Tag: offer strategy

The Long and the Short of It: A Quick Chat On Closing Timelines

Posted on by Living Room Realty

Congrats to our buyer J for the successful close of his dream home, in his dream neighborhood, of Lake O!

Let’s have a quick chat about closing timelines: nowadays, its rare to encounter sellers wanting a longer close (than the typical 30 days). This case was a little different. The house was truly decorated like a museum, and they needed time to be able to move all of their worldly possessions out and patch the walls for the new owner.

More often than not, in competitive scenarios we’re seeing cash closes of two weeks, sometimes even three week closes on financed transactions – such short timelines for all that goes into such a big purchase!

Occasionally, a seller prefers either a longer close, or “rent back” period (when the home closes on a typical timeline but then the seller “rents” the home back from the new owner).

In general, it is most advantageous for buyers to be amenable to the timeline of the sellers when writing offers, whether or not there’s competition: if it’s not a match, the seller will either reject the offer or accept with a sour taste in their mouth going into the transaction.

In this case, the seller didn’t mind waiting for the funds (or didn’t need the funds to be able to move forward with their next home purchase) and didn’t want to deal with the nuances of a “rent back”, so we adjusted to a longer close. It allowed for a comfortable inspection period and a cushy timeline for back and forth communications – what a change of pace in this crazy market! It was also just the concession needed to get our offer accepted $50k UNDER list price !!

Thankfully, buyers don’t get any cooler (or more reasonable) than J, who was uber flexible on timelines and understood what it would take to make his homeownership goals a reality.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to discuss more in depth how closing timelines can help to inform your offer-writing strategy as a buyer.

The Surgical Strike Lands a Unicorn

Posted on by Ella Gray

I met Rebecca last summer after the closing of “Tangerine Dream”, a house in Alberta Arts where I represented the buyer. She was impressed my buyer got the house “at list price” versus an amount her original agent had advised her. We set up a meeting to go over various strategies, philosophies, the changing market in general, and other details, and she decided to make a switch and work with me!

We started looking in earnest at homes in her criteria in the winter of 2018…very slim pickings coming on the market at that time (a historical norm). Once the new year hit, more inventory started coming on in her criteria – the quintessential “dialed-in” older home that had been remodeled and updated, but still retained the older charm and character, and in a walkable neighborhood. This criteria, PLUS a turnkey ADU or a rentable space in a popular price range put us in the “unicorn” territory. They are out there, highly desirable, hard to find, and when you do find one, everyone else wants it for a good deal too!

So we started off the new year in several multiple offer situations. We kept coming in at the right price, but there were terms that continued to “win” over the 5-8 other offers at each house. Terms that no agent normally recommends any buyer to use…folks were outright releasing appraisal contingencies, skipping inspections, lots of insanity to land the house (usually these buyers have lots of experience buying, and/or an endless amount of cash).

Finally a new listing came up that we both knew WAS.THE.ONE. A beautifully renovated Cape Cod with all kinds of modern updates, a mother-in-law suite with a separate entrance, in a walkable area, at a great price. THE UNICORN!  I was the very first agent to call about it, and we were one of the first groups to see it a few hours after it hit the market.

Rebecca and I knew the other buyers that were still out there that were waiving inspections, waiving appraisal contingency, etc. We sat down and she agreed to deploy the SURGICAL STRIKE of offers (and still kept all contingencies!). After going through a few rounds of previous offers, she trusted me and the process. We wrote the offer that same evening it hit the market and had it accepted within 12 hours before the first open house! Just in time too, as the listing received more offers throughout the weekend, but we were already in contract thanks to the Surgical Strike Strategy!

CONGRATULATIONS, Rebecca! I wish you many happy years here!