Do you really want to buy a Silicon Valley home, or do you just want to write offers to see what will happen?  Some folks, who appear to resemble serious home buyers, write offers that are riddled with reasons why the seller should reject their offer, or at the very least write a very tough, high counter offer in response.

What kinds of things in a purchase contract make a bad impression on home sellers in the San Jose area?  Here’s  a list of things buyers (or their agents) have done I’ve seen recently which turned the tone negative when it didn’t have to be:

• On the good faith deposit check, don’t write the name of the title company.
• On the memo section of the check, write something vague or possibly nasty, such as “deposit for budget property”.
• On the contract, don’t write the seller’s name anywhere. Instead, write “Owner of Record”. Sounds like a bank owns it, but no matter what, it indicates that you don’t care who owns it.
• On the contract, omit the listing agent’s info in the agency confirmation and offer signature pages.
• Make a low offer, and if you are countered up in price, counter back to your original price.
• If the seller indicates that your offer is being reviewed favorably and that the seller is probably going to take it, ask the listing agent “is there any room still to negotiate?” and promptly cancel and submit a new offer which is 10% lower.
• Write offers on more than one property at once – even though you can only purchase one.  (That’s called “acting in bad faith”, even if it is a short sale.)
• Ask the seller to pay for everything, even items which are normally paid for by the buyer.
• If the MLS says that something is omitted or excluded from the sale, don’t mention it in your contract.
• If the MLS provides information on disclosures, inspections and reports, don’t bother looking at them before you write and submit your offer.

I’ve seen all of these just in the last couple of months.  Buyers and their Realtors need to remember that buying and selling houses, condos and homes in Santa Clara County (and everywhere else) is emotional as well as a business decision.  Being rude, inattentive, uncaring and generally not following instructions is not a good negotiation strategy!

The offer is the courting period.  If you are not polite and professional then, what will you be like in escrow?  Your offer is your first impression. If you want to buy real estate, make it a strongly good impression!

If you’re out to buy a Silicon Valley home this year, you may be tempted to look at real estate priced far above your ability to pay and hope that you can write a low offer that the seller will accept.

Don’t count on it.

Lowball offers are contracts written substantially below the list price (and often well below market price).  How low is too low? It really depends on the micro-market of the home you’re interested in (the neighborhood, price range, school district, etc.).  In most of Silicon Valley, houses, condos and townhouses sell within 5% of list price most of the time. The average list price to sales price ratio is usually closer to 1 – 3% of list price. 

My usuall advice to buyers is this: if you don’t think that the home is worth within 5% of list price, then keep looking until you find a home that is.  Most of the time, sellers aren’t prepared to come down more than a few percent. 
(more…)

Recently I have been involved with multiple offer situations, both on the listing (seller) side and on the buyer side. All of the multiple offer bidding events have involved first time homebuyers and in every case, at least one or some of the offers were presented with FHA backed financing.

Sometimes agents rush when they write up the purchase contract, and the offer is not well done; we call that “sloppy” and it’s not helpful to your position as a would-be homebuyer.  As a buyer, you won’t know which box needs to be checked or which blank filled in, but there are big areas that you can double check to make sure that your offer is “clean”, which will present you in a more favorable light and increase the odds that your offer will be the one the seller and the listing agent will want to work with.

1. If your offer is an FHA offer, make sure that the box on page 1 says so (there are boxes for FHA and VA offers on page one of the California Association of Realtors contract)
2. Make sure that the numbers all add up – the initial deposit, the increase of deposit (if any), the loan amount and balance of cash downpayment should all be listed and should add up to the correct number for your total purchase price.
3. The “loan terms” are supposed to be specified too. What’s the interest rate? Are there any points being paid – and if so, by whom? Blanks in that area are a problem because you have a finance contingency which relies upon everyone knowing those terms. Be specific.
4. It is doubly important – no, triply important – that your offer comes with a soid pre-approval letter.
5. Make sure that you give your agent a check, or a photocopy of the check you’ll use if your offer is accepted.

Once the offer is drafted, your agent should go through it with you so that you understand all the clauses and terms.  Ask your agent to double check everything; it’s better to take a lilttle longer and make sure it’s right than to get it off fast but sloppy.

Recently I’ve seen a few FHA offers from agents who’d rushed and many or all of the items listed above were off. In one case, the agent didn’t even include the loan amount.  In two offers recently, the real estate licensee hadn’t checked the FHA box when the contract was dependent upon it going through as FHA.

(more…)