Selling a home "as is"

Parent Cafe
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<p>As I have stated every state is different. In NJ they have 3 day attorney review. That means the attorney clears it. In NC, VA, AK, KS that does not exist. In NC you close at an attorney’s office. In VA you close with an attorney at a Settlement company.</p>

<p>Future, I have said this before many times, people should hire the agent that they feel comfortable with. I agree you and I are not a match. You have a mindset that you know it all and have no respect for the realtor. In my early real estate days I had to bite my tongue and take on clients like you. You believe realtors are no better than used car salesman. You see them as someone you must deal with because they are the ones that hold the key to get you into a home.</p>

<p>I have sat there and watched people who have this opinion that they can do this job blindfolded because it is not rocket science, but flip out when they realize the FSBO they just bought F***ed them over since they accepted their inspection and were not smart enough to have title search to prove that there were no clouds. I have had clients friends call me for advice and all I can say is SORRY, you are screwed because you did not have a realtor you were not informed that your fence is on the neighbors property and now they are selling they need you to move it 1 foot. SUCK IT UP. If you used me I would have had an addendum signed that the fence would remain or in worst case the seller would move it to agree with the survey.</p>

<p>I have no problem with you never using me. I actually prefer it. Believe it or not we have weekly meetings for training and we talk about high maintenance clients. It is an OH I can top your client. </p>

<p>The best story that has won is the realtor who walked into a closing and the buyer literally crossed words off the closing docs, such as and or so. The attorney after 2 1/2 hrs(closing is usually 45 mins) became so frustrated with the buyer he asked the buyer what do you do? The buyer said I am in IT and it is very complicated to explain, you would find it hard to understand. The attorney replied, I am an RE lawyer, it is also very complicated…now sign!</p>

<p>You are in college and I offended you by acknowledging that fact. I have bought and sold 5 of my own homes in 15 yrs. I have sold close to 20 million as a realtor in 5 yrs. I think I know the ins and outs better than you. I also want to stress again why I say it is important to mesh with the realtor. I am a Top Producer for NVAR, I am in the Mulit-Million Dollar Sales Club for VA, I am a Diamond, Emerald and Ruby recipient for sales, I was awarded Rookie of the yr for Century 21 Mid-Atlantic in 05. I have the credentials to prove that I can do it, but the reason why I have it is because I select my clients, just like my clients select me.</p>

<p>It is not personal, it is business. I would be a bad realtor if I took a client for the sake of a commission check. I take clients to be a soft spot to land on during this time. I take them if they can accept that this is a journey we are all on. I take them to see their smile when they are handed the keys. This is not about a paycheck, this is about life and touching others.</p>

<p>I can tell you that nothing touches me more than their hugs after we leave the settlement table. To see how excited they are about their future life makes me feel like I was a part of that happiness. I take joy in their exuberance, I walk away exhausted, but I skip and hop because I know I helped them get the American dream. I really can’t explain it, to me settlements are like Christmas, you just can’t help, but smile!</p>

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Are you an RE? Do you know NY RE law? Please don’t place a blanket statement like that unless you know by law that realtors are allowed to disclose the price and conditions offered. I am not NY licensed and I will not say if it is or is not allowed, but I would also not make a bold statement to say buyers know other offers. </p>

<p>It is important that sellers and buyers both understand there is more to a decision than just the $ offered. If you have owned a home you would get it. For example I could offer you 1 million for your 600K, but it is contingent on settling 36 months from now. I could offer you 595K for your 600K home cash right now. Which one do you take?</p>

<p>Please, please understand the severity of selling or buying a home. Like I said, to you it is clinical, 1+1=2, to those walking the path they are looking at 2+0=2, 3-1=2, 0+2=2. 4-2=2. It is not as clear cut as you want to believe.</p>

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<p>B&P, I am curious, what is your opinion about using a Buyer’s agent vs just a real estate agent. I have actually bought and sold a house in Virgina, but it was so long ago (20 years) I don’t remember many of the details except that our real estate agent was a real gem, and kept 2 very naive first time homebuyers from taking a financial bloodbath.</p>

<p>In my current state, the agent always represents the seller’s interests legally and tells you (the buyer) that, BUT, in practice if you are the buyer, your agent seems to be looking out for you. It has always seemed like a hard thing for the agent to deal with.</p>

<p>We just bought an investment/second home property, and considered using a buying agent, but the the area is rural and there aren’t that ,many real estate agents. This was a difficult purchase for us because we were trying to do this logically, not emotionally (that’s tough for us, even after 3 home purchases). Also, this is a rural area where in the best of times there aren’t many transactions, and very few true comps. The appraiser almost appraised the wrong house, the county recently changed the number of the road it is on, and his GPS sent him to the wrong place. He called our real estate agent and said ‘I don’t appraise log cabins and barns’. We have no idea if we got a good deal or not, but we like the cabin.</p>

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<p>If you’re happy, could afford it & don’t feel you got a terrible deal, that sounds like a winner to me! It IS tough to have comps when there is not much activity and nothing nearby (that’s the definition of comps after all). Enjoy your nice cabin and don’t sweat the small stuff.</p>

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<p>You summed up our feelings exactly Himom! Now if we just lived a little closer to the cabin :(.</p>

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<p>H and I are major “do it yourselfers”, but we have bought 4 homes (sold 3) and have ALWAYS used a realtor. We just felt that this is a situation where you really need someone who knows what he/she is doing. Just my opinion.</p>

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<p>I personally would never go with a buyer’s agent…go dual. </p>

<p>Many people feel that if they are on the listing side they won’t protect the buyer, but actually I feel differently.</p>

<p>A good realtor will offer up that the buyer can switch to another realtor in house. The realtor would not get a penny, but the client feels better.</p>

<p>As a homeowner I always picked my realtor from the on line listings and never had an issue. I used it to my advantage…basically said " look, you are getting 6% WE are not meeting at the price, shave your commission and now you get 5% instead of 3% if another realtor was on the buying side"</p>

<p>One key fact every realtor in states where the seller pays RE commission is hired by the selling side. Buying agent is a BS piece of paper and can actually hurt you depending on the state. In VA or NC if you sign Selling or Buying only and not DUAL, the agent cannot show one property listed with THEIR company… not only the agent, but the COMPANY. In other words you sign a buyers only agreement, I can’t show any property that the office listed. A dual means you will accept me showing our companies listings and if one of them is mine you can designate a realtor in the office to represent you instead of me. Fiscally that is stupid because when you are fighting over the pennies the easiest way to get to an acceptable amount is the realtor.</p>

<p>BE smart fiscally when you sell!</p>

<p>I too have shaved my commission, I am not stupid, a sale is a sale.</p>

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<p>A dual agent screams conflict of interest for some reason. However I’ll also be the first to admit I don’t trust anyone.</p>

<p>It’s like one lawyer (or firm) representing the acquirer and merger target at the same time.</p>

<p>BTW I’m not offended. What gave you that idea? Perhaps I didn’t make it clear, you’re the kind of person I would not want as my adversary.</p>

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<p>b and p-- Having just bought a property in No. VA, I find a lot of this thread really interesting. We backed out of a deal using the HOA docs. In reality our agent was not looking out for our best interests and we wanted out for several reasons. Our new agent was wonderful and we closed in three weeks on the new property. Hugs and smiles and we all went home…and we waited and waited to get our EMD back from that first property. Eventually we were sent a letter saying the first check must have been lost in the mail and here was a replacement. We all know there was no first check. Is there a penalty for not returning the earnest money promptly?</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks for the education, b and p. It makes me cringe how badly we mangled our first home purchase 17 years ago. We had no idea what we were doing, but out of sheer luck managed to get a deal of a lifetime. </p>

<p>One thing I remember about our home purchase, it was a fixer-upper (an apartment) in an elegant old building which at the time was also kind of run down. Both apt and building had wonderful “bones” though, and as a visual person I could see the potential right away. However, the apt. stayed on the market for nearly two years without offers because of its condition, even though it was largely cosmetic. We were able to get 30% off the asking because the seller needed to get rid of the place. Now it is worth 7 times what we paid for it.</p>

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<p>B&P, great posts!</p>

<p>Well, a simple tale from the trenches. We had a foreclosure nearby. Someone bought the home for (probably) 2/3 of what it would have been worth at the peak. They’ve redone a lot of things -siding, tree trimming, etc. Today, they ripped out the concrete drive and replaced it with blacktop. NOBODY else around here has blacktop. I’m taking this as a sign.</p>

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<p>There is no true penalty, but to bring ethic charges for not returning the check promptly. In NoVa once the buyer has signed the addendum requesting the funds and the seller signs it, it must be released. Here’s the problem if you give your EMD to be held by the other side it will take forever. The irony is that the Broker has the money not the seller or the agent. If the selling agent is hoping that somehow they can salvage the deal still they will be slow to get the addendum signed. Brokers have their books audited against their sales records quarterly so they don’t want that money staying there since VAR could fine them and if the broker is seedy and does it often their license can be revoked. It is just not worth keeping the money.</p>

<p>I understand many people do not want to sign dual because of the thought of conflict of interest, but let me explain the real reason you should sign, at least in VA and NC you do not hire the agent, you hire the broker and that agent is apptd to you by the broker. If you do not sign dual that means nobody from that office can show your property. Hire the biggest agency and you just lost a huge share of agents that could logically sell your home. The office is tied to the agent clause. The same is true if you hire them to buy. Sign only a buyer’s rep and you cannot see the properties in that offices inventory.</p>

<p>It truly is rare that the agent reps both sides of the sale, and most that do, at least the good ones that are ethical, will say “let’s go back to the office and let me bring in another agent for you to write the deal with” They won’t even discuss prices, terms and conditions with the buyer. There are cases, like me when I bought both of my NC homes where I told the agent, “No, I am okay with you being on both sides of the fence” I did this for fiscal reasons because I cut the price down and told her that I expected her to absorb the cost and not the buyers. For me it saved us close to 10K each time. I got a lower mtg pmt and a better home by looking at it from that way.</p>

<p>Additionally, the way contracts are written these days there is not a lot that the agent can do to sway. Most homes come with warranties and that means the seller is out 100 bucks, so they typically don’t argue over inspection issues. </p>

<p>In VA and NC if you live on septic it is law that the seller must have it inspected and repaired if it is not to code… SO that isn’t an issue.</p>

<p>Settlement dates are not make or break issues, so that is a non-player.</p>

<p>The only thing that I think most people are afraid of is the seller asking the agent if they can afford more. Here’s what you do to insure that the agent doesn’t know. You call your mtg lender and have a letter written for the exact amount of the offer. By doing so the agent and the seller doesn’t know if you are capped out. They then are playing their own crap shoot of the deal falling apart. Honestly, sellers know how much they need to walk so sometimes they will counter anyway whether or not the agent is dual.</p>

<p>A good agent will never sit in with you when you are talking to the mtg broker, so they are really in the dark to where your cap is. I tell my clients all I need to know from the mtg broker is if we are good to go, I have no desire or need to know their financial status. Then again, I only work with A paper, so my clients go to lenders not brokers. There are only 7 national lenders, and they only lend to A paper. Mtg Brokers lend to every type of paper and then bundle those loans to sell to lenders. That is why some people will make their 1st pmt to one bank and the next month they are informed that a new bank has it. These are people who got loans from a broker. Caveat National City sold off their loans to PNC, so sometimes even lenders will sell, but it is rare. </p>

<p>If you want to know who really makes the big bucks when it comes to a sale of the home, it is the mtg people, because they make about 3% for each loan, and they don’t have the multiple amount of hands in the pot like the realtor does. If you refi within less than 6 months they will have that commission charged back and lose it, but if you keep it than they made a very pretty penny.</p>

<p>I am not sure why anyone would replace concrete with blacktop because for appraisal reasons that will lower your homes value. The only reason I can see doing this is that the concrete was poor quality and they would have been forced to lay an entire new drive and concrete is very expensive. I am curious, do you live in an HOA? If you do that was a very stupid decision on their part because many HOAs have set up that if you deviate you will be slapped with a daily fine until you bring it back to HOA code. I have known HOA’s that will revoke all priveldges (pool, tennis, etc) and take you to small claims court for things as minor as the mailbox not being code.</p>

<p>TIP of the day: Go with a national real estate company because they will be held to franchise regs and it gives you another way to go if things go bad. </p>

<p>One thing to realize is that you might hate one company over another, but just like GM, many of them are all owned by the same parent group. C21 is the parent of ERA and Prudential. You wouldn’t know it, but that is the reality.</p>

<p>The other reason to go is as I said before, Keller Williams might be big in your town, but for the person coming from another region, they might not have ever heard of them, but they have heard of C21 and ReMax.</p>

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If you believe that just having to go to law school gives you the necessary skill & knowledge to write your own real estate contract, your employer is hiring a fool. Even Clarence Darrow hired a different criminal defense attorney to represent him. </p>

<p>In MA, the contracts have very specific requirements and of course issues that are local to MA, and even to some counties. Real estate is a specialty. I practiced litigation law for many years, and would never presume to write a contract for the purchase of land. I can read it, yes, but write it? No way. You will not know how to search and clear a title. You will not know how to clean a title. You will not know how to research adverse possession or make sure that land is registered. Law school teaches you many things; very few of them are actually practical. I remember the first time I was asked to file a pleading when I began practicing. I knew what it meant; I just didn’t have a clue how to do it! </p>

<p>My husband is a real estate lawyer. Some of his best clients, who come to him to fix problems that they’ve gotten into, are other lawyers who thought they “could do it themselves.”</p>

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<p>That was my point exactly.</p>

<p>Real estate law is very unique.</p>

<p>People should also realize that every contract you sign was created through NAR first and then each state adds more to it. These contracts are created by RE attorneys. They are revised almost yrly and the process is very long. Multiple attorneys have had their hands in the pot to protect both the seller and the buyer.</p>

<p>The biggest hint would be look at how long the contract is. In VA it is over 30 pages. Just the actual contract is over 10 pages long, and then there are automatic addendums to re-acknoweldge that you understood what you initialed in the 1st 10 pages is true. Seriously, I always laugh because in the contract you state that you want an inspection and it will occur in X days. Then later on there is a 3 page VA addendum that makes you repeat this again. You will do this again for HOA, and for disclaimers/disclosure. Everything you initial will require another form to be created to sign.</p>

<p>The reason why is because NoVa is litigitous, and they are making it very hard to wiggle out.</p>

<p>In NC the contract is a total of 8-10 pages. That’s it.</p>

<p>TIP 2 of the day: Meagans law exists and if you are a buyer go to your state sex offender site and check to see if there are any registered sex offenders. DO THIS BEFORE YOU WRITE A CONTRACT. It is not a viable excuse for breaking the contract if you visit the site after the fact.</p>

<p>I had a client who could not decide between 2 properties. I am a realtor who has children and used it for myself, thus, I believe that every client should take that time to find out for themselves. I allow clients to use my office computer and search the state site before we write. This one client did and saw that a house diagonally across the street had a registered child molester. She was pregnant with their first, and that sealed the deal on which property they bidded on. They actually like the other property more, especially since the elementary school was around the corner, but could not get past that fact, especially not when the house was 800K.</p>

<p>Tip 3 of the day: Check out the school report also. You may have toddlers, but in 5 yrs from now you sell and the new owner has teenagers. If they have a realtor like me they will have pulled the school report for middle and high. If they see that 40% are on free lunch and the school had 10 reports of weapons on campus the buyer is going to scratch off any house that goes to that school district.</p>

<p>Your realtor might not offer things like this and as I have said I want my clients to be the most informed buyer/seller, because when they are the sale is always smoother. There is no shock down the road, they know every fact and understand how much really goes into selling a home. They get it is not just plopping a sign and a lockbox on a door. They actually realize that for realtors it is a 24/7/365 day business, one that they are now happy to pay the commission for because they have their own job and couldn’t imagine doing everything realtors do at the same time.</p>

<p>Tip 4 of the day: Ask them about how they juggle you and other clients. For example, I am very adamant that I never answer my phone while driving…a good realtor is not a dead realtor. I also tell my clients that when I am with you I am with you 100%, so I need them to respect that I will get back to them as quickly as possible, but they wouldn’t like me talking to another client while I am suppose to be helping them. Every client wants to be queen bee, but if you want that highly demanded realtor you need to also accept that want to give the best service to all of their clients. If they say they will answer your call minute one, than that means, at least to me, that they are not giving 100% attention to the client.</p>

<p>I would not like a realtor yakking about another clients business in front of me. I think that it is rude on 2 points. One, what am I chopped chicken liver? Two, doesn’t that mean you are talking about my life in front of strangers too?</p>

<p>Caveat: I tell them if it is a lender or a settlement company that is a call I will take, because it could be time sensitive and can’t wait until 7 at night, but I always excuse myself out of ear shot. ALL of my clients are told this up front before they sign with me. Most of the time it comes up because my phone will ring in front of them and I will look at the number, if it is a client I silence the phone. Inevitably, the new client asks if I need to take it and I go into my speel of No, and please understand if you hire me this is my philosophy.</p>

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<p>My house is going on the market in July, and I am so doomed! Even the much vaunted Fairfax County has some slummy sections. Our elementary school has 80% on free/reduced price lunch, the middle school has 47%, and the high school has 42%–with 16 serious incidents and 5 weapons violations. Just peachy… :(</p>

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<p>We bought our house BECAUSE it was walking distance of the middle school I attended. Of course, our kids never went to that middle school or the elementary school I attended, tho it was in our district. Oh well, who knows what the future holds, stevensmama, hang in there! Seriously, there are folks who will love your house either because of in in spite of your school district. Deal with what can’t be changed.</p>

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<p>Intersting read/scan. My comments.</p>

<p>Our empty nester house is for sale, given the area it could take a year or more to sell. You have to know your area. Several months ago we had all sorts of little things fixed up- ready to pass inspection. Our clean original carpeting is fine per the realtor- a lot easier to redo when the house is empty and I personally would rather pick my flooring. Paint colors- likewise, and we don’t get depressed by neutralizing our blues/greens … In our area it won’t sell faster if you spend a lot staging. Smells do matter- per realtor. </p>

<p>Instead of baking I have put some cinnamon in a frying pan with some water and boiled it, cleaned put away pan as well, before leaving- instant baking smell, inexpensive. I checked on candles/sprays- this works better for me. But we have been out of town also and nothing done. And of course depersonalized and squeeky clean. Already decluttered- we’re downsizing, getting rid of stuff…</p>

<p>I’m a gardener- low maintenance- so the landscaping is showing well as spring rolls through. Frustrated though- won’t be spending the kind of money on things as if we planned to be here 5 or more years longer. </p>

<p>Have replaced much that was original. No granite/stainless (I hate stainless). Did it within a few years so we get to enjoy newer fixings. Here appliances not fixed in place are not included- will be a negotiation point. All depends on how things are done in your area. </p>

<p>The worst thing for me is knowing how many foreclosures are occurring- glutting the market. Those of us who happen to be ready to move after paying off any mortgage/living within our means will not get as good a price because of the banks who lent with abandon not too long ago. Philosophically- at least we had a good place for family and have no credit problems.</p>

<p>I love watching the housing shows. So many contradictory views in reality shows. The bottom line seems to be going with what works/is needed for your area. In our area- why spend mega bucks that won’t move the house any faster. For others- spend the money.</p>

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<p>That is very true wis75. One thing you will notice that when the market is cold as in selling time frame, people will stage to the 9s. When it is a hot market you will walk in and have to walk over their dirty laundry on the floor or the present the dog left. YES, I have actually had to walk over dog urine.</p>

<p>Know your market and remember don’t listen to the neighbors who bought 3 yrs ago and how fast their home sold because that was 3 years ago not now. Also don’t listen to the horror stories out there. Think of selling like a pregnancy, not every one is going to have a quick easy birth, some will, but some won’t.</p>

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<p>You are not doomed, just be honest to yourself and place the price correctly. If you do than you will be fine. One suggestion would be to place it on the market early to mid June because most people want to move in over the summer so kids can get accustom to friends before they go back to school. The fastest market time is mid June, since parents want to also keep the kids in their school until it finishes. Additionally, the military which is a huge pool in Fairfax usually move in June. If you hold off until July many of the buyers will have already purchased and you could land up taking longer to sell.</p>

<p>Also since you are probably with those numbers in Alexandria or RT 1 of Fairfax, I would stress being close to the Metro. Always highlight the positives so on paper you look like the dream come true and foot traffic will be your best buddy.</p>

<p>Don’t worry not everyone looks at the school info that the county releases, many just go on the web and look at the actual school website. The school is not about to announce how many free lunches. Of course their realtor could be like me and tell them to now go back to the county stat site.</p>

<p>Finally since you are Fairfax make sure you demand the following from your agent regarding marketing
<a href=“http://www.militarybyowner.com%5B/url%5D”>www.militarybyowner.com</a> — yes realtors are allowed to place ads on it. Many military members love this site so you don’t want to miss that opportunity.
trulia
redfin
harmonhomes.com
homeandland.com
tourofhomes.com</p>

<p>The more you throw it up on the web the more likely the buyer will keep coming back to look at it. Once you list and it is in the system it will immediately go on realtor.com, homesdatabase.com and if they are with a major company it will go on their website too.</p>

<p>Make sure you also have a virtual tour and ask the realtor to have realtor.com put a banner on it. If you go to realtor.com it is a little red banner going down the side, not every property has one, obviously the red draws the eye and people look for the sake of looking.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

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<p>pima, you are a great realtor!</p>

<p>(I actually had to step over a pile of dirty panties to get into the master bathroom of one house - the owners were divorcing and neither cared about what the house would sell for :eek: I loved the house and the pile was not a deal breaker for us, but the toilet positioned in the middle of the bathroom (like a king’s throne, I swear!) sort of was :))</p>

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<p>My favorite when I entered a home one time and because the owner was getting divorced, but didn’t want it to sell must have rented out the biggest darn dog in the world and did not tell their listing agent. We always say dog in the house. I ring the doorbell, wait a few seconds to see if someone will answer and then unlock the door. As soon as I open the door this 150 lb bull mastiff with teeth blaring comes running to the door and slams it shut on me. I looked at my buyers and said, I think we’ll come back the owner is home.</p>

<p>My favorite real estate story…somebody’s home was being foreclosed on and they had decided if they couldn’t have no one could. They dumped concrete into an inground pool! Imagine my shock with the buyers as we looked at the pool and realized that it wouldn’t ever work. Me, I just quickly turned to them as my head was spinning and told them I will gift them a truckload of dirt to fill it in if they love the home!</p>

<p>I have seen it all concrete in toilets, water hoses run through the 2nd floor to flood the home, spray painted walls. It is very sad and the part that always touches your heart is inevitably there is a childs belonging left somewhere in the home and you realize that a family was torn apart.</p>

<p>You get over it real quick when you see that they not only took the subzero fridge that was built in, but the 6 burner stove and the dishwasher. You immediately stand there puzzled because you know that they did not move into another McMansion and that subzeros don’t fit in a typical home. NO lie I once showed a home that they not only took all of that, but everything including the handrails, toilets, sinks, carpets, light switches. I am pretty sure they even considered if they could get the dry wall out. The funny part of that story, they took all of the appliances but left the manuals still in the kitchen drawers.</p>

<p>I was showing a short sale once and the family was in the home, we opened the door to the garage and sitting there in the garage was a 20 ft speed boat. Buyers jokingly asked if it came with the house, the owner, said no, that’s my baby, I would rather die than part with it. YEP, seeing as you are in a short sale I guess you are serious. He did show us how he had a special HVAC put in to keep her always at the correct temp yr round :eek:</p>

<p>Realtors are a bunch of fun to hang with because we always do I can beat that one…ONE TIME…you may think the stories you heard from a friend of a friend is exaggerated, but realistically it has happened somewhere.</p>

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<p>What a great, and educational thread. Thank you for sharing.
We have moved often and it wasn’t until about the 3rd house that I realized that I was annoying the realtor by already having our financing lined up. As a first-second-third time buyer (and all in our twenties) I thought that was a job I was supposed to do. Then I ran into “Margo” who was all snotty about “So, you don’t trust me to find you the best mortgage?” Well, I really didn’t think she was going to be as careful as I was and chart them all down to the last dollar. It was later that I learned that some unscrupulous realtors made money and took vacations based on “bonus points” from lenders or title agents.</p>

<p>Best forclosure story: We bought a house from a large builder in Houston in the early 80’s. Builder’s salesman lived down the street. Real wheeler-dealer who was buying up other homes as investments - I think they had about 8 before Houston’s economy hit the sheets. When they had to let the first rental go into foreclosure, they quit paying on everything, stripped the house on our street down to the sheetrock and sold everything they had to pay cash for their large rental property. Wife even dug up the azeleas and moved them to their “better” house.</p>