Real Estate Information Archive

We recently received an unprecedented number of offers on a short sale that we listed here in Oakland. To be exact, a total of 55 offers were submitted after a two week process of marketing the home. In pricing this home we were looking at property values for the immediate area as we always do for a better understanding of current and immediate activity.  We saw five or six homes that had sold in the last four months that were of the same basic size and shape of the home we were listing.  Our house was fairly well maintained but needed some attention in the kitchen and the termite report was relatively sizable as well.  Now, Carla and I have been through quite a bit of training when it comes to marketing and selling short sales and the process of listing, pricing and marketing is not the same as selling a house that is not under any financial distress. 

Rule #1
 Price the house to get buyers attention because many will not want to make an offer on a short sale (the purchase process for a short sale is very long and many realtors will discourage buyers from making offers on them because it ties the parties up for an extensive amount of time without any end guarantees that the transaction will be allowed by the bank). Our training has taught us that 10% under the local norm will be effective to help your seller achieve the sale.

Rule #2
Do your best to get multiple offers and secure a back-up offer because often times the buyer who made the best offer will back out because they are not willing to wait as long as it can take (up to six weeks) to get a response from the bank on whether they will allow the sale or not.

With the house I am referring to we thought we followed these rules to a tee but the market responded with a fury of interest and took the property way higher than we ever expected it to go in value.  In this case hindsight tells us that we did obviously under-price it more then we meant to.

You may wonder why I am writing this journal and the reason is that our administrative person received a terrible phone call today from an outraged buyer (who refused to give their name) but went on and on about what terrible agents we were and that we under price homes.  I actually re-dialed this person’s number to personally discuss this situation with them, only to get a text back telling me not to communicate with them.

Our team does everything they can to represent both buyers and sellers to the best of our abilities and honestly, we do not want 55 offers on one of our properties, it causes us a tremendous amount of unnecessary work behind our doors as well as on the real estate community in general.  All we can do is do our best (which I think is very good) and continue moving forward.  To the disgruntled buyer, we apologize for your hard feelings and hope you find another great home to buy!

Foreclosures can be costly in the long run!  We had a discussion recently with a home owner who had decided to let his home go into foreclosure.  We asked why he did not consider one on the multiple other options that are available in this market place.  He said, it was easier just to let it go. We then asked what was the majority issue to push him toward letting the home go.  His answer was loss of equity.  His home was worth 40% less then when he purchased it 3.5 years ago here in Oakland and he did not think it would ever catch up with his debt, especially if you factored in all the payments made on the home at a now defunct property value.  We then when into a quite lengthy discussion regarding what happens (or can happen) after a foreclosure, and all the other options that he may have chosen to pursue.  The options we discussed included Loan Modifications, Loan Modifications via a Forensic Loan Audit, Companies that will actually negotiate Principle Balance Reductions on the the property debt, and Short Sales.  By the time we were done with the discussion, he confessed that he wished he had run into us before now.  He said he would have chosen a different option.  If you know of anyone struggling with a home and how to proceed with it, please refer them to us for a zero obligation discussion of their personal situation.  It is always confidential and we hope we can be of service.