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Dealing With Identical Purchase Offers for a Fixer in Rancho Cordova
Identical purchase offers need something to make the best offer stand out.
When I first introduced this fixer home in Rancho Cordova to the market, I did not think we would receive a bunch of identical purchase offers. Usually the way these things go, agents advise their buyers to submit sales prices all over the place. Plus, there are usually always those kind of buyers who won’t pay list price for any home. They don’t care if it’s underpriced, they simply refuse to pay list price and expect a break on the price. But we didn’t get any of those kinds of buyers. That’s not to say we didn’t get a knucklehead here and there.
I should point out this was a home we had priced at $225,000. Not because we deliberately wanted to cause a ruckus but because that’s the amount at which the last fixers in the area sold. Identical purchase offers? Wasn’t even a goal. We just hoped for the best offer from the most motivated buyer who could quickly close. One agent wrote to ask why the confidential remarks stated “submit your best offer over list price.” Um, because we wanted to pick the best offer that exceeded our sales price and we were not considering any offers less than that?
Another buyer submitted an offer at $237,500. They were doing a 1031 exchange and were running out of time during their 45-day time period to select a property. The seller said, hell yes, that’s a good offer. We had motivation. Except we also had a pile of $240K offers on the table. So we countered the 1031 exchange buyers at $240K. They had to “think about it”, initially, which meant they probably had written other offers which is definitely not kosher nor legal. They did not seem like ethical buyers. We withdrew the counter offer.
There were also a few of those brown noses insisting on working directly with the listing agent. Hoping we would sooo love to double-end the transaction that we’d double-cross our sellers, break fiduciary. They think they can throw money at agents, and obviously sometimes they can, or they wouldn’t do it. Doesn’t work in my situation. I won’t work directly with them, so their evil little plans backfire. They can work with my team members or they can get their own agent, I don’t care.
Let’s not even talk about the agent who damaged the home by kicking in the garage siding, twice. With his client standing right there. Then allegedly he swore at the witnesses who shot photos of his car. Good thing he didn’t write an offer.
So many identical purchase offers. And then one identical offer was suddenly different than everybody else. It contained no contingencies, they were actively removed, a huge earnest money and the buyer agreed to deposit all of the cash into escrow right away. Same price but much better terms. We closed escrow 7 days later at $15,000 over list price with 11 offers.
This Sacramento Realtor is Worth Her Weight in Gold
Sellers say this Sacramento Realtor is worth her weight in gold
I would use the expression my sellers did, that this Sacramento Realtor is worth her weight in gold, but I’m not sure how you would compute that commission. It would make me worth more than $2 million if you figured it that way. Ha, nobody is worth $2 million. I ran into these sellers about 7 years ago and don’t really remember it, but they swear they promised to give me the listing when it came time to sell. I had sold another unit in that complex, and they were impressed. See, people look at what an agent does as a Realtor even when I am not their Realtor.
Before I met with the sellers, I scoured the sold sales in MLS and couldn’t really find any similar comps to this condo. I looked outside of the complex, zip, and nada. So the best I could do was look at the smaller square footage units and, using a combination of appreciation metrics from older sales and newer sales, devised a best-guess value of $259K. Sometimes, and especially in limited inventory markets, a best-guess is all you’ve got, although some agent’s best-guesses are better than others.
The sellers were happy with this number, it was more than they had hoped for. But then I toured the condo in person. It had wood flooring, faced the greenbelt and good energy, a nice vibe. I figured we could get another $16,000 and rounded up my new value at $275K. I could have said nothing, but that’s not my nature, and it would have been unethical. My job seriously is to get the seller the highest price. They told me they picked me because this Sacramento Realtor is worth her weight in gold.
What a condo will appraise for and what a buyer will pay can be two different things. I had recently listed another condo in Riva on the River at $275K, but it had a lower HOA and it was smaller, only one story, with only 2 bedrooms. On the other hand, this condo was 4 stories and much larger with higher HOA. There were tradeoffs.
We received multiple offers and strongly considered two of them. One was much higher than our sales price, and I just know the buyer is gonna see this sale in MLS and think their offer wasn’t reviewed. Because buyers don’t think about things like, hey, maybe the offer we received required no appraisal and a 2-week close and, like with most offers today with free seller rent backs, the seller could stay another couple of weeks.
The sale was AS IS with no repairs. Cash and closed. The sellers made $16,000 more because I suggested a higher price. Sold in four days at the higher list price. What do you expect? Hey, they said this Sacramento Realtor is worth her weight in gold. Although I might say $2 million is crazy nuts. I charge my standard real estate commission that I’ve charged since 1978 and it hasn’t changed.
The Grass is Not Greener on the Other Side for Sacramento Real Estate
The grass is not greener on the other side during our spring housing market in Sacramento.
Word on the street is agents need to tell their Sacramento home buyers in escrow to stay there because the grass is not greener on the other side. It’s not going to get any easier to buy a home if they cancel an existing escrow, it will be worse. The main problem is too many buyers and not enough listings. If a buyer is working with an experienced Realtor, that buyer can expect to buy a home the first or second go around if they listen to their agent. If they try to go it alone and don’t follow an expert’s advice, they won’t get a home. Simple as that.
For every buyer out there who is hemming and hawing, questioning whether they should agree to pay over list price or give a seller a couple of days to move, there are 10 other buyers ready to do what it takes. It’s a confusing market for buyers who don’t know what’s going on or don’t believe their agent when they are informed. Some of them still think they have the luxury of time and that they can negotiate without any competition.
Some buyer’s agents are advising their buyers to approach sellers directly and plead their cases with the sellers. It’s THAT crazy out there. Don’t think about trying that approach because a) it’s unethical and b) it doesn’t work. Most sellers will listen to their listing agent, unlike the challenges facing buyer’s agents when their buyers don’t pay heed.
The grass is not greener on the other side in West Sacramento or Roseville, either. You can’t believe Zillow if it tells you we are in a buyer’s market, as I’ve seen some reports from Zillow express that goofy opinion. This is a seller’s market. If buyers want to buy a home in this market, they need to conform to the market. That means often offering over list price, especially if there is more than one offer on the table. It might mean giving the seller a free rent back. I have 3 escrows right now where the seller gets 2 weeks free, another gets 3 weeks, and another 45 days free. It means putting your money where your mouth is and making that deposit at least 3% of the sales price or more.
I’ve been watching buyers offer $10,000, 20,000, 30,000 over list price just to buy a house. The grass is not greener on the other side. If you lose the home you want to buy, there might not be another. Sellers, if you don’t have your home on the market, you are missing this action. If you’re thinking about selling your home, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
A Silver Lining to a Sad Successor Trustee Sale
This successor trustee sale focused on a silver lining at the end.
Right before I received the “confirmation of closing” email for a successor trustee sale near Elk Grove, I had received bad news from my vet about our cat Horatio. Poor little guy had a bit of diarrhea, so I took him to the River City Cat Clinic in Land Park. We adopted Horatio about a month ago. The vet suggested we test him for leukemia and AIDS, since he came from a shelter. Well, the vet called yesterday afternoon to say the results came back positive.
When I was 23, I lost my Himalayan, Cairo, to leukemia. I had visited that cat daily in the hospital. He could barely stand up with tubes taped to his legs, he was so sick. I would reach through his cage and gingerly hold him, trying not to sob. He didn’t make it. I can’t do this again, is my first thought.
Never in a million years did I expect our newly adopted cat to have leukemia. They don’t vaccinate for that when your cats are indoor. Tessa and Jackson have not been exposed to the leukemia vaccine. I can’t test either of them for 30 days. Our cats could die. All of the cats at the shelter could die. Horatio could die. I’m absorbing all of that when the email popped up informing me the successor trustee sale had suddenly funded and closed.
I had met that seller when I came out to the house to do my visual inspection. Met both daughter and mother. Days later, BAM, the mother collapsed into a coma. Daughter and I listed the home. Her mom is in hospice now. Just thinking about life and its preciousness was enough to make me want to cry, but I had to call the daughter to let her know the sale had closed escrow. How are you, she asked? Well, I wasn’t planning on saying anything personal, but I could not say peachy keen. I shared what happened with Horatio. I was a bit raw at the moment. We talked about her mom. End of life options.
You can’t always bottle up stuff. It’s not healthy. Now I sometimes fight it, but despite my analytical nature, I am a compassionate person. I try to show empathy for my clients. To be aware. Everybody has some horrible thing going on in their lives, when it comes right down to it. Stuff we share, stuff we don’t. But it’s there.
OK, silver lining time. There is always a silver lining.
I set aside my tears. I reminded the daughter about how many offers we had received, four in all. The very first offer was from a young couple trying to use the CalHFA program for first-time home buyers. This is a program that is hard to get an offer accepted for in our Sacramento seller’s market. Everybody wants the cash buyers or the conventional buyers. Some listing agents wrongly pigeonhole CalHFA buyers and shove them down the totem pole. The only kind of buyer that struggles more with offers than a CalHFA buyer is a VA buyer.
Of all the offers we had received, the CalHFA offer was the lowest. It was only $5,000 over list price. I want what is best for my seller. We want the committed buyer who will close and not try to make the seller pay for repairs or or closing costs. We want the highest offer. But in this instance, I pointed out to the seller that I felt our list price was the top of the market, and it might not appraise for more. All of those other offers are pretty much worthless if they are contingent on an appraisal, and it doesn’t appraise (and they were contingent).
Why not give the CalHFA couple a break? I suggested. Why not sell to them? We can make an agreement that they will take care of any lender-required conditions or repairs, and let’s let them buy the house. They have a family and are just starting out. Wouldn’t your mom prefer to let a young family take over her house? Breathe new life into a home that brought the mom so much joy over the years? It’s really the same money no matter how you look at it due the appraisal situation, and these buyers deserve consideration.
The daughter agreed. The CalHFA buyers were the first offer, too. They had waited through the weekend, after the open house, and that patience won the house, even though there were multiple offers. This successor trustee sale closed, by the way, at my original suggested sales price. The appraisal was at list price, not above. I was right all along. And that’s why it pays to hire an experienced Sacramento Realtor.
The daughter and I wish the new homeowners many happy years in their new home. She and I each are enduring our own pain, you can’t get away from it in life, but it’s good to acknowledge that something wonderful also happened yesterday.
Sacramento Duplex Sold in Four Days With 10 Offers
2323 Matson Dr, Sacramento, is a Sacramento duplex that was for sale at $265K.
The sellers of a Sacramento duplex were referred to me by a previous client. With the exception of my internet marketing, all my other clients tend to come from referrals, but that’s what happens when a Sacramento Realtor has worked in the business for 40-some years. Veteran agents (who are also top producers) are not out there in the dirt, scratching for business. I thank my lucky stars every day for that.
The sellers are simply delightful people, and I truly enjoyed selling this duplex for them. When we met to discuss price, they thought my suggested listing price was too high. They had done a bit of research and were prepared to sell for much less. See, you can’t get values online. This is one of the main reasons to hire a good Sacramento Realtor who will tell you the truth about your sales price with her finger firmly placed on the pulse of the market. I can often predict the sales price that will attract a buyer. What I can’t always predict is exactly how high the bidding will go, but I can surely set the stage for multiple offers.
The first step in listing a Sacramento duplex is to talk with the tenants, meet them face-to-face and have a conversation. Tenants have fears about their home being sold, and it is my job to extract their cooperation while alleviating those fears, and I accomplished that objective. Next is to position the home attractively among the active listings and begin to push for multiple offers in a non-threatening way.
The one thing this Sacramento Realtor does not do is discourage offers nor tell buyer’s agents offers will be “collected,” as that kind of strategy undermines the effort to obtain maximum value. It often eliminates buyers before they become a potential candidate. Offers can be managed in a more practical manner that do not disclose the seller’s intentions.
This wasn’t a huge sales price, either. But it was important to my sellers that we sell the Sacramento duplex for the highest price possible. Their eyes were pretty big when I told them $265,000 would be a good starting point. By the end, we had 10 offers, and it sold at $275,000, with financing. There were no repairs, no concessions, no credits, no home inspection hassles, either, no work completed.
So, yes, I guess sellers can have the best of both worlds. Highest price and a stress-free transaction. If you’re looking to sell a home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. I’d love to manage that sale for you.
