Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven't bought a house in 10 years and I know the market has drastically changed, but I'm genuinely wondering if sellers just don't respond to offers anymore?

3 weeks ago we offered list price on a house the day it went on the market. Offered expired, no response. So we upped our offer and adjusted some contingencies in hopes of making it more attractive. Two days later got a Redfin notification that it's contingent.

This week we saw another house the day it went on the market, made what we thought was an attractive offer- $15k over asking, their target closing date, higher earnest money, said we'd pay first $3k of repairs from inspection. Again, no response and just saw it go contingent on Redfin two days later.

Is this normal now?

We sold recently and instructed our agent that we did not want offers with any contingencies

Anonymous wrote:Haven't bought a house in 10 years and I know the market has drastically changed, but I'm genuinely wondering if sellers just don't respond to offers anymore?

3 weeks ago we offered list price on a house the day it went on the market. Offered expired, no response. So we upped our offer and adjusted some contingencies in hopes of making it more attractive. Two days later got a Redfin notification that it's contingent.

This week we saw another house the day it went on the market, made what we thought was an attractive offer- $15k over asking, their target closing date, higher earnest money, said we'd pay first $3k of repairs from inspection. Again, no response and just saw it go contingent on Redfin two days later.

Is this normal now?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My winning bid was 35k above ask, 60 day free rent back with no mortgage contingency.

Free rent backs I hate to do. Buy buyer demanded that the rent back be free or deal off.

Do you mean the seller asked for free rent back? Ours did too, and we said nope, you're not living in our house for free. We still got the house.

Our seller wanted to rent back for 6 months, they were willing to pay market rent but we still retracted the offer.

I would have jumped on that. Mine started with demanding 90 day free rent back. I got him down to 60 day free rent Back

yeah, in DC anything over 60 days means that you are no longer covered by the sale contract and DC tenant law takes over. we were looking at buying a home from an elderly couple that wanted 90+ days to find their home of choice, and couldn't risk it. (among other things, its nearly impossible to evict elderly tenants). We ended up finding a much better home for us, but I was pretty sad at the time.

It has nothing to do with the sales contract. It has to do with the lender.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very strange, OP. I wonder what firms the listing agents work for? There are some sneaky companies that have a "coming soon" status within their own firm and often sell to people represented by buyer's agents at their own firms. Are you in the DC area?

cough*compass*cough

There is nothing "sneaky" about this. It is called a private exclusive and most, if not all, brokerages do it.

Of course it's sneaky, in that it's not in a seller's interests to go under contract before the house has hit the market, but it is in the firm's interests as they get to double dip on the commissions. While experienced sellers should be skeptical of such arrangements, the prospect of being done before you start is tempting even though it's not in the best interests of sellers.

That's not true at all. Sellers choose to do private exclusives for a variety of reasons that are best for them and at a price that is higher than they would price it if they put the home on the market. I had a client with cancer who did not have the energy to deal with tons of showings, contractors etc. I do agree that most of the time that exposing the property to the market is the best financial decision for sellers but it is common for elderly people, sick people etc to choose to go
private. And if you think agents care that the brokerage gets both sides, they dont. It makes no difference to them who the buyer's agent is. Believe it or not there are many agents that actually want only what is best for their clients.

That's not at all what was described, though I'm sure one can imagine particular circumstances in which quick and easy dominates financial outcomes for sellers. The brokerage, like any firm, will maximize firm-wide profits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My winning bid was 35k above ask, 60 day free rent back with no mortgage contingency.

Free rent backs I hate to do. Buy buyer demanded that the rent back be free or deal off.

Do you mean the seller asked for free rent back? Ours did too, and we said nope, you're not living in our house for free. We still got the house.

Our seller wanted to rent back for 6 months, they were willing to pay market rent but we still retracted the offer.

I would have jumped on that. Mine started with demanding 90 day free rent back. I got him down to 60 day free rent Back

yeah, in DC anything over 60 days means that you are no longer covered by the sale contract and DC tenant law takes over. we were looking at buying a home from an elderly couple that wanted 90+ days to find their home of choice, and couldn't risk it. (among other things, its nearly impossible to evict elderly tenants). We ended up finding a much better home for us, but I was pretty sad at the time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very strange, OP. I wonder what firms the listing agents work for? There are some sneaky companies that have a "coming soon" status within their own firm and often sell to people represented by buyer's agents at their own firms. Are you in the DC area?

cough*compass*cough

There is nothing "sneaky" about this. It is called a private exclusive and most, if not all, brokerages do it.

Of course it's sneaky, in that it's not in a seller's interests to go under contract before the house has hit the market, but it is in the firm's interests as they get to double dip on the commissions. While experienced sellers should be skeptical of such arrangements, the prospect of being done before you start is tempting even though it's not in the best interests of sellers.

That's not true at all. Sellers choose to do private exclusives for a variety of reasons that are best for them and at a price that is higher than they would price it if they put the home on the market. I had a client with cancer who did not have the energy to deal with tons of showings, contractors etc. I do agree that most of the time that exposing the property to the market is the best financial decision for sellers but it is common for elderly people, sick people etc to choose to go private. And if you think agents care that the brokerage gets both sides, they dont. It makes no difference to them who the buyer's agent is. Believe it or not there are many agents that actually want only what is best for their clients.

Anonymous wrote:Haven't bought a house in 10 years and I know the market has drastically changed, but I'm genuinely wondering if sellers just don't respond to offers anymore?

3 weeks ago we offered list price on a house the day it went on the market. Offered expired, no response. So we upped our offer and adjusted some contingencies in hopes of making it more attractive. Two days later got a Redfin notification that it's contingent.

This week we saw another house the day it went on the market, made what we thought was an attractive offer- $15k over asking, their target closing date, higher earnest money, said we'd pay first $3k of repairs from inspection. Again, no response and just saw it go contingent on Redfin two days later.

Is this normal now?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very strange, OP. I wonder what firms the listing agents work for? There are some sneaky companies that have a "coming soon" status within their own firm and often sell to people represented by buyer's agents at their own firms. Are you in the DC area?

cough*compass*cough

There is nothing "sneaky" about this. It is called a private exclusive and most, if not all, brokerages do it.

Of course it's sneaky, in that it's not in a seller's interests to go under contract before the house has hit the market, but it is in the firm's interests as they get to double dip on the commissions. While experienced sellers should be skeptical of such arrangements, the prospect of being done before you start is tempting even though it's not in the best interests of sellers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My winning bid was 35k above ask, 60 day free rent back with no mortgage contingency.

Free rent backs I hate to do. Buy buyer demanded that the rent back be free or deal off.

Do you mean the seller asked for free rent back? Ours did too, and we said nope, you're not living in our house for free. We still got the house.

Our seller wanted to rent back for 6 months, they were willing to pay market rent but we still retracted the offer.

I would have jumped on that. Mine started with demanding 90 day free rent back. I got him down to 60 day free rent Back

yeah, in DC anything over 60 days means that you are no longer covered by the sale contract and DC tenant law takes over. we were looking at buying a home from an elderly couple that wanted 90+ days to find their home of choice, and couldn't risk it. (among other things, its nearly impossible to evict elderly tenants). We ended up finding a much better home for us, but I was pretty sad at the time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My winning bid was 35k above ask, 60 day free rent back with no mortgage contingency.

Free rent backs I hate to do. Buy buyer demanded that the rent back be free or deal off.

Do you mean the seller asked for free rent back? Ours did too, and we said nope, you're not living in our house for free. We still got the house.

Our seller wanted to rent back for 6 months, they were willing to pay market rent but we still retracted the offer.

I would have jumped on that. Mine started with demanding 90 day free rent back. I got him down to 60 day free rent Back

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very strange, OP. I wonder what firms the listing agents work for? There are some sneaky companies that have a "coming soon" status within their own firm and often sell to people represented by buyer's agents at their own firms. Are you in the DC area?

cough*compass*cough

There is nothing "sneaky" about this. It is called a private exclusive and most, if not all, brokerages do it.