What nerve coming in with a lower offer than they said! Might as well keep them jumping while you go ahead and finalize the sale!
Re the official backup offer: why am I not surprised. Either the buyers or their agent or both are just not straightforward, honest people.
At the end of the process…would it be OK to let that son agent know that his clients would have had the house if they had been straightforward in their bidding process? It might help,them with the next bid they make.
But would it? Letting the seller know how much you love a property may put you at a disadvantage in negotiations, especially if you are the sole bidder, as these folks initially were. CB is not the typical seller. I think the agent for buyer #1’s biggest mistake was not figuring out whether his client’s priority was to get a great property or to get a steal. If the latter, you win some and lose some. But clearly his client really wanted that property, and the agent blew it.
“At the end of the process…would it be OK to let that son agent know that his clients would have had the house if they had been straightforward in their bidding process?”
Very bad idea.
CB has no reason to try to “educate” any agent of the possible " woulda-shouoda-coulda" scenarios regarding what he should have had his clients offer or when. She is not his broker.
Mamma broker and son can figure out what they did wrong based on their NOT getting a sales commission. Or not.
I would definitely minimize communications with the mama/S brokers. They may represent someone in the future who wants one of CB’s homes and she may decide to consider a future offer. Mama sounds like she’s been in the business long enough to make strategic choices, which they did. Moving on is best and cleanest in these situations.
As a negotiating strategy, you wouldn’t expect the back-up offer to be as high as the offer that losing bidder made when they were trying to win a bidding war. By definition, the back up offer only comes into play if the initial winning bidder drops out. Less competition means lower offer. I don’t fault the losing bidder for coming in lower on the back-up offer.
And CB didn’t give them any indication that they were outbid (since they weren’t); the message was they were too late. The extra bucks in the Hail-Mary offer by the losing bidder were likely motivated by an attempt to induce CB to abandon her scruples (which she wouldn’t do). The losing bidders know there is no longer the need for that sweetener in the back-up offer since she can accept it without screwing anyone over.
Nottelling has it correct. At this point the original buyer’s agent knows the offer amount that was accepted. When we signed the deal, it was explained to them why Seller went with the other offer. So, they don’t need to sweeten their offer any more than they want to. I am guessing they offered just enough to make sure that I wouldn’t entertain anyone else for backup.
Someone really really wants a house if they are going to go to the trouble of a backup offer because, technically, they need to be careful looking for another property. Of course they can get out of it, but they usually put their search on hold waiting to see if they are going to get the house they want.
Yes, there is a slim possibility that I might be dealing with these agents in the future. I always want to be careful to keep a good reputation with all the real estate agents in town. For example, that unethical agent that sold the Hoarder House still calls me all the time checking to see if I need anything, I just stay pleasant.
Its highly unlikely that I will come across these agents again because they deal in $2 million plus homes - I can only dream!! But, they could be representing down sizing buyers looking for something I am trying to sell.
Speaking of agents… I have received two calls from local Point Loma agents in the last couple of days. They say they have properties coming up soon that I might be interested in. Both of them congratulated me on sale of Nipoma (Yikes, either they follow every single sale in Point Loma… which they should if they are in the business… or they follow my movements too closely)
One is the agent that sold one of the distressed houses we discussed recently that sold very quickly. The owner passed away and the two heirs are dealing with selling real estate. Their mother’s primary residence is still being cleared out and will go up for sale soon.
Another was an agent who was selling something last year that I was outbid on, but she kept my number for the future because she liked my honest approach (or at least that is what she said). She was very sly, didn’t reveal too much but I’m hoping I will get a chance to make an offer on the property.
How exciting!!!
This is why I have to be really careful with projects in this neighborhood. In other neighborhoods where I have done projects, the agents are all spread out and it’s very rare that a really local agent is representing a buyer in one of the transactions. But Point Loma (similar to Coronado or La Jolla) is very tight and the agents are established, close knit. They all know each other and the weekly realtor meetings and Broker Caravans draw a large steady group. Frankly, some of these agents should have retired awhile ago but they just keep going 
There’s still some agents here that don’t know how to use the electronic signature software, etc. All done by hand on paper !
The sooner for your followers on cc, the better! And don’t you need to keep your guys employed steadily?
But, maybe you need a break!
I’m off to prep the house for the Home Inspection. I like to set out all the manuals, warranties, keys, remotes, etc to facilitate the inspection. Also, I’m going to do a final test of heat, AC, hot water and stuff like that to see if there are any surprises.
Most of the time my agent will arrive at the home inspection at the end to hear the results. Sometimes I get a call to come over to the property to meet with the buyers and home inspector. I am very hesitant to do that this time because it was such an awful experience on the last project. The inspector was argumentative and nasty and I sank into a defensive mode. I don’t want to be put in that position again. But, I have learned that it is very difficult to try to figure out exactly what the problem is from a paper report. Sometimes it is beneficial to be able to have an inspector point out exactly what the problem is.
My guys usually like to take at least 3 weeks off during the holiday period because they travel to visit relatives. But, there has been some years where I have to beg them to stay through December and January because we are in the middle of a project. Timing can’t always be perfect, but this timing is going to work out.
December is a really good time to push hard to find a property. Most owner-occupant buyers stop their search over the holidays. There are not very many buyers out there, so less competition. When I used to go to the foreclosure auctions, even the investor competition slims down and it was easier to try to get something at auction.
But, even if I run around and purchase something… I think I will just hold it until January because I do need a break right now.
Holy moly!! I just toured a property that has been on the market for awhile but the agent is insisting that she knows the ‘secret price’ it is going to take to buy the property. It is in trust with 18 beneficiaries!!! Usually when there are 18 beneficiaries there are always one or two who are desperate for the money now!! They want it sold, no matter what. But it’s an interesting situation where two banks (Wealth Management Division) are trustees and they are keeping the emotion out of it.
Mid Century Modern, huge views over San Diego Harbor, in prestigious neighborhood, needs work. But, my concerns are that it has slight traffic noise, small square footage for the neighborhood, no useable yard AND asking price too high. Agent keeps insisting it will sell for $1.5 million all fixed up to the buyers who are frantic for mid century modern. My opinion is that buyers looking for mid century modern are not in the $1.5 million range, they are younger buyers.
Personally, buying something in the $1 million range scares me to death. That is a lot of debt to be carrying for a risky future sale. Sale prices in neighborhood are all over the map, although there is definitely nothing selling for less than $1.2 in neighborhood, no matter what it is.
Home inspection went fine. Just some small things we missed that need to get corrected (GFI outlets in garage, missing insulation in a tight corner in crawlspace under house).
The buyers will probably submit their Request for Repairs by tomorrow because they are going out of town all week next week. I don’t really know what they will request.
VERY INTERESTING !!
My agent called me after the Home Inspection and said that a woman walked into the house and asked for “XX” who is the husband. She dropped her card on the table - Property Management Company. After the inspection stuff was all done, the property management lady started walking around with the buyers discussing Rental stuff.
What the hey??? I know that it is none of my business but they definitely represented themselves as Owner Occupant, they were going to move into the house. Not sure what is going on, but I wasted a bunch of time helping them brainstorm how to make it work for their extended family living arrangement. My agent thinks they are going to set it up as a vacation rental for maximum income.
I’m guessing that they are purchasing the house as an investment - the whole thing doesn’t make any sense. Since they are All Cash Buyers (not trying to get an owner occupant loan) it really is none of our business what they do with the house.
OK, where was that home inspector when we were buying MY house?
Yay on the inspection! It sounds like this inspector was quite reasonable.
I really lucked out in one area… I definitely pointed out the weird stripe in the flooring that was repaired where the flooring guy (who has not answered my frantic calls to come fix it) forgot the first layer of stain. It’s real obvious and I have been very worried about the time and effort that will be involved to try to strip down one small area of the floor.
They didn’t seem to care when I pointed it out last Sunday evening, and no one has ever mentioned it since. It’s real obvious right now because all the furniture has been removed. I may have dodged a big bullet