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LabyaMynora posted:So I made the offer through the same agent... The laws in my state require a real estate agent to present your (reasonable) offer to the other side. I can't imagine your state is any different. I'm not trying to play Devils Advocate, but how bad does this lady have to need the extra $350.00 of commission that she would risk the whole commission, you as a client, and even her license?
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Feb 16, 2015 23:57
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blarzgh posted:The laws in my state require a real estate agent to present your (reasonable) offer to the other side. I can't imagine your state is any different. I'm sure the buyer's agent is trying to coax the buyer towards a number that both realtors feel will be accepted by the seller, so they can wrap it up fast and move on.
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Feb 17, 2015 00:04
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While I agree that the buyer's agent is most interested in wrapping up the deal quickly, but if the seller hasn't received the offer yet, at least one of the agents is putting their license at significant risk. If they're willing to do that over a $4,000 commission, they're pretty desperate.
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Feb 17, 2015 00:14
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Or, you know, they actually did receive two offers. I don't think it's unreasonable at all to expect a counteroffer or rejection, but do indeed be prepared for a rejection.
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Feb 17, 2015 00:20
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:Or, you know, they actually did receive two offers. I don't think it's unreasonable at all to expect a counteroffer or rejection, but do indeed be prepared for a rejection. I was thinking, if there is another buyer and they do indeed play the game and give their best offer, while I stand pat and say that I will entertain counter offers, wouldn't the sellers want to at least try to counter offer me for more than what the other buyers offered as their best and final price? Here's what I actually did - this is a clinic in how to do everything wrong in life: After posting here, reading the reactions, and calling my mom (studied to be a realtor once in 2003, didn't become one), my wife's dad (bought 2 houses in his lifetime, last one in 1998), I felt like I was on the right track. I sent an email to my realtor whom I don't trust anymore and said, "Please tell the seller's agent that I will not be providing an additional offer, but I will entertain any counter offers." 30mins later, she calls me and is pretty pissed, which is confusing, because I remember reading that a Buyer's Agent is supposed to be the calm voice of reason while the buyers are freaking out. I told her that I think this is a tactic by the seller's agent and there might not be other buyers. She stutters and stammers and says, "I'm representing YOUR interests." I asked about my theory above, where wouldn't it make sense for the sellers to counter offer me IF the other buyers gave their best and final offer? Then she goes on a tirade about how that WON'T happen and that this is FAIR and the FAIREST way to handle multiple (two) offers. I was calm, breezy and conversational the entire time, so she's screeching at this point, and I gently said, "I don't feel like this is very fair." I'm trying my best not to express how utterly done I am with this woman. She talks about fairness a few more times, digs at me for not submitting my maximum pre-approval over the weekend with her Wells Fargo guy (who advised me NOT to show my max approval to the seller), and then just to get her off the phone, I said I'd think about it. At this point, I'm not budging an inch. I want a rejection, or a counter offer, I'm not tipping my hand. I want this deal over so I can just be done with this realtor. Then my wife gets upset... She initially seemed to back my position 100%, but after hearing how upset the realtor was over the phone, she wants to come to a compromise. I'm like, compromise my rear end! This is bullshit! She also is upset that we'll be starting over at square one, getting a new buyers' agent, looking at new properties. It seems like the properties that the current lady showed us will have to go through her and at least my wife and I are on the same page that we're not doing that. I end up haggling with my wife over what the "new" offer should be. I start with 10k lower, she wants $126k because at some point I stated that would be my absolute max after multiple counter offers. I say a picture of my middle finger, my wife says $124k. Somehow we end at $122k. I don't know what's happening anymore. My head hurts, I feel a little sick and I resend my offer for $122k. Ironic, because, if the sellers had counter offered, I would've/could've gone higher, but at this point, I'm like gently caress this poo poo, gently caress everything. I'm thinking at this point either I get accepted tomorrow, I get rejected, or they actually counter offer me because my agent never sent poo poo. DO NEVER BUY.
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Feb 17, 2015 05:01
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You really should try to rescind that offer. Don't make a long term commitment because of a short-term freak-out.
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Feb 17, 2015 05:11
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bartkusa posted:You really should try to rescind that offer. Don't make a long term commitment because of a short-term freak-out. I actually want the house. For 122k. Or less. I don't like my agent and cringe when I think of the fact that if this happens, she'll get commission, but oh well.
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Feb 17, 2015 05:18
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Well, I hope soothing your wife's nerves was worth $3k to you. $3,000 is a lot of money when you think of it in terms of dinners out or a nice vacation, but it doesn't feel like much when you are house shopping. When I was house shopping, I poker-faced the entire thing. "Sure, this is nice. Let's put in an offer".  I felt like the realtor or lender ever saw me excited about something, I had lost some leverage.
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Feb 17, 2015 05:22
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canyoneer posted:Well, I hope soothing your wife's nerves was worth $3k to you. $3,000 is a lot of money when you think of it in terms of dinners out or a nice vacation, but it doesn't feel like much when you are house shopping. I would've gone up to 126k through honest negotiations, so I may have saved $4,000. (Which way to the bad with money thread?)
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Feb 17, 2015 05:26
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I'm surprised you haven't fired the realtor yet, really. Assuming the offer is accepted you're going to be spending a lot more time with her.
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Feb 17, 2015 15:30
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LabyaMynora posted:I actually want the house. For 122k. Or less. I don't like my agent and cringe when I think of the fact that if this happens, she'll get commission, but oh well. Your realtor jerked you off and won, congratulations.
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Feb 17, 2015 15:34
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LabyaMynora posted:DO NEVER BUY. Indeed. I will note, though, at least in my state, that a seller's counter offer is a contract to sell, meaning that they can't counter multiple offers. If your seller really did get multiple offers, they could only accept or counter one of those offers. I'm not saying that that really happened in your case but that is why sellers do the "best and final" thing.
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Feb 17, 2015 17:38
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LabyaMynora posted:30mins later, she calls me and is pretty pissed, which is confusing, because I remember reading that a Buyer's Agent is supposed to be the calm voice of reason while the buyers are freaking out. No matter what else is actually going on, this is 100% true. Your agent shouldn't be flipping out at all, and should be explaining to you how things work in your area, but ultimately doing things how you want if you disagree in the end. Not going over your max price is at least something, even if you got caught in a fake bidding war.
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Feb 17, 2015 18:14
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drat, I feel like you got my first realtor. She kept telling me my offer was "too low" and it seemed like she wasn't going to even submit it until I got lovely. There were a lot of things wrong with the house and the sellers weren't budging on any of them, nor would they entertain the idea of fixing them to my requests. For example, the fuse box was super outdated and they brought an electrician in while I was there for some reason who said it needed to be replaced and in fact they wouldn't even be able to sell it without doing so. I asked about upgrading from 100amp to 200amp because I wanted to build on and also add central air, amongst other things. The electrician said it would be about the same amount of work because they had to replace the same things regardless, however if he did the 100amp now, the 200amp would be a lot more costly later because they'd have to re-do everything. The owners absolutely refused to consider this and got pissed at me for even asking. Anyway after some back and forth offers/counters, they ended up standing firm on the electrical and their price, and I told my realtor they could get hosed. My realtor was dumb enough to send me an email that included a reply from the seller basically bitching about me and how they already lowered their price a lot blah blah blah and I was being insulting and I told him personally to get hosed. My realtor told me I couldn't do that and I told her to get hosed. A few months later, I had bought a house with everything I wanted for a bit more money, and I get a call from the old realtor. I let it go to voicemail and she leaves a message saying they upgraded the electrical after all and were lowering the price again, even below my offer. I just laughed and laughed. New house had 3 bathrooms, other had 1. New house had an attached 2 car garage, other had unattached 1 car. It was worth the wait and "starting over" again to really come out on top. beejay fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Feb 17, 2015 |
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Feb 17, 2015 18:41
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Why isn't there just like a loving iPhone app where you can text an offer to a seller and then they can accept or counter or whatever and it generates all the paperwork and then we could just dump all realtors into a river somewhere and life would be grand.
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Feb 17, 2015 18:46
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Pryor on Fire posted:Why isn't there just like a loving iPhone app where you can text an offer to a seller and then they can accept or counter or whatever and it generates all the paperwork and then we could just dump all realtors into a river somewhere and life would be grand. Because it's a rent-seeking cartel held up by a collection of local and state laws designed to protect the incumbent buggy whip industry. We can dream though, right?
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Feb 17, 2015 18:56
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Andy Dufresne posted:I'm surprised you haven't fired the realtor yet, really. Assuming the offer is accepted you're going to be spending a lot more time with her. Citizen Tayne posted:Your realtor jerked you off and won, congratulations. Be fair: this guy has to deal with his wife, too, and she presumably hasn't read this thread. I'm sorry your wife is a pushover, dude. My wife is the opposite and if anything remotely like what you described had happened to us, I'd be the one trying to convince my wife not to murder our realtor with a pickaxe, but everyone is different 
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Feb 17, 2015 18:59
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Bob A Feet posted:I live in Jacksonville, NC. It's a poo poo hole, but houses are cheap, and I'm probably going to be here for a while. So I'm buying a house. I'm looking at new builds here. Most older houses are going for ludicrous amounts (I'm assuming its people trying to make up what they payed for them 5-7 yrs ago) or are generally just lovely designs (like the one I'm renting), or both. For sure they are jacking up the rates AND making the closing costs higher than they should be. People are suckers for "one stop shopping." If you like the house you could always negotiate hard and bring in your own financing. Also, don't let them sucker you into upgrades on a new build. You can always rip out the crappy stuff and replace with quality upgrades to your choosing later.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:21
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I haven't fired the realtor yet because I'm to understand that I can only make an offer on this house through her at this point (please tell me I'm wrong and how I can make an offer without her being involved.) Before, my walking away price was $126k, now it's $122k. If I don't get this house at $122k, I'm done with her forever. beejay posted:drat, I feel like you got my first realtor. Since you have a Brandon Marshall avatar, I might. This is Naperville/Plainfield/Romeoville area.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:39
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Bob A Feet posted:Does this more or less mean that the builder has an underlying deal with the lender to jimmy around with my rates in order to make back that money? Lenders' rates can vary slightly from lender to lender, and if the builder and the lender are all the same entity, then its possible. Its not my experience that homebuilders will have any control over those things, however. I'm not saying its impossible, but generally these smaller "lenders" are 2-5 person companies, who give out mortgages backed by a larger bank, and then sell your note to a large servicer. Their "rates" are based typically on what the market dictates plus or minus their personal criteria, because their agreement with their backer and their insurance says so. They basically negotiate a deal with these homebuilders to let them get the first shot at originating your mortgage, and they give the builder a cut of their profits. All but the largest of developers use an arrangement like this. Generally where I would expect them to build in their $$ buffers are in the other closing costs. Understand also that developers like this have the profit margins on these builds down to a loving science. They most likely build these future incentives into their plans so that after most of the subdivision is built out, the remaining lots will "go on sale" as it were. The only way to know for sure is to get a list of closing costs from them and compare it to the la carte' services from other providers. If their list has "inspection: $500.00", then call Fred's Home Inspections or whoever and see what they charge. Also, I assume you know this but I'll say it anyways: before you ever start shopping, you should get pre-approved. In addition to telling you your budget, you'll also be able to tell whether they're building their costs back into their rates.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:46
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Pryor on Fire posted:Why isn't there just like a loving iPhone app where you can text an offer to a seller and then they can accept or counter or whatever Because Lawyers would gently caress everybody up. Alot more that they already do, I guess.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:47
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I'm getting ready to sell my house. I got a letter from a realtor I met a while back who said he would only take 1.25% of list as his payment, so I said that would be cool, yes, please sell my house. Now he's sending me a contract with this in it that says 6%, and he'll "compensate" other brokers 2.5% from his payment. So I'm thinking this is complete nonsense, yes? What should I reply back? "Change that poo poo to 4.25% like you promised"? I know I'm pretty much stuck paying the 3% fee for the buyer's side but this looks like I'd be paying 3% of my end for his side too. What should I do? All realtors suck.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:49
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Pryor on Fire posted:Why isn't there just like a loving iPhone app where you can text an offer to a seller and then they can accept or counter or whatever and it generates all the paperwork and then we could just dump all realtors into a river somewhere and life would be grand. Like many things in life, when you find one that's not a piece of poo poo, they provide extremely valuable services that easily justify their cost. LabyaMynora posted:I haven't fired the realtor yet because I'm to understand that I can only make an offer on this house through her at this point (please tell me I'm wrong and how I can make an offer without her being involved.) If you haven't signed an exclusivity agreement with the realtor, then you're free to change realtors whenever you want (and if you have, then it depends on what that agreement says). However, your current agent has already done enough here to make a reasonable claim to the commission, even if you close the deal with a different agent. Different agent is probably not going to want to provide their service free of charge.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:50
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I ran into a situation like that. Gave an offer, realtor pushed back hard saying to give the best offer we could, and we balked and stuck with our initial offer. Turns out it was because our realtor knew the seller's realtor, and knew there was a full cash offer for $15k over list price. Shame, it was a nice house, but oh well. If it doesn't sound right, walk away, and check housing sales in a few months to see if you guessed right or not.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:52
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moana posted:I'm getting ready to sell my house. I got a letter from a realtor I met a while back who said he would only take 1.25% of list as his payment, so I said that would be cool, yes, please sell my house. Now he's sending me a contract with this in it that says 6%, and he'll "compensate" other brokers 2.5% from his payment. So I'm thinking this is complete nonsense, yes? What should I reply back? "Change that poo poo to 4.25% like you promised"? I know I'm pretty much stuck paying the 3% fee for the buyer's side but this looks like I'd be paying 3% of my end for his side too. What should I do? All realtors suck.
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Feb 17, 2015 20:08
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Thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy, gvibes. Emailing him now!
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Feb 17, 2015 20:43
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moana posted:Thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy, gvibes. Emailing him now! I'm not sure what the deal really is, but I'm having a lot of trouble imagining a realtor going through the substantially more difficult task of staging and advertising a home and then splitting commission 1.25%/2.5% with the buyer's agent.
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Feb 17, 2015 21:06
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quote:I don't know specifically what your offer was in the letter, but it sounds like it was 1.25%. Happy to give you a discount on commission and make it a win-win. This was his response; he said the contract was 6% by default until we talked about it (I'm sure a lot of people sign without talking about it, lol!). I'm not in the area anymore, so I think this is a fair cut to handle everything; his listings are bomb so I hope it pays for itself. Redfin's quote was 5.2%, by comparison.
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Feb 18, 2015 01:04
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Well, the sellers took my 122k offer, so I feel like a fool for playing their game. The only "counter" they had was they wanted the taxes pro-rated at 105% to be changed to 100%. I don't even know what that means... but supposedly it's a $200 difference at closing. I hope that is true, and this doesn't turn into a disaster later.
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Feb 18, 2015 01:30
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LabyaMynora posted:Well, the sellers took my 122k offer, so I feel like a fool for playing their game. The only "counter" they had was they wanted the taxes pro-rated at 105% to be changed to 100%. I don't even know what that means... but supposedly it's a $200 difference at closing. I hope that is true, and this doesn't turn into a disaster later. Congrats?
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Feb 18, 2015 03:01
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moana posted:This was his response; he said the contract was 6% by default until we talked about it (I'm sure a lot of people sign without talking about it, lol!). I'm not in the area anymore, so I think this is a fair cut to handle everything; his listings are bomb so I hope it pays for itself. Redfin's quote was 5.2%, by comparison. E: cheap relative to typical realtor costs, not actual value of services provided. gvibes fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Feb 18, 2015 |
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Feb 18, 2015 03:03
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Yeah, he's a youngish dude and I get the feeling he's trying to build his company... which sounds to me like he'll be willing to put in a lot of work to make me happy enough to refer him out. 4.25% is a lot, but hey, I'm not getting too hosed over so yay? Most of his listings are 1M+ homes and the photography/aerial videos on his site listings are way cool, so I'm tentatively hoping this will turn out not-bad. And really, in the world of real estate, not-bad is about as good as you can hope for.
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Feb 18, 2015 03:34
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blarzgh posted:Lenders' rates can vary slightly from lender to lender, and if the builder and the lender are all the same entity, then its possible. Yeah I realize that any incentive by the builder is built into the price of the house as fly paper for idiots that think they are getting a good deal. I'm just making sure his covering of the closing costs is separate from my loan calculation--and it was. I tacked on a few incentives in the contract (fridge, blinds, some other things) and the builder accepted the contract today. I got an email from the lender offering a rate of 3.625%. I'm guessing it isn't official until I find some time this week to go in and sign the papers but she said through email and the phone that I'm locked in for it. I budgeted around 4.25% and a high insurance rate, and thankfully, the rate came in lower and the insurance I estimated was close to a third higher than what I got quoted by a company around here. The house I'm buying was 15k under my budget (185, budget 200, prequaled 200) so I've got that going for me too. Also its on the city line so I pay a county tax rate of %0.6. Its also 5 mins from my work (I drive 30 now). Needless to say I'm pretty stoked.
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Feb 18, 2015 04:02
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LabyaMynora posted:Well, the sellers took my 122k offer, so I feel like a fool for playing their game. The only "counter" they had was they wanted the taxes pro-rated at 105% to be changed to 100%. I don't even know what that means... but supposedly it's a $200 difference at closing. I hope that is true, and this doesn't turn into a disaster later. Can't wait to see how this agent handles the inspections. Don't let her talk you out of any, that's for sure.
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Feb 18, 2015 06:55
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Jesus gently caress, our house goes on the MLS this morning. Here's hoping we're not homeless for too long if it sells.
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Feb 18, 2015 08:58
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couldcareless posted:Can't wait to see how this agent handles the inspections. Don't let her talk you out of any, that's for sure. Personally that realtor has been working against the buyers best interest enough where he should just file a complaint with the broker and real estate commission. Something is incredibly weird unless that lady is always batty... maybe related to sellers or something? Any agents I've worked with the offer could have been $5 and they might have mentioned there was a low chance sellers would accept but they don't question you in the slightest.
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Feb 18, 2015 13:35
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Bob A Feet posted:Yeah I realize that any incentive by the builder is built into the price of the house as fly paper for idiots that think they are getting a good deal. I'm just making sure his covering of the closing costs is separate from my loan calculation--and it was. I tacked on a few incentives in the contract (fridge, blinds, some other things) and the builder accepted the contract today. Congratulations! You're like some "do never buy thread" mythical figure.
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Feb 18, 2015 15:15
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This is only tangentially related, but It figured it would be the best place to ask... Has anyone had experience with or know the best way to dispute an assessment? We just got our 2015 appraisal from the city and our house has apparently gone up in value by about $20,000. We bought it in 2014 for $255,000, which might have been a little over what it was worth (but it had some things that are unique and we wanted). We have not made any improvements that would increase the value besides putting in a kickass perennial garden  I know we should be looking at values or sold prices of comparable homes, but we're in a small town and not much has sold since we bought. Also, I don't know how I would even get that info in the first place? Any suggestions?
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Feb 18, 2015 15:29
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LabyaMynora posted:Well, the sellers took my 122k offer, so I feel like a fool for playing their game. The only "counter" they had was they wanted the taxes pro-rated at 105% to be changed to 100%. I don't even know what that means... but supposedly it's a $200 difference at closing. I hope that is true, and this doesn't turn into a disaster later. couldcareless posted:Can't wait to see how this agent handles the inspections. Don't let her talk you out of any, that's for sure. Seriously can't stress enough how much you should lean on inspections and remediations at this point. Be aggressive about getting everything that comes up in home inspection fixed, and do be aggressive in what you get inspected. You put in an offer that sounds like it's marginally above market because of the games people have been playing, make that offer worth it for you. If your realtor starts steering you away from either the inspections or getting issues fixed at the seller's expense, politely ask her if she is advising you toward your best interests. If that doesn't produce an immediate adjustment in her attitude, get set to record phone calls and tell her you are recording the call every time you speak on the phone from now on.
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Feb 18, 2015 15:32
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I'm looking for some goon perspective on home locations. Looking at my first house today. This house is in a neighborhood that I frankly didn't think I could afford, West Plano. Best public schools (not that I'll use them), easy access to shopping and restaurants, and a mile from 2 main commuter highways. The house has been well taken care of and is about half renovated, but I feel like I'd want to remodel the master bathroom in a year or two if I live there. It's also close to my office to boot. The rest of the houses I'll be looking at are in East Plano. In my price range I can get a nice fully remodeled home built in the 80s. The schools are good, but the area isn't as popular or growing because it's kind of out of the way and the highway close to it has horrible rush hour traffic. I'd have a 20 minute commute on city streets. There's also a comedy option of a house 100 meters from Interstate 635, which is a special type of hell in this city.
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Feb 18, 2015 15:33
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