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Message |
    
MQ42
Citizen
Username: Mq42
Post Number: 102
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 12:44 pm: | 
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Just wondering if there is a usual wait on how long a seller takes to decide on picking a particular offer on their house, and what exactly the deciding factor might be?
I know price offered, move in date and whether you have a downpayment or not makes a big difference but is there anything else that might come into play with making a decision.
If 2 people offer a similar amount of money to buy a house what could clinch the deal for one over the other? |
melicious
Citizen
Username: Melicious
Post Number: 401
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 12:55 pm: |
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My seller's took a four day weekend to decide. It was painful.
We actually lost one house because I wasn't on the mortgage with my husband. I wasn't working at the time and they were worried we might not qualify (even though we were pre-qualified).
We GOT this house because I wrote a note about how much I was looking forward to raising my kids in their house. Our bid was $1500 lower than the other bid, but it worked!
Good luck, hang in there.
m |
MQ42
Citizen
Username: Mq42
Post Number: 103
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 1:50 pm: |
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thanks melicious,
Just got the call though.. we didn't get the house!!
Sucks!! I hate the way you're just told the other offer was higher, but can't find out how high.. |
LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 1517
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 2:14 pm: |
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Sorry MQ...that's frustrating. But, it just means you haven't found the "right" place yet. |
Mergele
Citizen
Username: Mergele
Post Number: 381
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 2:16 pm: |
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I have *never* made an offer and left it open-ended. I generally stipulate that the offer is good for 24 hours only. Saves a lot of grief and forces them to make up their minds.
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13708
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 2:45 pm: |
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MQ42, I know that pain, but I agree with LilLB (as usual). If you lose it, it wasn't really yours. You'll find one you like better or that you can better afford or maybe both.
We wrote a positively gushing letter to the seller. We told of our fantasies of what we'd do in the house and even what it must have been like for them raising their kids. The realtor told us it was a deal clincher, because our offer matched another. We got the house. But that was after a few deals falling through on other houses.
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Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 1965
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 2:59 pm: |
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Whenever I have made an offer on a house, I have worked with the realtor to put time boundaries on it, such as X number of business days. It helps to motivate the seller to make a decision one way or the other. Never leave the offer on the table in an open-ended way. It can inspire the seller to keep shopping around for other buyers, while you are hanging there, twisting in the wind.
Another way that's been successful for us is to offer a cash transaction, so the buyer knows our purchase is not contingent on obtaining financing and we can close at any time that suits the buyer. If you have the money, that's the one tactic that I have found to work like a charm.
If you already have a house, you could take a home equity line on it that's as high as possible. Use the money to pay for the new house, and when you sell your current home, you pay off the equity line and you have your new home as well. |
Josh Holtz
Citizen
Username: Jholtz
Post Number: 412
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 3:55 pm: |
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MQ: You really don't want to know how much higher the other bidder was.
I once tried to buy a FSBO. My wife and I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how much to offer. After we gave it to the owner he came back and said "Sorry but you didn't get the house ... and can you believe it - the other guy offered only $5000 more!"
After that I don't want to know how much I would be outbid by. I figure any house I would lose in a multiple bid situation would be by at least $100,000. |
Rick B
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 1072
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 4:20 pm: |
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Time stipulations don't always work, depends on who the market favors. Some listing agents will "pool" the offers by saying "No offers will be heard until date X". Then you and everyone else who is making an offer no longer have time on your side, its on the sellers side. Then, the seller can weigh the offers over a couple days get the listing agent to go back to the top 2 and say, "Please present your best and final offers".
We put an offer in on a house in another area (different state) and there you can stipulate when the offer expires (and we did). |
jersey Boy
Citizen
Username: Jersey_boy
Post Number: 511
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 11:05 pm: |
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We offered the asking price, and got the cold shoulder. "We want to wait for the weekend to see what the open house brings."
We countered with, "How much to cancel the open house?" Then offered it. It was accepted.
All of the plumbing problems not withstanding, I'm glad we did it. The secret is knowing the market, recognizing the house you love and playing THAT house right.
I go back and forth. What if we HAD waited till the open house? Would there have been any other bids? Would we have bid higher than what we actually paid to make sure we got the house?
The market is decided by people like you -- who are looking for a house at the time you're looking.
There were other houses that we were more conservative about... one's we were willing to let go. It may sound corny, but something happens and you know.
J.B. |
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