the place up to thier liking (garage, etc) We re still getting a lot of calls about the house, so I m not to bummed out. Gods timing is perfect - even if it s not my idea of when! [] []

Sadly, I ve seen this happen repeatedly to one couple we know. I d rather have to wait than to go through the cycle of excitement/disappointment that I ve seen.

OTOH, if realtors were not so quick to talk sellers into giving back the deposit, buyers would think more before making (or revoking) an offer. Poeple don t see their deposit as being in jeopardy if they change their mind, but they should. Even though it is rarely done, you have a right to keep the deposit in most circumstances where a buyer simply " changed their mind" .

Austin

birol · Jul 08, 2003, 09:42 AM

Acts 2:38 girlI would not return the deposit, no way. Unless that was a conditional offer and one of the conditions failed. Sorry, I am mean [>:]

Camperroo · Jul 08, 2003, 09:51 AM

Acts 2:38 girlSelling your home is such a personal thing, it can become very anxiety ridden. Hang in there, it will happen, there s a buyer out there for every house, sometimes it just takes a while to snag them!! Deposits on offers are such a waste anyway. Most people who make an offer are sincere and really want the house. In a competitive market though, if they find something better, they use the offer to tie up a house they might want while they continue to search for something that might be a little better. The real obligation starts with the purchase and sale agreement where the buyer has already received mortgage approval and is now going to put down a significantly large deposit. They have far much more to lose if the back out of the purchase and sale after they ve put down that huge chunk of cash. When a buyer presents an offer with an obligatory deposit of 500-1000 it really means nothing. Most offers are prebuilt with backouts in contingencies from everything from pest, radon, structural and mortagage contingenies. What you want to look at is the whole picture, how much in total are they really going to put down and have they been pre-approved yet. Avoid the buyers that nitpick everything from the color of the carpet to choice of wallpaper. These people will nickle and dime you all the way to closing. How you choose to decorate isn t going to be the same as a buyer in most cases. The buyer is free to decorate anyway they want once they are the new owners. So too bad if they don t like orange carpet at the moment! If they can t afford to replace carpets, etc., then they should be looking at lower priced homes where they will have some room to redecorate. An offer is a contract however, and a buyer as a consumer has a right to change their mind within 72 hours or if the house fails any type of contingency set into that offer. Best bet is to make sure your realtor is bringing through qualified buyers. Most homeowners today request all buyers who present an offer accompany it with a pre-qualification letter from their bank. It s the homeowners right to refuse offers from people who aren t already prequalified...the realtor however, is legally obligated to present all offers...so it s kind of a catch 22 situation. They can however, tell buyers that the seller will only strongly entertain pre-qualified buyers. This usually bounces the " looky loos" out of the picture. Your selling realtor has to work hard to work for you and bring you solid buyers (of course if its your mom then you are going to trust her!!...though sometimes having a relative as your realtor is making the sale of your home too personal). Selling your home is a money and business decision, don t get caught up in the realtor stories of " they re newly married, or expecting a baby" ...blah blah blah. That s great for the potential buyer but your concern is do they have the money and qualifications to buy my house. You re paying alot in commission, make sure the realtor is really working for you and doing what you want. Also, make it clear you will still be accepting back up offers while the orginal offer and deal is in the works...that way your time isn t being wasted if offer 1 falls through and you re more likely to be then working with a buyer who really does want the house and doesn t want the worry of the next potential buyer sitting there ready to make a bite. Good luck!

Acts 2:38 girl · Jul 08, 2003, 11:44 AM

Acts 2:38 girlWow Camperoo, it sounds like you know your stuff! These people just signed an " Offer to Purchase" which really has no obligation. Like you said, it starts with the purchase and sale agreement. Our lawyer was like, " Return the money and walk away - don t negotiate with these people if they are nervous signing THIS form" Because there are no brokers involved the rest of the process is handled by both sides Attorneys, and they didn t even have one yet! Oh well - better luck next time![

]

AustinBoston · Jul 08, 2003, 12:07 PM

CamperrooThanks for the great post, Camperoo! I just have a few nits to pick.

QuoteORIGINAL: Camperroo

Selling your home is such a personal thing, it can become very anxiety ridden. Hang in there, it will happen, there s a buyer out there for every house, sometimes it just takes a while to snag them!!

Sometimes it also takes the right price, etc.

QuoteDeposits on offers are such a waste anyway.

Only because buyers assume they will get their deposit back if they change their mind.

QuoteMost people who make an offer are sincere and really want the house. In a competitive market though, if they find something better, they use the offer to tie up a house they might want while they continue to search for something that might be a little better. The real obligation starts with the purchase and sale agreement where the buyer has already received mortgage approval and is now going to put down a significantly large deposit. They have far much more to lose if the back out of the purchase and sale after they ve put down that huge chunk of cash. When a buyer presents an offer with an obligatory deposit of 500-1000 it really means nothing.

When we bought our house (under 100K asking price) we put a $3,000 deposit with THE OFFER. We did not deposit more with the P&S. 3% of a quarter of a million dollars for a typical house is a lot of money.

QuoteAn offer is a contract however, and a buyer as a consumer has a right to change their mind within 72 hours or if the house fails any type of contingency set into that offer.

Couple things. First, an offer is not a contract. An offer with an acceptance and consideration (both parties benefit) is a contract. Second, the 72 hour back-out period is a Mass. law, which means it applies to you, me, and Lee & Andrea, but not most others on the board. In addition, real estate transactions may be explicitly exempt, I m not sure.

QuoteYou re paying alot in commission, make sure the realtor is really working for you and doing what you want.

No nit here...just want to emphasize. This is probably the single most important consideration (after price) when selling. The realtor should try to make sure each side is satisified with the deal, but ultimately, he works for the seller. Make sure he/she really is. Why should he work to make the buyer happy? Because unhappy buyers lead to deal failures, which is bad for the seller.

QuoteAlso, make it clear you will still be accepting back up offers while the orginal offer and deal is in the works...that way your time isn t being wasted if offer 1 falls through and you re more likely to be then working with a buyer who really does want the house and doesn t want the worry of the next potential buyer sitting there ready to make a bite. Good luck!

I don t quite follow the logic here. If there are backup/contingent offers, the first buyer has to worry about backup offers whether they are serious themselves or not. In addition, If I were a less-than-serious buyer, I d feel less concerned about making an offer where the seller will be accepting backup offers. After all, if my offer falls through, I m not really hurting the seller, not really tying up his property (for long), and not putting my deposit at risk, so why not hold this one for a week or two while I look for something better?

The value to receiving backup offers is only in not loosing time if the first offer falls through. It will not change the nature of those making offers by much.

Austin

Camperroo · Jul 08, 2003, 10:15 PM

AustinBoston

QuoteThe value to receiving backup offers is only in not loosing time if the first offer falls through. It will not change the nature of those making offers by much.

Hey Austin how s it going. I know you re a bit anxious with the upcoming move and trying to get your house sold. It s not an easy process at all. But it will all work out in the end. I m not sure which town you live in but in regard to a backup offer, what you said is what I thought I was saying...backup offers protect the seller from losing time. Around my neck of the woods here in MA it is pretty competitive to get into a home. Letting the 1st offeror know the owner will accept backup offers, makes people sweat around here because they want the house, so yes they will make solid offers usually extremely close to the asking price if not the asking price. My brother who I just helped recently purchase a home here, went over the asking price because he knew there were two other couples trying to bid on the house also. They were practically tripping over themselves at the showing. Of course the other realtor could have had the decency to not intrude on another showing but there are sharks out there and each couple was eyeing the other. The majority of all sales around here have a backup offer in place. It keeps the process moving should the 1st buyer backout or not qualify and it keeps the homeowner from getting angry that they lost one and wasted time. Most homeowners here state they want and will accept a backup offer until the 1st offer clears with all the contingencies and proceeds to P&S. As I said the market is competitive here and people want the opportunity to get in line with a backup offer for a home they really like. It all depends on what the action is going on in your town and what type of house it is. In our area the real competition is in the $300-$450K range. $300K will basically get you a fixer-upper, such as my brother s house and up to $450K will get you a nice older colonial or cape in the 3-4bdrm 2 ba range in pretty good shape. Personally the prices disgust me for the homes themselves but that s life in Metrowest and people are willing to pay them. Can t wait to sell my own house and take the profit right to my nearest RV dealer to buy my Class A retirement dream! Home prices in this area are disgusting, but heck if people are going to pay crazy prices for not worthy homes...then I ll sell mine and run like heck to the bank!!!!!!

I hope you and your family enjoy life in MN, we were there last summer and I found it to be absolutely beautiful. We were in Winona and life seemed so slow and easy, people were friendly and seemed very family oriented and I loved those accents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your home will sell, that special person will walk in and know right away it was meant to be their home.

AustinBoston · Jul 08, 2003, 10:20 PM

Camperroo

QuoteORIGINAL: Camperroo
Your home will sell, that special person will walk in and know right away it was meant to be their home.

Yep. It only takes one to really want it, and it s sold.

Austin

Mahaffey-Family · Jul 09, 2003, 08:36 AM

Acts 2:38 girlI m sorry, but there will be more.

News: