<p>"We’re thinking of taking it anyway - bird in hand & all that. "</p>
<p>grab it!!!</p>
<p>nothing worse than having regrets, months later , over the one that got away.</p>
<p>The way I would do it in a hot market like this is to announce a set date, like a week or two after the listing to wait for all the offers to evaluate. You do not want to take the first offer, but you want to let the buyers know that they will get their answer on that announced date.</p>
<p>A house next to mine entered the contract in 6 days and closed in 30 days after that. There were 6 offers on the announced 6th day of listing and sold for $20k over the asking.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s how it’s worked both buying and selling my first house in CA - broker tour on Friday, open house on Sunday, offers presented the following Tuesday. Unless you live here it’s hard to imagine how crazy this market can be. My family on the East Coast is agog.</p>
<p>Our current buyers came in Thursday evening before the broker tour. My Realtor had stipulated no showings before the tour, but we decided to let them see the house anyway as they were going to be out of town on Sat/Sun. </p>
<p>We’ve decided to accept the offer - it’s close to our desired price, a higher price per square foot than most in our town, no contingencies, 25% down, strong letter of pre-approval from their lender, and close of escrow in 30 days. Our Realtor is going to hold today’s open house as planned in case anyone wants to write a back-up offer.</p>
<p>Higher than every thing sold in the area? You will never know. In the crazy years of 2000, I was told, the houses in our area price increased $50K each MONTH. Those guys bought the house in my neighborhood for ~400K in mid 1998 saw their investment soar close to a Million by end of 2000. New homes were sold by lottery, my friend bought it for $600k in 1999 called themselves lucky. Then everything goes up will come down, as the deep recession hits in 2008 the $Million dollar homes soon fall back to the 600K level.</p>
<p>I think the cycle had just started again. Its California.</p>
<p>“We’ve decided to accept the offer - it’s close to our desired price, a higher price per square foot than most in our town, no contingencies, 25% down, strong letter of pre-approval from their lender, and close of escrow in 30 days. Our Realtor is going to hold today’s open house as planned in case anyone wants to write a back-up offer”</p>
<p>Terrific, and great strategy to hold the open house. I’ll bet you do get back up offers. Congratulations! A bird in the hand is always better than 2 in the bush. And If the first offer does fall through, buyers will be even more eager to grab your home as soon as it comes back on the market, since it was snatched up so quickly! Makes it even more desirable.</p>
<p>Vballmom…congrats…i don’t think the deal is going to fall through. Looks like a done deal.</p>
<p>A friend of mine offered his house for about 55,000 Less than he wanted to…and he received a bid 5,000 over his asking price before any open houses…50,000 less than he was hoping for…and he took it. Then he had an open house and nobody else bid.</p>
<p>So he is glad he accepted the first bid. You never know…most of the time…that first bid is the best.</p>
<p>As far as silicon valley heating up…well…the financial markets are getting crushed…groupon may not go public…pandora is starting to crater…the nsdq has been dropping and the facebook ipo has been delayed…so who knows?</p>
<p>dstark thanks, yes I think it’s a done deal. </p>
<p>I’m happy with our decision to take the first offer. The open houses over the weekend weren’t as heavily-trafficked as we thought they might be and no other serious buyer has come forward. Our Realtor will continue to show the house this week while we’re out of town if anyone seems keen on seeing it, but he’s removed the lockbox.</p>
<p>The market here in Silicon Valley is hot for well-maintained, well-located houses. LinkedIn and Facebook employees aren’t having any problem cashing in despite the fact that they can’t yet trade their options publicly. My Realtor had another listing earlier this month that sold in a couple of days for over $5 million, all cash, to an early Facebook employee.</p>
<p>First offer is ususally the best…and your offer is so clean…it’s great.</p>
<p>So vballmom…are you going to rent?</p>
<p>Yeah…I forgot about the private markets for securities…</p>
<p>Yes, looking for a rental right now. We’re planning to buy if/when a house comes on the market in a very specific area that we’ve been watching for the past couple of years. There’s only one house on the market there now. It’s been renovated and is $200K over our price limit. We’d rather buy a fixer-upper and renovate it ourselves.</p>
<p>
Have you tried mailing everyone in that area, or sticking a flyer in their mailbox, asking if anyone is interested in selling?</p>
<p>My DW, who is a RE agent, has found people willing to sell using this method.</p>
<p>Congrats, vballmom, smart move to take a good offer. In this market, you never know what could happen. If the EU implodes because of Greece et al, or the tax/regulatory climate in the US continues to get worse, even the stronger real estate markets here could soften up. In fact, if you close your sale a downturn could actually help you on the buy side. Good luck!</p>
<p>"If the EU implodes because of Greece et al, or the tax/regulatory climate in the US continues to get worse, even the stronger real estate markets here could soften up. In fact, "</p>
<p>I think post # 631 is too political. ;)</p>
<p>ok vballmom…good luck on the buy side.</p>
<p>notrichenough people in that area get offers to buy pretty often. Our Realtor told us a story of one owner getting a hand-written letter every week for months from a buyer. Sellers usually don’t budge, but we’ll probably go the flyer route anyway just to give it a shot.</p>
<p>Roger that’s a nice thought, thanks 
This particular area has stayed strong even during the last downturn, at least for single family homes. Townhouses have taken a bit of a hit, but that’s not what we’re looking for.</p>
<p>dstark thanks :)</p>
<p>vball,</p>
<p>try the flyer anyway, because all the flyers and postcards we have received are all from brokers or agents, none from direct buyers, you are direct buyer and you have a 5% edge from a broker, ppl might listen. You may want to state like this:</p>
<p>Sincere Home Buyer in your area, we do not flip houses, we only want buy one home to live in, we pay full market value, you save on brokerage commission.</p>
<p>Was away for a bit, and glad to see the action on this thread. Way to go vballmom! Good luck MOWC! It’s nice to hear that some markets are moving ahead.</p>
<p>A slight snafu; the buyers’ Realtor checked the wrong box on the contract stating that the buyer would pay the cost of title insurance and preliminary title report fees. In my county it’s customary for the seller to pay these costs. In the county where the buyers’ Realtor normally does business it’s customary for the buyer to pay those costs, and in her rush to get the contract in before our open house she checked the wrong box. So they’re now asking us to pay the customary costs. </p>
<p>All of this negotiating was/is being done with us out of the country and 9 time zones away. I’m sure our Realtor would have flagged this if we’d been sitting at his desk going over the contract. But then again, we might have countered if we had known our bottom line was going to go down by $5K or so. Who knows…I’m thinking this isn’t my problem 
Surely the buyers’ Realtor can cough up the funds to cover her mistake.</p>
<p>artloversplus - yes, I think it’s well worth a shot to put out a flyer.</p>
<p>FauxNom thanks :)</p>
<p>Vball- seems like you accepted their offer based on the fees being paid by them. Now you have to decide how much hardball you want to play and risk the sale closing. Seems like the realtor might kick in some and/or perhaps settle with splitting the costs?</p>
<p>My initial thought is that if they are from a county where they are accustomed to paying the fees, how did they even realize it is usually the seller’s expense? Were they mentally assuming they would pay that amount until it was pointed out to them?</p>
<p>somemom - yes, I did the math and was happy with my net based on the buyers paying the title insurance and escrow fees. The buyers are from my county but their agent is from a different county. My guess is that the buyers didn’t realize they were going to pay this amount until they and/or their agent got the first draft of the buyer’s estimated statement and saw her mistake.</p>
<p>My Realtor will back me up in however I want to deal with it. I’m not going to negotiate this. If the buyers walk they’ll forfeit their $50K deposit.</p>
<p>it is very hard to get that deposit…</p>
<p>Hmmm, if they have that large deposit and would forfeit it, then you have the power to stand firm. I assume you did not accept the offer based on them paying the fees specifically, you based it on your projected bottom lime, it does not matter where it comes from- the fees, the sales price, the commission reduction, etc.</p>
<p>Can you get through the inspection before you address the issue or are they likely to try to make it back that way by demanding fixes on something that might justify getting that deposit back?</p>