Steve Eveleth Livermore ca Real Estate News

www.steveshomesearch.com Livermore Ca real estate news

Steve Eveleth Tips to buyers on the REO’s & offer strategies, process. Stevehomesearch.com
I wanted to take a few minutes to educate my current buyers, prospects that I am in communication with & current preapproved buyers that are currently shopping with me. There are some good deals out there right now. The trick to getting a good deal on an REO (bank owned property) which 75% of entry level homes under $417k in the Livermore, Mountain House & Tracy area are either short sales or REO’s. 1) Make sure you are preapproved & are comfortable with your monthly payment!! Last thing we want to do is go out & look for homes, find one you love, write an offer, get it accepted & find out you cant get your payment where you want it.
2) Be prepared not to get the first house you write an offer on!! As I said in my previous blogs, many of these bank owned homes that are low priced GET MULTIPLE OFFERS. I have been taking buyers out on an average of 2-4 times looking at an average of 10-15 homes, writing an average of 2-4 offers before we snag one.
3) Be available!! If you are a serious buyer be prepared to take some time off work 1 day a week or so to spend house shopping. DURING THE WEEK IS THE BEST TIME TO SHOP as there is way less competition, much quicker response time to our offer submission. Also banks have same hrs most of us do 8 to 5 Mon through Fri. So if we submit an offer on a home that does not have any offers on it during the week chances are its going to get to bank that day verses a weekend when the bank might have several offers by Monday then we become “just another offer” with the pack & have less negotiation opportunity & less chance of getting offer accepted when competing with other offers.
4) DO NOT EXPECT TO LOWBALL. We are not In a low ball market. Banks are not that desperate. There is an asset manager that is on the other end of the bank owned home, just like you want the best deal you can get, so does the investor that is taking the hit on his return. If the banks wanted to give the property away they could have sold it on the Auction at the court house steps for 50-70 cents on the dollar. If its listed with an agent on MLS they are expecting to get close to full price for home. Many buyers think since it’s a buyer’s market that means that you can write an offer for 20% under asking price. This is a waste of your time & mine & waste of paperwork. The most we are seeing in price reduction is 3 to 6% possible 7 or 8% in a few over priced homes. Let me tell you how the banks operate: They take the last sold comp in the area & price the home slightly over that last comp as they expect that we will talk them down..(Bottom line is they. They typically wait 30 days to see what happens. During that 30 days they will entertain reasonable offers. If nothing happens in 30 days they need to get home off the books. So they lower price really low then everyone comes running. This is when we talk about the multiple offer situations. Then the bank sits back collects all the offers & counters everybody back at what’s called “highest & best” meaning hey, we are not going to tell you the details of other offers but there are many, no how bad do you want this house &” what’s the most you are willing to pay for it” This is the banks strategies of getting current true market value for the home in the quickest period of time! I hate it drives me nuts as I am on the front line with my poor buyer chiseling there pocket for a home they really want with a set low price in their mind as the motivation for making the move to write offer then we find out we have to pay 5 -10 maybe even 15% more to out bid other buyers. We could have saved everyone time & went & looked at homes in the 10-15% higher price range & probably found them a home that was just as nice & not played the banks games with bidding war!!!!Bottom line is expect to pay close to asking or a little above on a well priced REO, also I know buyers are smart, most of you know what is a good deal that is why you are pursuing it, so when a good deal pops up go for it & get what you want. In this market there will be someone right around the corner that will.
5) Don’t get discouraged!! If you are persistent & proactive we will find you a home you like & a reasonable price. I have no problem shopping for however long we need to get you what you want.
6) If we do land a deal on the first offer or two, do not think something is wrong or you are paying to much, know that we got lucky & it was meant to be! Some buyers love the chase & game once they get into it. They become overwhelmed or cannot make a decision because they are not properly equipped with the information or knowledge they need to make an informed decision. Then they become impulsive & later down the road develop what’s called “cold feet” that is they don’t really have a particular legitimate reason for backing out of a deal they just “feel” like they have to back out. This is a waste of everyone’s time & can be avoided by the agent properly taking the time with them to educate them. This can be a problem if the agent you are working with is pushing you or licking their chops thinking about pay day & not having your best interests in mind! PICK A GOOD AGENT THAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH, ONE THAT YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN CALL ANYTIME OR ASK ANY QUESTION TO without them getting all razzed up. Buyer: Please educate yourself so you know what is a reasonable deal & be prepared to follow through with it….if there is a legitimate reason for backing out of a deal that’s one thing but cold feet & ambivalence as an uneducated consumer wanting an unreasonable deal is another.
7) Have faith in your agent, loan officer, title reps, WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING (most of us anyway….) Most of the agents that should not have been in the business in the first place have been weeded out & are back at there 9 to 5 jobs . Have faith that your agent will contact you when necessary. Remember we want you to get into your home as much as you do, its what we do for a living too!
8) Please have respect for our time as there is so much time spent behind the scenes, setting up showings, driving buyers around, writing up offers, researching property requests, calling banks & listing agents. If you decide not to purchase or are not happy with the job your realtor is doing for you, COMMUNICATE to them. A good agent will welcome constructive criticism, not push a sale & want to know how to serve you better, I do anyway. Thanks for reading this book (LOL) It helps me to help you if you have this knowledge as we work together to get you the deal & home you want & get ahead in the game! Have a great day, thanks for reading my blog! Steve Eveleth loves helping people get into homes! www.steveshomesearch.com