Homebuyers - have you ever had a full price offer refused?

[hedgehog]

When we were looking some 38 years ago, we found a great house and immediately placed a full price offer - only to be informed three days later that the seller took it off the market instead. Last year, the same thing happened to my son. How often do people list with a realtor with no real intention of selling?

[Baitball Blogger]

1. We had an experience that still burns. But the house sold--from under us.

Everywhere else it was a buyer's market. Then we saw this new sign on a street we had scouted several times. Because it was a new sign we knew it was a new listing. So we followed it and found the house of our dreams. Because it was a buyer's market my husband insisted on bidding five grand lower, thinking we would get a chance to counter bid.

Well, next day we heard from the real estate rep. They waited until morning and accepted a cash offer for their asking price. That's one of the challenges we faced in Florida twenty some years ago. People would sell their house up north for three times the value of a house and come down here with so much cash it was hard to compete.

[davsand]

2. A cash offer is very attrative to sellers.

That way there is zero worry about the financing falling through. Even an offer above the listing price can fall through if it is contingent on financing. In today's real estate market that is even more the case than it was a few years ago.



Laura

[Baitball Blogger]

5. When my husband sold a condo unit, we hired a real estate lawyer and his

advice was to go with the person who needed financing. Don't know why. We had two offers. One was offering cash.

[davsand]

15. I have NO idea why your attorney told you that! There must have been some reason for it!

Wow. I am drawing a complete blank on that one--so I'm pretty sure there had to be a really good reason for that particular advice from the lawyer. I have to wonder what the offers were like when you got down into them...

Anyhoo, you were VERY smart to hire an attorney early on. Most people don't, and from what I've seen a good lawyer applied EARLY in the process could help avoid a lot of the headaches buyers and sellers face. Realtors don't always agree--they frequently see lawyers as deal killers--but the average Joe/Jane really can benefit by hiring the attorney BEFORE you buy or sell anything.



Laura

[Baitball Blogger]

17. There are some realtors who should be hauled in because of the things they say.

In Florida, when the market is good, everyone jumps into the profession. They work normal hours Monday through Friday and show houses weekends and after hours. And one I talked to didn't even know that Homeowner Association documents applied on a matter that would have prevented her buyer from doing what he wanted to do when he purchased the house.

[davsand]

3. A lot depends on how that offer is written.

Any offer written with any sort of contingency can be turned down. It does happen that people list stuff and change their mind, but more often than not an offer gets refused because there is some contingency that is part of it.

Don't take it personally. People get really weird when it comes to real estate.


Laura

[hedgehog]

4. My son found out that the house was tied up in a disputed estate -

one sibling wanted to sell and the other didn't.

[Phentex]

16. We almost got tangled up in one of those...

great location but a real fixer upper. I got the feeling the owner had suddenly died in the place and the kids weren't sure what to do about the house. They hemmed and we didn't have time to waste so we left it alone.

[LWolf]

6. Yes. This year.

A family member had repeated full price offers refused. He had a hard time finding a realtor who would work with him, and several area mortgage institutions didn't want to pre-qualify him.

Why? He wanted a VA loan. Nobody wanted to deal with a VA loan. He ended up renting.

It had something to do with the fact that almost every listing in my area is a short sale or foreclosure; apparently VA loans don't have the terms that the owners and lenders were looking for.

[quakerboy]

7. Thats freaky wierd

Because around here we were aced out on several offers we had made, by people with VA loans, and were repeatedly told that VA loans were preferred to regular qualifications. Cash, VA, regular were priority offers, in that order.

[LWolf]

10. That IS weird.

I was left wondering what was so bad about the VA loan; maybe because the properties were all short sales or foreclosures, there is some requirement on the seller's part for VA loans that nobody was willing to meet? I don't know enough about VA loans to say.

I hope you were eventually successful, or will be.

[quakerboy]

14. That may be.

Thinking back, I vaguely recall something like that. Maybe the VA loans have some habitability requirements, so there might have been some fixup required on the sellers part? I dunno.

Yup. We found a place. What we ended up going with was significantly cheaper than anything else we had offered on. Which has turned out for the best, though it kinda felt like settling at the time. We pay the same for mortgage that we did for (our really cheap) rent, with 3 bedrooms and a parking space instead of one and none. And when we lost our jobs, it meant we can still afford to keep living for some time, till we find additional gainful employment. And we have two rooms to rent out, if we end up needing to.

[LWolf]

21. I'm glad to hear it worked well in the end.

My son and his family just bought their first home and moved in last month. They are adjusting to the loss of space, as their house is quite small, but relishing the mortgage, which is significantly lower than the rent they previously paid.

Of course, in my area, most of the homes on the market are short sales or foreclosures, going for much less than they would have 5-6 years ago. Rents have actually increased; probably because there is a higher demand. All those people losing their homes have to live somewhere.

That seems to be shifting, though; the bottom of the housing market is beginning to heat up a bit.

[UTUSN]

20. VA loan - I had one & suspect it wasn't liked because it took the VA 3 months to process it

I'm guessing, don't really know, maybe also because of bureaucratic "protections" by the VA for the buyer/veteran, inspections, lowballing the amount of the loan? As the weeks wore one the realtor kept asking why I wanted to go the VA route instead of FHA. The seller was super antsy about it and now I'm surprised it all happened.

And about somebody having expired in the house, the realtor broke the news gingerly like some people would take it as a deal breaker, but the lady fell asleep smoking, started a fired and died of smoke inhalation. I just didn't take anything they thought was an obstacle as such.

[quakerboy]

8. We went 10k over asking, and got turned down

Which was wierd, post crash. In retrospect, its good we didn't win, because the place was twice the cost of what we eventually ended up getting. But at the time it was sure a kick in the teeth. I had some awesome plans for that place. Someone went 30k over asking. We would have upped our offer. And ended up screwed. But we were never given that option.

[Major Nikon]

9. Yes, about 30 years ago

However, the seller did sell. There were two of us who put in a full price offer on the same day the house went on the market. Mine was a VA loan and the other was conventional, so the seller went with the other offer.

[loli phabay]

11. from the other side when i sold a property in maryland 5 years ago we purposefully marked the price

down to generate interest, the first open day was hectic and we got i think four offers on the asking price, our realtor told us to wait a week and see what happens, well within the week the offers kept increasing and other buyers came in at the lower price and raised their offer when our realtor told them that higher offers had come in, we eventually sold for 120k above the price we started at, so the price you see might be a marketing strategy.

[hedgehog]

12. I guess it's all location, location , location, becuase the properties my family was involved with

had been on the market for a year or so.

[loli phabay]

13. yup this was a very desirable location, i hated it but for some people it is perfect

[davsand]

19. Seems like a common misconception that all realtors work for the clients.

Some do, but not all. Realtors only get paid once the deal closes.

If you are selling and your realtor tells you something it probably is advice that you need to take into consideration. Remember--they get paid once the property sells.

If you are buying and your realtor tells you anything make sure you think it through all the way and verify the facts. Remember--they ONLY get paid if somebody buys that property.



Not all realtors are bad, not all are entirely good either. They are not your pal, they are not your employee. They are there to make the sale and make some money--period.




Laura

[LynneSin]

22. When my mother sold our old house she took a lower price because it was a cash deal

Cash deals always more desirable than dealing with someone getting a mortgage.

[benld74]

23. Yes, but we were the 2nd identical offer. So legally,,,

[Chan790]

24. Yes, well...it was a condo.

But yes, the guy selling it wanted to hold the note himself, I didn't want to mortgage it at-all because I'm a working screenwriter and though I don't get paid often I get paid well (The entire idea for me was that I had the cash on-hand to buy it clear and never worry about rent or mortgage payments again. In NYC, Marble Hill. A boon for a city-dweller who gets paid irregularly and may never sell anything again.). I relented, he took one look at my finances and decided I was too risky to give a mortgage too. (Which I could tell him upfront if he'd asked...getting paid $250K in a lump sum for 12-36 months of work with no promise of future earnings is fiscally-perilous. I live on credit.)

He sold to some twit from Bear-Sterns who ultimately defaulted on the mortgage then he couldn't get what he'd been asking for the first time. In retrospect the whole thing feels shady...who in their right mind turns down cash on the barrel-head?