You mention asking the four top offers to improve their offers with specific terms. Without giving away info that is too confidential, I would like to understand what you asked for. It seems an unusual practice to do this. Most people are maxed out on their offer to begin with and are usually advised by their buyer agent what should be offered.
I think this strategy could theoretically backfire later for the seller - after an inspection report comes in. If a seller asked me to sweeten my original offer and I was the winning bidder AND paying more than list price, I might be looking to recoup some of this back or be less willing to let minor things that came up in inspection to slide in my counteroffer back to the seller!
I am not blackeyedsusan, but when there are multiple competing offers its not uncommon to ask the bidders to come back with a “best and final” offer. Perhaps they wanted a certain down payment, or closing within a certain date, or opportunity to rent back until the new place is ready, or buyer to pay all closing costs, or have no contingencies or a cap on the results of the inspection (like safety items only), etc. In a sellers market, lots are possible.
Jym, thanks for elaborating. That would make more sense. We sold in a seller’s market in CA but accepted top offer without considering other bids…then had some back and forth with counteroffers between us after inspection.
Can be quite a game, no matter what part of country you live in!
My cousin, from NYC, an MIT educated architect, was hired to build a similar “castle” on a large parcel overlooking Lake Berryessa, I was there 5 years prior to her engagement, you need a SUV to climb that 30+ degree slope, but once you got there, the view of the lake is breath taking. Yes, you have to scale the 500 ft cliff to go from the highway under directly.
And I truly believe that in order to get building material on top you need to build a cable car, helicopter would be better.
Yes, jym is right. Since we had multiple offers we thought it made the most sense (and was most fair to multiple potential buyers) to invite them to compete on the terms most important to us, such as a certain closing date, a shorter option period (where a buyer can back out for any reason and simply lose their option fee which is typically very low, such as $250). They had the opportunity to increase their offering price if they wanted, but when it’s this close, some of the other terms are more important than who simply offered the most money. One of the potential buyers who had made an offer was going to put 50% down in cash but the price they offered was below our asking price. We didn’t know if they were aware that there were multiple offers and our invitation back to them made it clear that we received offers above list and we were inviting them to consider increasing their offer. This was more fair than just rejecting them and counter-offering with the one who bid the highest and locking ourselves into just negotiating with them.
I’ve heard that if the bank appraisal comes in below the price offered that the buyer has to pay cash. Is that correct? If so, it seems like the buyers today don’t want to shell out any cash - they’d rather have a turn key home and just get a loan.
For example, if the house is listed at 785k and appraised at 785k but offer is 815k - will the buyer have to pay cash for the difference (in this case $30k) and they cannot get a loan for anything over 785k?
I have a friend in Rumson who has had three offers but it fell through each time because they couldn’t pay for the property tax which is 90k. She finally found a buyer a 4th time that was able to handle the property tax. Crazy!
In NJ, we had to put 5% down in order to make an offer on a home and it wasn’t refundable either. That was scary but it all worked out. I have no idea if that is still required today but $250 is peanuts compared to what we went through.
That’s some property tax, nj17. In my sons case they put 30% diwn in case it didn’t appraise. It’s a good thing they did as the appraisal was just a little low.
I believe that is how it works. In our case, we had our house appraised ourselves right before we put it on the market, and it came in 75K under the price we finally negotiated with our buyer. But because he had private financing and wanted to close in a week (!), he never bothered to have it appraised, so the subject never came up.
newjersey – in Texas there is an option period now that’s negotiated between the buyer and seller that is typically for a period of 7-10 days and a negotiated amount for an option fee (typically between $250 - $500). During the option period the buyer will schedule their inspections and if they don’t like the results or decide against moving forward for any reason, they can walk away and only forfeit their option fee. In addition, there is still earnest money that’s put down and comes into play after the option period expires. When we bought our house 23 years ago, there was no such thing as an option period – you had to write in the contract that if the home required more than $X in repairs as shown in inspection, you could walk away without forfeiting your earnest money. That’s changed now.
Also, as I understand it, if the house doesn’t appraise, it’s up to the parties to negotiate who pays the difference. If there’s a lender, they won’t finance above the appraised price. We were hoping for a cash buyer so that appraisal wouldn’t be an issue, but no such luck.
When we sold house in CA our realtor was concerned that the comps wouldn’t come in on target which would mean if the buyer financed, they had to hit a certain price window. If bank said the house not worth that amount, that we would have to re-negotiate the price or buyer would have to come up with more cash. With that sale, the buyer’s lender did two appraisals, and fortunately everything was okay.
When we bought in WA, our bank also insisted on two appraisals, scheduled a few weeks apart. Not sure why the second one - but it is their money, so we had to sit on pins and needles. Also, came back okay in trrms of range of price. Second bank appraisal MUCH more thorough than first.
If a bank appraisal comes in low the buyer does not technically have to pay all cash for the difference, just a lot more down payment. Say offer on house is $500k with 20% down. They are willing to put $100k down with $400k loan. If bank appraisal comes in at only $450k, the bank will only loan $360k on the value of the house. So buyers have to put $140k for down payment. Some buyers do not have the extra $40k in cash for the down payment and most buyers will try to get a reduction in sale price based on the appraisal.
When I was looking at the Villa Sorriso video, I thought, humph, a screening room, all those expensive houses have screening rooms but who really needs a screening room?
Oh. Movie stars need a screening room. Villa Sorriso was the late Robin Williams’ estate.
Why doesn’t the estate sell? It it had been for sale for quite awhile.
I used to have a 10 ft screen. Front projection tv. I liked it a lot. Sports and movies were great on that screen. There are too many women here. I can say this…it is nice to see beautiful bodies which are larger than life.
If my house had a different configuration, I might own another one. Then again, my wife hated it.
I must have wanted the screen to compensate for some of my shortcomings. Lol
I own very few things now. The screen would stand out.
Ironically, dstark, I just got the “video tour” of the kids new place, and s’s fiancee mentioned the idea of a projection option onto a wall in the living room. Its not the same as what you are talking about, but is (a) was a female supporting a projection idea and (b) it would make things “larger than life”.
Is it the same Napa that had an earthquake not long ago?
Somehow my iphone does not allow me to watch the video of Sorroso Villa in the link. Sometimes I think my phone hates me and does not allow me to do what I want to do (e.g., posting on CC is often a pain in the a$$.)
Talking about TV, we had a hard time to get rid of our (likely 34") CRT tube TV. They did not want that kind of TV any more (too heavy for its screen size?) even though it was still in a working condition.
