<p>jshain’s experience just illustrated that the broker’s commission is negotiable…even at residential level. In commercial RE, lots of my closing entails buyer’s paying selling broker’s commission and it varied widely in rates and amounts.</p>
<p>(Crossposted from the 2013 thread friends) The deal with the all-cash buyer for MIL’s house went astray because they didn’t return the signed counter-offer cleaning up the language problems and omissions; meanwhile we got two other offers, one of which was all cash at above asking price, and the agent for the buyer had worked hard with our agent to make sure that everything was correct so that it would not need a counter. Escrow began today, and is supposed to close in 21 days. Tomorrow we get the preliminary word on the results of the termite inspection, and Friday for the safety/code inspection. Buyer’s inspector in there by Monday. I can tell this is going to be a roller-caster of a month. But, there is no appraisal contingency, so that’s one thing we do not have to deal with. The other offer was from a buyer who was getting an FHA loan with 3 1/2% down and a 670 credit score. I thought we learned something during the housing meltdown, but I guess not. She was approved up to $800K. (Way more than the cost of MIL’s house.) She wrote us a very nice letter on why she wanted the house – never seen that before.</p>
<p>Having plowed through the mass of paperwork required for an offer, and the veritable mountain of paperwork required for disclosures – most of which is boilerplate written at a reading level far above 12th grade – I’m convinced that this mass of paper actually keeps people from getting a clear picture of what it all means. Page after page citing the text of California statutes, pages that seem to say basically what some other page three back already said, just slightly differently, and warnings that should not be news to anyone. There are earthquakes in California! Who knew? Freeways are associated with noise! Airports might someday expand, or planes might fall out of the sky!</p>
<p>So Cal market seems to be very hot, but I think our agent is well worth the 5% commission. He’s worked hard for it, and done a very good job.</p>
<p>Last time we bought a house, the listing printout that our agent had showed buters agent 3%, but then when you turned to the fine print, it said “on the first $100k” there was a much smaller percentage on the rest. Luckily the agent was classy and still performed as a professional despite the seller being rather slimy and despite being paid about 1/3 of what he had expected.</p>
<p>Where we live it is not uncommon for the commission to be 5% with 3% going to the buyer’s agent.</p>
<p>I have seen far too many times when the agent’s only solution is to lower the price, sometimes you need to wait for your buyer not fire sale to any buyer.</p>
<p>It turns out we are idiots. Thirteen years ago we redid our kitchen. Got the proper permits and everything – did it by the book!! Turns out we never got a certificate of occupancy. Calling the Building Dept first thing Monday AM. Fingers crossed we get one with no problem – otherwise our sale is off, which means our purchase is off, which means there will be lots of angry realtors, not to mention our buyer. </p>
<p>We’re idiots.</p>
<p>Oy.
We had to go through this when we sold my dads house. Don’t know if the rules are the same for the 2 states, but we had to get it permitted and inspected and brought up to code from when they did the upgrades to get the COO (cert. of occupancy). Thank heavens for a WONDERFUL cc’er who works in this field and happens to live in the area who took care of all this for us!</p>
<p>VeryHappy, if you did the works with permits it should be pretty trivial to get a C of O. The only issue would be if they decided work should be up to current code instead of the existing code at the time. (But I think that’s unlikely if you just have open permits.) If there were any major changes from the filed plans you may have to file amended plans. The real issues come when people have done the work without permits.</p>
<p>I’m always astounded how many people get tripped up by illegal bathrooms and decks when they come to sell the house, or even more often with estate sales, leaving a big problem for the poor kids. Do your heirs a favor and get permits!</p>
<p>Amen, mathmom!! ;)</p>
<p>What happens if the work was done without permits?</p>
<p>Interesting scenario going on in the neighborhood. Great house down the street went on the market because couple is splitting. Priced very low. Sold in less than two months. Neighbors also selling house because of divorce, but their house, similar square footage, priced about 33 percent higher. Lo and behold, the husband has bought out the wife and the house is now off the market. Wondering if he got it reappraised based on the comp of the cheap sale down the street and got a bargain. He is taking out the carpets and doing some work. I’m guessing he’s going to flip it. While husband is not happy about that, I am, as I work out of the house and have to listen to the wild teenagers that have been having drunken orgies in the empty house for the last three months. And I’ve been the one picking up the empty beer cans and condom wrappers that wind up on my front lawn. Same neighbor’s tree feel on my house during the hurricane, and put a hole in my roof. We’re not even going to pursue him for reimbursement, even though lawyers I work with tell me he should pay for my damage. It comes in under my deductible, so we have to eat it. No help from FEMA. We’re actually employed and don’t qualify for any disaster relief.</p>
<p>On the flip side, the abandoned house with the dead tree is getting a lot of action. The dead tree fell on that house and gravity is working its magic, as more and more of the attic and second story is being taken out by the dead tree. Lots of young couples looking at it, with the idea, I suspect, of getting a steal that they can fix up themselves, much like those who bought gutted houses after Katrina and now live in nice houses they normally couldn’t have afforded.</p>
<p>so far we received 4 offers, two are over the asking price, one from an FHA borrower which is under par and will be rejected. Bids are closing at 5pm pst. So we shall see.</p>
<p>What is the logic for closing the bidding at a certain time when you have multiple interested parties? Wouldn’t it be better to get a bidding war going for as long as you can?</p>
<p>Yea, you are right. But I will have more than 4 interested parties into the bidding and that I can deal with after the 5pm. I don’t want to drag it out forever. I will ask for the best and final offer at 5pm.</p>
<p>I also will put the financial conditions, owner occupying or not and if they will sign the ASIS addendum into consideration. We have full disclosure and nothing to hide.</p>
<p>In addition, a hot market like we do in the bay area, it is common to have a property sold in days. If the price is right, there will be multiple offers but there always is a limit. I do not expect to squeeze the last dollar, I am looking for strong buyers with financing in place, so I can move on to another project smoothly.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to catch Million Dollar Listings when I can. Always think of you guys when I watch it. In my neck of the woods, it’s hard to believe there are people out there who can actually afford houses in this price range. Ah, one can dream. I don’t think even winning the lottery would put me in the ballpark of some of these houses.</p>
<p>Blackstone Group announced they’re coming to Tampa area with their checkbook to buy upwards of 15,000 existing single family houses within the next three years to rent out. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out for our area. It might be transparent to most of us locals, or it might end up with us just having a giant new slumlord operating in Tampa Bay and creating a worse situation. Young people aren’t buying homes like they did years ago and I guess renting is bigger today than years past.</p>
<p>[Blackstone</a> to buy $1 billion worth of Tampa Bay homes for rentals - Tampa Bay Times](<a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/blackstone-to-buy-1-billion-worth-of-tampa-bay-homes-for-rentals/1252624]Blackstone”>Blackstone to buy $1 billion worth of Tampa Bay homes for rentals)</p>
<p>I think the Blackstone buy sucks.</p>
<p>I think it would be better for society if the banks loosened up and loaned more money to homebuyers. </p>
<p>It is too difficult for people to get loans when the cost of buying is less than the cost of renting. The risk is much smaller now in the housing market than it has been in a long time. </p>
<p>Right now people are having a hard time qualifying for loans, so the institutions are buying the homes. Eventually lending will loosen up. When home prices are higher.
The public gets the short end of the stick over and over.</p>
<p>I am not blaming Blackstone. The playing fields are so slanted. Taxpayers are bailing out the financial instititions and the taxpayers get paid back by not qualifying for loans when rates are dirt cheap and home prices are low.</p>
<p>Too, on top of everything else, it would be an especially bitter pill for any Tampa folks who lost their home to bank foreclosure to find out after moving back into the same home owned by their new landlord Blackstone to discover the Blackstone investment trust owned house is maybe partially owned by the Chinese government as an investment. Nothing personal, it’s just business.</p>
<p>Its hard to ascertain who is behind the money to buy those homes. A lot of foreign investors, but not necessarily Chinese or otherwise.</p>
<p>[About</a> Our Limited Partners](<a href=“http://www.blackstone.com/limited-partners/about-our-limited-partners]About”>Home - Blackstone)</p>
<p>Our house in California is going to be on the market in a few weeks – our realtor has decided to go for a higher asking price then she thought we could get a couple of months ago when we first started talking. I’m getting the sense that things are moving there. I hope so!</p>