Buying a Sacramento Home Subject to a Sunday Open House

Sunday open houses tend to attract buyers in Sacramento.

Dear Sacramento Buyer’s Agent:

Thank you for showing my listing and asking about how the seller will handle offers with a Sunday Open House on the horizon. Oh, and thank you for sharing your buyer is fully qualified through The Internet Lender. I would be remiss if I didn’t share my opinion of The Internet Lender. It doesn’t necessarily mean your buyer is qualified. We’ve all had transactions with internet lenders fall apart because the monkey, excuse me, I meant monkeyfied mortgage loan officer, did not take the time to thoroughly scrutinize the loan application.

Further, these types of internet lenders often end up with out-of-area, and by that definition, non-qualified, appraisers.  We all know where the rabbit hole that leads, but I’ll spell it out. Low appraisals. Unhappy sellers. Kicked out into the street buyers. Your buyer might get an edge if she were to get qualified with a local lender, which tends to carry a lot more weight with experienced listing agents and their sellers than an internet company. This is just a suggestion, not a requirement. Unless it is, and we’re just not telling you.

We also expect to receive multiple offers, so a list price offer probably won’t get her the house. We are holding the home open on Sunday, and there is no guarantee the seller will take an offer before the open house, although I will send an offer immediately upon receipt. You never know, the seller might take it. Then again, maybe not. I may advise against it.

My suggestion is you write the offer as though it is already Sunday afternoon, and we’ve held the Sunday Open House. You may want to advise your buyer to put her best foot forward in that offer because she might not get a second chance. There is no guarantee a seller will consider a counter offer. Much of the time in these situations, I see sellers just take the best offer. On page 9 for acceptance of offer, you might give us until after the Sunday Open House for a decision . . . so your offer doesn’t expire, of course.

Moreover, the home is sold AS IS. Although we are not aware of anything wrong with it, you and I both know a home inspection will reveal a bunch of defects. Please be advised the seller will not issue a credit, renegotiate the sales price nor make repairs. It is best if the buyer is prepared in advance to accept the fact there might be a few things he or she will need to later on fix. That is an ongoing fact of life, btw, whether it’s a house or yourself.