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<p>here is what Los Altos Patch says. Whereas everywhere on the internet are trouting the “$100million dollar house”. whether it is $100m or otherwise, THERE IS A LOT OF SPECULATION.</p>
<p>BTW, the title profile from the title company says $100 million, apn 175-36-046, that is in the public record. sale date is 2/1/2011.</p>
<p>And if you are really curious, pay about $25 to order a copy of the deed, doc no 21072301</p>
<p>I had already linked that article in my post #801 ;)</p>
<p>No need to order a copy of the deed, I’ll concede that the transfer tax isn’t on it. That doesn’t mean the transfer tax is not available, as the Associated Press was able to obtain it with no problem. My point is that transfer tax is available from the Clerk-Recorder’s Office in Santa Clara County, whether it’s on the deed or not. </p>
<p>I’m not concerned about Milner’s home, I have other concerns.</p>
<p>vball, Exactly.</p>
<p>How is your purchase contract going?</p>
<p>^ we’re still the backup contract. The seller contacted the buyer’s lender and was told that there was no way they could close escrow by the date she needed to sell (this Thursday). So she sent a Notice to Perform asking for the appraisal and financing contingencies to be removed. We thought that would be the end of that contract, but the buyer came back - on a holiday - with the contingencies removed. The next step is another Notice to Perform demanding that the loan documents be sent to the title company. That goes out tomorrow with two days to produce them. </p>
<p>I’m guessing that if the buyer was willing to take the risk of not having financing come through and losing his deposit, then he’s got a plan to gather enough cash to buy the house on Thursday. I’d be very surprised if our backup contract ends up with us getting the house. But stranger things have happened, or so my Realtor tells me ;)</p>
<p>I think the buyer had the financing commitment already, just did not have all the paperwork in line.</p>
<p>Well, most likely you have to send out flyers again…:)</p>
<p>Here is what I think you should do. Drive around the target area at dinner time and see if the house is dark or not, if it is dark, have your realtor check the ownership from the title co. If the owner is in trouble or not at the same address. send them a personalized letter asking if they will sell or not. Its better than shot in the dark, so to speak.</p>
<p>We have a building lot for sale. This spring an offer was placed on it. The offer was in two parts … a discounted sale price contingent on a builder obtaining a contract to build a house on the lot, and a separate right-of-first-refusal.</p>
<p>How does this relate to “How is the selling season going?” The deposit amount (if we agreed to the offer) was $10.</p>
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<p>this is unclear to me, I am a land specialist among others.
First of all, are you inclined to accept the offer?
Secondly, how long is the contract?
Thirdly, the price on the offer is what they are willing to pay, do you mean discount to your listing price? And, do you mean “obtaining a building permit” instead of “obtaining a contract”?
Fourth, if you get into the contract and it is binding, why first of refusal is important?</p>
<p>It is not unusal for a land owner in this market to accept an offer with nothing down. Its hard enough to sell existing houses let alone land to build a house. The developer needs to spend a lot of money to get entitlement (building permit). OTOH, we are still going gang busters in some parts of Sillicon Valley.</p>
<p>alp - I’ll paraphrase:</p>
<p>The undersigned offer $X (roughly 85% of list price) for building lot located at XYZ, contingent on Builder ABC obtaining a signed contract to build a house on the lot. Additionally, the owner shall provide the undersigned sole “right of first refusal” to purchase the lot, in exchange for which the undersigned will pay $10. This offer is good for 30 days. Acceptance of this offer will result in a contract with no expiration.</p>
<p>We let the offer expire. We didn’t feel that $10 was sufficient compensation for potential complications.</p>
<p>Your action is correct. A contingency without an ending date is doomed for disaster. In addition, there are too many loose ends in the offer you should stay away. It is not professionally done and hope you can find a better deal.</p>
<p>good luck.</p>
<p>"… not professionally done …"</p>
<p>Our thoughts exactly when we decided to decline.</p>
<p>^^ I guess vball lost her deal…</p>
<p>What about jym? should be in contract by now.</p>
<p>We just sold a property we own in Singapore. We made 30% after 3 years of ownership. We will likely buy another property here (in a better location) as the market is favorable, but are also thinking to buy a 2 bedroom condo in Washington DC or Montgomery County (Bethesda). Is anyone following the market there?</p>
<p>Are you coming back stateside Robyrm???</p>
<p>We are slowly plodding along, artloversplus. Yes, we are in contract (though the back up offer was a bit better, but we were farther along with this one). Still much to do as they are planning to use difficult financing. Stay tuned.</p>
<p>robynm,
The DC/MontCo market (esp. close-in suburbs) has not taken nearly the bloodbath that much of the rest of the country has. I was looking to see what a 3 BR condo would run in Bethesda (idle fantasies about being closer to DC and DH’s work, and no yard), and there was nothing much under $600k. Not a lot of 3BR condos in the area, period. There is a lot of gentrification going on in DC. Some gorgeous condos have been in the paper – but we are not looking to move up in price.</p>
<p>A lot of what lists on Zillow as Bethesda is in fact the White Flint area of Rockville…</p>
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<p>Yup. It’s ok, we’re settled into our rental and it’s nice to take a break from packing/moving/unpacking. There probably won’t be anything else on the market until January at the earliest so we’re just going to relax for a bit.</p>
<p>Hope your buyer gets his financing ducks in a row, jym.</p>
<p>Hi, not moving to the US any time soon… but might put one of our children in the condo (renting from us) if he stays on in DC after grad school, as he wants… and we buy.</p>
<p>I want 3 blocks or less to the red line, the closer in the better. We will take a look at Xmas, I think. DC seems a reasonably secure investment, but just for a lark we are also looking at Cape May Point. Property is just starting to sell there, but prices are still pretty low. </p>
<p>Selling our place here is a bit of a nightmare in terms of paperwork, but the actual getting it sold was a breeze. Properties here can be purchased ‘freehold’ or for 99 years. Surprisingly, if it is a 99 year ownership, people are not keen to buy if it is more than 10-15 years old. I am not particularly concerned about the property 84 years from now, I must confess… but people here are.</p>
<p>SF looks pretty good…</p>
<p>[IPOs</a> stoke San Francisco housing market - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ipos-stoke-san-francisco-housing-034321653.html]IPOs”>http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ipos-stoke-san-francisco-housing-034321653.html)</p>
<p>Property tax appeal successful! (See post #583)</p>
<p>Very nice, Shrinkrap. Congratulations.</p>
<p>Thank you! $65k reduction in value! But odd to talk about it as a good thing.</p>