<p>An update - the seller has signed our counter as a backup contract and the Notice to Perform has been sent to the current buyer. He has 2 days to remove his financing contingency. If he can’t, the house is ours next week. If he can scramble and line up the financing, then we lose the house and wait for the next one.</p>
<p>I do feel badly for this buyer as it can’t entirely be his fault that his lender isn’t coming through for him. In the same way banks were way too lax 5 years ago (“sure, we’ll pretend your income is $xxx,xxx, no problem, heheh”), they’ve gone way too far the other way now. My mortgage broker sent a list of 12 more things we need to provide - letters, minor tax forms, a report on my business that they say can only come from my accountant, etc, etc. </p>
<p>We got creative about the offer and convinced our Realtor to agree to a side deal for his commission, rather than having it come from the seller. That reduced the purchase price by 2.5% thereby reducing the cash we’d need to come up with. We’ll pay the commission when our loan comes through rather than at close of escrow. The seller’s net is the same either way, even slightly higher since she’ll save on the county transfer tax which is paid by the seller as a percent of sales price.</p>
<p>all cash buyer are difficult to come by and the bank loan is the problem. the next door neighbor of my friend’s home was sold to a buyer with all cash for $1M and we looked at the house before they close, it requires a LOT of renovations. As soon as the buyer closed the deal, another buyer came who offered $100K more to buy it with a bank loan contingency. The first buyer made $100K in about a month without lifting a finger.</p>
<p>It is a VERY special house, panorama unobstructed view of the Bay from Bay bridge to Dumbarton, right on top of the San Mateo Bridge overlooking Forster City… You cannot get better than that, not even @ College of San Mateo.</p>
<p>otoh, the house has not been updated since the 60’s…Owner went to memory units.</p>
<p>The real estate is only hot in certain areas:</p>
<ol>
<li>Where they have large, growing employers like Facebook, Google and the like…</li>
<li>Whenver there is a bargain, flippers come to feast.</li>
</ol>
<p>Not all Silicon Valley is hot, my aunt has difficulties to sell in Almaden Valley.</p>
<p>its hot right in the heart of the SF mid peninsula. Almaden is way too far a commute for these new SF or PA millionaires. Hubby had 2 more deals signed just last night. It is unreal around here right now. And Facebook and Zynga haven’t even gone public yet.</p>
<p>akp - As you can see in the pictures, there’s PLENTY of room to land a Harrier JumpJet in the back yard!</p>
<p>d - “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was my friend. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.” To which I would append: “And Cairo is no Connecticut. Heck, it’s not even Alameda!”</p>