Strongest offer on a house

[Anonymous]

We just went under contract this week on what turned out to be a very popular house in a good school district. We came with full price, all cash offer with escalation to $20k above asking. No appraisal contingency since we did't have a lender to deal with. Out of all the other offers, 2 had escalations higher than ours, with waived appraisal and inspection contingencies. We upped our offer to about $12k below the highest escalation and agreed to one month free rent back. We will do an inspection for information purposes only. I would agree to the rent back and inspection, but I wasn't going to offer any more money even though we feel we actually got it for a good price and it would have appraised higher than we're buying it for. I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from buying our first house in 2005 during all the bidding wars.

That's twice now we've bought in a sellers market. Hope putting our current house on the market next month works out as well for us as for the sellers of the house we're buying.

[Anonymous]

We recently sold our house and the top thing we cared about was price. If there were two offers offering the same price, the one with the rent back would have won. As long as the offer is accompanied by a pre-approval letter from the lender, I don't really care if they're paying cash or financing.

[Anonymous]

If you don't already have a realtor, find one who is willing to call the seller's realtor and find out what the buyers want. Do they want all cash? Quick close? Long rent back? No contingencies? Highest offer? Specific combination of the above?

As a buyer, what you need to be most of all is flexible within your means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to do what you're comfortable with. Our offer won at full list with an inspection which only let us KO (not requiring the seller to make repairs) and a short closing period (20 days I believe). Our deposit was not even 5% and we just weren't in a financial position to potentially have to make large repairs.

Same PP here. We did waive appraisal, but we've been tracking this market for a while and were pretty confident it would appraise out, or be very close. If we had to bring another $10k to the table, we were prepared to do that. Wasn't an issue though.

Do you mind sharing where you bought? and when? Thanks!

Old Town, very recently. Our realtor tried to persuade us to structure our offer differently, but we did what we were comfortable with. He and we were surprised that we won, and apparently it was the quick close that worked in our favor.

You were not dealing with the additional pressure of buying in a district with good public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to do what you're comfortable with. Our offer won at full list with an inspection which only let us KO (not requiring the seller to make repairs) and a short closing period (20 days I believe). Our deposit was not even 5% and we just weren't in a financial position to potentially have to make large repairs.

Same PP here. We did waive appraisal, but we've been tracking this market for a while and were pretty confident it would appraise out, or be very close. If we had to bring another $10k to the table, we were prepared to do that. Wasn't an issue though.

We had a similar strategy that worked in Arlington a year ago. We got the house at list price, information only inspection, quick closing, limited waiver of appraisal (up to a certain amount). It's really about figuring out what is important to the seller. Our seller just wanted a quick and uncomplicated deal and we offered that. There were multiple offers and ours was not the highest.

I've also sold and as a seller the sales price is key, but other things matter too. If you signal that you're going to be a PITA to work with and might flake out of the deal, I'm going to prefer someone else. In particular asking for piddly things on the inspection or using the inspection not just to address unknown defects but to renegotiate. If you ask for closing cost help, I'm going to assume your finances are not as strong as someone who doesn't ask for it and if all other things are equal I will pick them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just went under contract this week on what turned out to be a very popular house in a good school district. We came with full price, all cash offer with escalation to $20k above asking. No appraisal contingency since we did't have a lender to deal with. Out of all the other offers, 2 had escalations higher than ours, with waived appraisal and inspection contingencies. We upped our offer to about $12k below the highest escalation and agreed to one month free rent back. We will do an inspection for information purposes only. I would agree to the rent back and inspection, but I wasn't going to offer any more money even though we feel we actually got it for a good price and it would have appraised higher than we're buying it for. I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from buying our first house in 2005 during all the bidding wars.

That's twice now we've bought in a sellers market. Hope putting our current house on the market next month works out as well for us as for the sellers of the house we're buying.

I think we may have been one of the higher bidders on that house. If so, congrats - it is really a cool house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: If you ask for closing cost help, I'm going to assume your finances are not as strong as someone who doesn't ask for it and if all other things are equal I will pick them.

Sorry to interrupt, but, really?! Even with a lender's approved letter, assuming no contingency? Oh, I am asking this because I thought asking for closing cost is kind of a standard approach (I mean not 100% but some like 15~25%?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just went under contract this week on what turned out to be a very popular house in a good school district. We came with full price, all cash offer with escalation to $20k above asking. No appraisal contingency since we did't have a lender to deal with. Out of all the other offers, 2 had escalations higher than ours, with waived appraisal and inspection contingencies. We upped our offer to about $12k below the highest escalation and agreed to one month free rent back. We will do an inspection for information purposes only. I would agree to the rent back and inspection, but I wasn't going to offer any more money even though we feel we actually got it for a good price and it would have appraised higher than we're buying it for. I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from buying our first house in 2005 during all the bidding wars.

That's twice now we've bought in a sellers market. Hope putting our current house on the market next month works out as well for us as for the sellers of the house we're buying.

I think we may have been one of the higher bidders on that house. If so, congrats - it is really a cool house.

What area? This sounds familiar ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: If you ask for closing cost help, I'm going to assume your finances are not as strong as someone who doesn't ask for it and if all other things are equal I will pick them.

Sorry to interrupt, but, really?! Even with a lender's approved letter, assuming no contingency? Oh, I am asking this because I thought asking for closing cost is kind of a standard approach (I mean not 100% but some like 15~25%?).

Not PP but when we sold our house a year ago in a hot area of DC we would have laughed at someone who asked for closing cost help. It's a sellers market now, you don't ask for those things in a sellers market (well, not if you want to get the house at least).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just went under contract this week on what turned out to be a very popular house in a good school district. We came with full price, all cash offer with escalation to $20k above asking. No appraisal contingency since we did't have a lender to deal with. Out of all the other offers, 2 had escalations higher than ours, with waived appraisal and inspection contingencies. We upped our offer to about $12k below the highest escalation and agreed to one month free rent back. We will do an inspection for information purposes only. I would agree to the rent back and inspection, but I wasn't going to offer any more money even though we feel we actually got it for a good price and it would have appraised higher than we're buying it for. I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from buying our first house in 2005 during all the bidding wars.

That's twice now we've bought in a sellers market. Hope putting our current house on the market next month works out as well for us as for the sellers of the house we're buying.

I think we may have been one of the higher bidders on that house. If so, congrats - it is really a cool house.

What area? This sounds familiar ...

Eastern MOCO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: If you ask for closing cost help, I'm going to assume your finances are not as strong as someone who doesn't ask for it and if all other things are equal I will pick them.

Sorry to interrupt, but, really?! Even with a lender's approved letter, assuming no contingency? Oh, I am asking this because I thought asking for closing cost is kind of a standard approach (I mean not 100% but some like 15~25%?).

15-25% closing cost help?!!?!?! You'd ask for 200k on an 800k home? Are you out of your mind? At most I've seen 5k closing cost help, but that was for full priced offers. I too assume that these buyers are cash poor and that's why they need help. I wouldn't chose them if I had a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: If you ask for closing cost help, I'm going to assume your finances are not as strong as someone who doesn't ask for it and if all other things are equal I will pick them.

Sorry to interrupt, but, really?! Even with a lender's approved letter, assuming no contingency? Oh, I am asking this because I thought asking for closing cost is kind of a standard approach (I mean not 100% but some like 15~25%?).

The worm has turned, my friend.

[Anonymous]

Also said straight out NO to buyers who needed closing cost help. Asking for closing cost help is definitely not standard. You need a new realtor, if that's what she's telling you in this market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also said straight out NO to buyers who needed closing cost help. Asking for closing cost help is definitely not standard. You need a new realtor, if that's what she's telling you in this market.

You have no idea where PP is planning to buy. Closing cost help is still considered in a lot of markets. She could be planning to buy a condo in Woodbridge for all you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also said straight out NO to buyers who needed closing cost help. Asking for closing cost help is definitely not standard. You need a new realtor, if that's what she's telling you in this market.

You have no idea where PP is planning to buy. Closing cost help is still considered in a lot of markets. She could be planning to buy a condo in Woodbridge for all you know.

Why the hell do they need closing cost help? The only reason I can think would be they're having cash flow problems? If you want a lower price, ask for that don't ask for closing costs!