After much effort on both of our parts, losing out one one house and then a bit of serendipity, we found and contracted on the “right” house. Then today I received a call from the listing agent with a bit of a conundrum – another agent in her office wanted to buy my clients’ Contract…. After some deliberation, I received this email from my client – Hi Jim, seriously, it’s a definitive “no”, even though the first one was solid — I don’t want the other person (or couple) to even have the slightest hope on the house. It makes me sad to know that there is not much on the market for 200k, which is what young professionals like us can afford. To see houses with 800 sq ft going for sale for 229k, or even 219k, it difficult to accept. I understand, we all want the best, we all want to get the most of everything, but I don’t want to be part of the escalation of price. Tell the other people not to give up, there will be another house somewhere else to make them happy…. ChristianThe good always make up for the bad.
Browsing Category Buyers
Who Pays the Earnest Money Deposit in Charlottesville Real Estate Transactions?
Great post at Rain City Guide by Ardell on earnest money The buyer usually writes a check for the Earnest Money deposit at the same time that they sign the offer and they hand it to their Buyer Agent. …If you know you really want the house when you make the offer, and you have no problems at all throughout the transaction, the Earnest Money just slides like butter from your hand and back into your hand. Whether it actually goes into your hand at the end or is paid against your costs varies from transaction to transaction. But it still simply comes back to you like a boomerang.The only time you should be worried about handing over an Earnest Money check, is if you are not sure you want the house at the time you make the offer.In our market, the check is made payable to the Buyer’s Agent’s company, where it is held in escrow until Closing.
Great post on housing valuation
Merv has an outstanding post this afternoon. Read the whole thing.TAX ASSESSMENTS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MARKET VALUE OF A HOMEAPPRAISALS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MARKET VALUE OF A HOMECMA’S HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MARKET VALUE OF A HOMEZILLOW ZESTIMATES HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MARKET VALUE OF A HOMEYOUR NEIGHBOR’S OPINION HAS NOTHING DO TO DO WITH THE MARKET VALUE OF A HOMEWHAT YOUR NEIGHBOR’S SOLD FOR 6 MONTHS AGO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MARKET VALUE OF A HOMEALL OF THE ABOVE HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE MARKET VALUE OF A HOME (Bolding Mine)If you have questions about how one arrives at a house’s value, read this article.
Staging homes
Staging a home – more and more this is becoming an absolute must. Buyers now have more options than they have had in some time, so Sellers must actually do some work to prepare their homes for multiple showings. The property I am marketing now in Minor Hill is one of the best-prepared homes I have seen in some time (the fact that it is my listing is beside the point; the owners are meticulous and well-prepared).This is an excellent article that lays out some simple tips on staging. They are all good advice; the best one is the most simple – “Don’t skip a single room: “Which rooms wouldn’t you want to sell?”” I hired professional stagers for my property in Wintergreen. They did an excellent job. The house is sparsely decorated, and they took the time to analyze the property’s best features and then highlight said features.
Bah.
A therapeutic post … This weekend I showed a blind-call in a couple of townhomes in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area. Followed up with an email and a voice mail. No response. This afternoon I received a call from another agent saying that she had a “client” that wanted to make an offer on a property I had shown to them. There is a distinct and important difference between a customer and a client.
Consumers use the internet to shop for real estate
Don’t act so surprised.Nine out of 10 home buyers use a real estate agent in the search process, but use of the Internet to search for a home has risen dramatically over time, increasing from only 2 percent of buyers in 1995 to 77 percent in 2005; it was 74 percent in 2004. The next largest source of information for buyers is a yard sign, mentioned by 71 percent of buyers. …The median home price for sellers who use an agent is 16.0 percent higher than a home sold directly by an owner; $230,000 vs. $198,200; there were no significant differences between the types of homes sold. The real estate profession is changing. Information is much more widely available. The value that a competent Realtor can add to a transaction is quantifiable both monetarily and in the consumer’s sanity and satisfaction. A home transaction is often the largest single transaction in one’s life; having competent representation is a good idea – and worth it.The most important factor in choosing an agent was reputation, according to 41 percent of home buyers …
Buyer Presentation Letters
“Who are they?” That is the question that almost every single one of my Seller clients asks … immediately following “What is the price?” “When do they want to close?”I was looking at some of the keyword phrases that brought visitors to this site, and saw “realtor buyer cover letters;” leading to this previous post titled “It’s not always about the money.” Given appropriate time, I always write cover letters presenting my Buyers to the Sellers. Especially in a highly competitive market, that letter may make the difference between the Seller’s acceptance of our offer versus one of the others. Even in a less competitive market, I think that a presentation letter is 1) a nice thing to do and 2) something that sets me apart from the competition.