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It is no secret Mountain View as well as most of the Silicon Valley is experiencing multiple offers on homes for sale. While this is great for sellers, it can be extremely frustrating for buyers, and their agents. After losing 5-10 homes a buyer will unquestionalbly start to doubt their agent. They may feel that their agent is doing something wrong and maybe it is time to find someone else.

Will this work? Maybe, but there are limits to what a Mountain View real estate agent can do. A lot of winning an offer is up to the buyer, so maybe you need to look in the mirror first, before changing your agent.

In a real estate offer the buyer has some control over what happens. Here are some things you should do:

1. Are you making realistic offers? If a home is listed for $475,000, you know there are 10 offers, and you offer $470,000, what do you think is going to happen?

2. You have been pre-approved for $800,000 with 20% down. You only have down payment for 20% of $800,000, so you need to only offer a price that will make it through an appraisal. However, most homes are selling for prices higher than they can appraise for, so what do you do? You will need to find a less expensive home so that you have a 5-10% reserve of cash over the price where you think the home will appriase, i.e., you need to find a home where you can put down 25-30%, not 20%, so that when it does not appraise you have the cash to cover it.

3. The seller has completed a a full disclosure package, including a property inspection, termite, roof, chimney inspection, and you ask for a 17 day property contingency period. I am not saying you should not have your own inspection, but keep the time to a minimum.

4. You have a pre-approval letter from Happy Birthday Mortgage with nothing from an underwriter, and nothing from a direct lender. I don't care if the mortgage broker from Happby Birthday Mortgage is your mother, it is not going to fly. Get a full approval from a direct lender. It is hard enough to compete against a cash offer, but to try to compete with a pre-approval letter that may not be worth the paper it is written on is no way to act in a competitive market.

5. You are making an offer on a short sale and don't offer to open escrow until after bank approval. While that may be ok in a buyer's market, when there are so few homes for sale, and so many hopeful buyers, it is not going to work anymore.

So look at your self first. Tomorrow I will talk about what your agent can do to help your offer win.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

D.R.E. 01191194

It is no secret that the market in Silicon Valley is crazy. The inventory has never been lower so the competition for homes is  fierce. For example, Taylor Morrison is opening up a new town home development in Sunnyvale in May and they already have 300 people on the waiting list. Homes in Palo Alto are sometimes getting over 10 offers. 

If you are a seller you may be trying to acomplish a short sale, and life becomes complicated with all of the details of supplying documents, giving the bank what they want, when they want it, and living by their timelines.

Maybe you are trying to buy an reo and you have to sign documents that make you do everything short of giving up your first born.

So the big question is "Do you want to buy a sell a house right now?" If then answer is yes then you need to listen to the person saying "because I said so." Whether that person is the listing agent for a home you want to buy, the bank who needs to approve your short sale, or the bank who owns the foreclosed property you want.

Follow directions, exactly. If the directions say fill out the disclosure package completely, fill it out. If Bank of America says they want the first 5 numbers of your social if you are trying to buy a short sale then give it.

This is not an environment for everyone, and it will not last forever, nothing does. But if you want to buy right now it is best not to have issues with authority, just do what is asked of you. This is not to say that you should go into this blindly or give up your inspection rights, but it does mean you need to follow directions and do what is asked of you.

If you are selling short, do what the bank wants. You have the right to accept or reject their their conditions but you do not get to tell them what they need to do.

If you are selling in a hot market and it is a sale with equity, don't be a bully. Give clear directions and be grateful for the people who want to buy your home.

If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in Silicon Valley please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

The real estate market in the Silicon Valley is very heated up this days, but there are still plenty of short sales being offered. Many of these short sales are in higher price ranges that have previously not seen a lot of short sale activity. What that means is that agents who do not have a lot of experience with short sales are making offers. Because the inventory is so low, most of these short sales are getting multiple offers. So if you are an experienced agent but not with short sales, or a buyer here are some things you need to know:

1. Don't low ball. The bank won't accept it and you will have plenty of competition from buyers wanting to pay market value.

2. Follow all of the instructions the agent gives on the MLS. If they say email instead of call, SEND AN EMAIL. Do not pester the agent with multiple calls a day. Your pre offer behavior is a sign of how you will act during the long short sale process.

3. Fill out the short sale addendum carefully. The addendum allows for the deposit and contingency period to start after bank acceptance unless you change it. CHANGE IT!!!!  At a minimum you should put the deposit in escrow immediately. If you really want the home I would also recommend offering to do the inspections right away instead of waiting for bank approval. It is a risk to the buyer in case the bank does not approve, but it is better than waiting 1-3 months for an approval and then finding out the home has more repairs needed than the buyer is willing to make.

4. The home is being sold "As-Is" Don't ask for repairs.

5. Don't ask for buyer credits unless it is an FHA loan. Banks are most likely going to reject the request for credit and if your buyer needs to have it or they walk it does not put you in a good position.

6. Don't change the title and escrtow company. The seller's company has already done a lot of work and has a relationship with the listing agent.

7. Give at least 90 days for approval on the short sale addendum.

8. Present a great case on why your client is able to wait for short sale approval.

If you have any questions about short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara Counties please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

www.marcymoyer.com

marcy@marcymoyer.com

650-619-9285

D.R.E. 01191194

Thursday night a property dropped on market in the desired target neighborhood (no inventory) with all the criteria met and more priced @ market. Within 24 hours a drive-by was conducted and appointment to show.

Prior to our appointment I was able to collect some important information (telephone conversations w/ the Listing Agent and Sellers) that would prove to be most valuable...the facts as follows; original sellers/homeowners, sellers are personal friends of the listing agent, family pets/birds that need a home, and the need to stay in the home long enough for the son to complete football season. Our Short Sale Offer to purchased addressed every seller desired condition including a heart filled cover letter from the buyer's family (5 year old daughter signed), a Full Price Offer, No Cost Rent Back (until end of football), and a new home for the birds. By Friday morning there were multiple offers and one buyer came back 3 times w/ a 10% over asking and we secured the contract.

Do not over look the details in negotiations. We were awarded the contract. Do your job well.

As of July 1, 2010 PNC REO is using offersubmission.com for buyer agent's to submit offers directly to asset manager, by passing the listing agents. I think this will bring more transparency to transactions. With this buyer's agents wont blame LA for not presenting offers, and they will be responsible to submit a complete offer. in the other hand the buyer must pay $300 at closing for the service. This will definitely expedite the offers and counteroffers, and will level the playing field for buyer and their agents. I will keep you posted how it works for me soon.

The good:

To the Listing Agent:

• No more wasted time receiving, entering and submitting unacceptable offers on behalf of other agents
• No more telephone calls from cooperating agents seeking status of offers.
• Reduced paperwork
• You will still see all of the offers received on your listings in real-time, and you will always know what offers have been accepted, rejected or countered.
• Increased marketability of properties for faster sales and quicker commissions.
• The only offer you ever need to deal with is an accepted offer.

To the Buyer’s Agent:

• Agents receive an immediate confirmation that their offer has been received 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
• Agents receive notification of acceptance/rejection or a counter-offer by the next business day.
• Buyer’s Agents negotiate online directly with a decision-maker for the selling financial institution.
• Agents can include comments regarding the property or the buyer and be assured that the decision-maker considers them when evaluating the offer.
• Agents download all of the required addendums themselves once an offer has been accepted. :

BUYER PAYS $300 FEE AT CLOSING”