How can I get my real estate offer accepted?

How can I get my offer accepted?

15 Strategies to getting your offer accepted!

The plight of today's buyers: "I'm just so tired of submitting offers that never get accepted!"

Are you making the wrong offer?  Are you working with an ineffective Realtor? Both?  I will stand by these words:  "If you're willing to write your very strongest offer (note that I didn't say 'highest' offer) the first time, and your Realtor is ethical, diligent, and thorough, you WILL have an offer accepted." Don't give up.

How to:

1. The most outside the box strategy used to be the ONLY strategy.  Ask your Realtor to hand deliver your offer!  It's really easy to ignore an e-mail, phone call, or text message.  It's much harder to ignore a human being; one who's gone above and beyond.
2. Do your best to truly understand the seller's motivation. Price isn't always king! Neither is cash; especially in short sale situations where the seller may stand to net zero out of the deal. To the seller, knowing that he/she had some influence over who's ultimately going to live in the property, might be the determining factor.
3. Demonstrate to the seller that you are not just willing, but able to close Include bank statements, or Proof of Funds to Close with your offer.
4. Offer the right price and back it up with Market Data. With more traditional sales closing, price may not be the most important factor for the sellers. Can you close more quickly? Are you willing to extend escrow in order to accommodate the sellers' circumstance? Will you do a rent-back for your seller?
5. Offer your maximum down payment.  If you're writing an FHA offer, perhaps you can put 5% down rather than the typical 3.5%.  Writing Conventional? Can you put 25 or 30% down?  
6. Offer to close quickly. Ask you lender if he/she can perform quickly.  With all else the same, a buyer will typically accept the offer with the shortest time to close.  It shows your commitment and eagerness to perform. 
7. Limit Contingencies. with this caveat: Protect yourself first, aggressively pursue the property second.  A contingency on a contract may make a seller nervous. However, you may be able to shorten your inspection contingency period, from 17 days, to 15...or to 10.  If your agent is proactive, he/she may be able to line up inspectors in advance, thus not necessitating the entire 17 day contingency release period.
8. Offer a Significant Earnest Money Deposit. This can be up to your entire down-payment.   Remember, it's not at risk until you release all contingencies, but it might show the seller a level of commitment that no other prospective buyers are willing to (or even thought to) show.
9. Write a personal letter. Seriously! More often than not, there is a human being on the other side of this transaction. Expressing, in writing, why it's important that your offer is accepted may be the deciding factor. This is the "get off the pot" clause.  You may be spending a half a million dollars or more on a home.  Step up!  Put in the 12 minutes it might take to draft this letter, even it you have to do it 3 or 4 times.
10. Escrow Period. "We're willing to wait if you accept our offer now!" "We can close our FHA loan in 21 days if that would help!"
11. If you don't NEED closing costs covered, don't ask. Previously, agents could ask for closing costs very easily and could even raise the asking price to cover the additional credit.  However, as values continue to rise, a home might not appraise if you add your closing cost credit into the price!
12. Submit an as-is addendum. If you're willing to buy a property truly as is, let the sellers' know up front.
13. Ask if you can submit a back-up. Can't even find an "Active" property that suits your needs? To me, every property is active, even if it's not on the market at all.  Ask your Realtor to see if you might be able to submit a back-up offer even if MLS doesn't say you "can."
14. Put your money into escrow prior to approval on a short-sale offer. Showing the listing agent that you're willing to put your deposit money into escrow demonstrates yet another level of commitment. Remember: your funds are not at risk until you've removed all contingencies.
15. NEVER count out negotiation with a builder.

• Even if you don't "feel" that a new home is right, don't leave yourself in a position where you look back a year later and think, "Wow, we could have lived here!"
• Another caveat: Don't go into the builder's sales office unarmed.  Although I work with builders very, very often and have huge respect for virtually all of them, it costs you nothing to have your Realtor register you and to have him or her negotiate on your behalf.  Imagine if you could have a "Professional Auto Negotiator" with you when you buy your next car...at no extra charge!  That's the circumstance with builders.  Those of us who close many deals in new construction understand the process thoroughly; know what to watch out for; know what the builders might think is ridiculous; get the deals done. 
• A Realtor's commission from the sale of a new home typically comes from the corporations ad budget, not from the price of the house.

" It doesn't take sharp eyes to see the sun and the moon, nor does it take sharp ears to hear the thunderclap. Wisdom is not obvious. You must see the subtle and notice the hidden to be victorious"

 ~ Sun Zu

Until next time, and thank you in advance for remembering me when the topic of real estate arises.

Andy Blasquez ~ The last Realtor you'll ever need to look for.
DRE# 01826135

www.andyblasquez.com

Email me at andy.blasquez@gmail.com
Click here to reach Macky Hensel.

Please Follow me on Twitter and Re-Tweet these blogs.
Please Add me as a friend on Facebook 
Finally, please comment or ask questions.  Other readers may be wondering the same thing.  I love the feedback, critical or otherwise, and love the interaction: I love this job.

Thank you always for your support.

Buyers AND Sellers Beware: One ugly day in Real Estate

This is not a post about the values of homes in Brentwood or Oakley.  It's not about property in Alamo receiving 14 offers, ultimately selling to a cash buyer well above an already optimistic list price.  It's about the behavior of a few, several, ..OK way too many agents' unprofessional and unethical behavior.  It's just ugly. At this point in my real estate career I've been around the block a few times and I understand that we're going to see this behavior, however, we don't need to sit back and take it.

How is your Realtor treating you?  If they're not treating you the way you ought to be; if they're not treating the 'other side' with respect, honestly, and integrity...FIRE THEM!  If they are unethical with the 'other side', how will they treat you when you are the 'other side'?

If you're a Realtor, like me, who works very hard for your clients; who actually reads and follows the details on a listing; who spends 80% of your week doing 80% of the 'other sides' work so that your client doesn't suffer...let your broker or your board know!

Today alone...
Today I read a Facebook posting from a fellow agent about another agent who told this colleague's buyers to "Go eat S##t".  He then went on to double end the deal (a practice that I still don't condone).  Not four minutes after I saw this I received a call from one of my clients who said, "I have removed my door knob and pulled the lock-box inside."  "What happened?" I asked.  He went on to explain how over the weekend, and into Monday, agents had harassed the couple; had rudely pushed for appointments to suit their own schedules then didn't show up at all; who never schedule an appointment to view and showed up at 6pm, 8pm, 9pm with their own clients in the car, complaining about how hard it is to show property.  Another agent remarked that the sellers had no right to prevent a showing regardless of the time because it was a short-sale.  Several agents simply showed up, walking in on the family dog who was recovering from surgery.  The list of offences seems to be endless!  This is just ONE of my clients.  This was less just three days.

Friday I was told by one of my new sellers that his previous agent put a sign up in front of the wrong house.  This house happened to be owned by the seller, and had a renter in it whom immediately stopped paying rent out of fear that the home they were living in was going to be sold without any notification.

This may sound like a rant, and trust me...and I could go on, but it's no rant.  It's really, truly, proactively, a call to action.  When my wife recently went to IKEA to return an item and was 43rd in line, and that seemed OK to everyone...I realized that America seems to have rolled over.  It's every day; service people not showing up on time; clerks text messaging their friends and appearing bothered to have to ring you up; restaurants serving you the wrong food or serving it other than the way it was ordered, etc. Sure these are irritations.  But for most of us, buying and selling real estate is a massive, stressful, and highly impactful decision. Please don't settle. Don't roll over. If you're uncomfortable, voice your concern.  Remember, we work for you! If you're not getting the service you deserve in this arena, fire your Realtor.

Home Buyers:
Right now we are in a very, very competitive market. You're going to have to jump fast.  You're going to have to put your best foot, your best offer forward immediately.  BUT...don't rush beyond the offer.  Don't let your agent or the seller's agent force you into a position that you aren't comfortable with.  Don't put yourself at risk because someone else is choosing not to do an inspection or has no contingencies at all.  These inspection periods, the disclosure statements, the preliminary title and natural hazard reports, etc. are put in place to protect you.  Don't be hasty.  Yes, you absolutely better bring your "A" game at the time of offer, but don't write an offer that leaves you exposed to risk, unless you can truly afford that risk.

• Make sure that you're truly in a position to buy and have the following items ready:
• Earnest Money Deposit
• Pre-Approval from a lender you have faith in
• Funds for inspections; typically Pest, Home, Roof, Pool, Well, etc.
• Funds to close (closing costs, remainder of downpayment, etc.)
• Funds after close to ensure that the property is the way you intend it to be when you move in (or shortly there after)
• A Realtor your trust
• Make sure that your list of needs and your list of wants are clearly established. They are different.
• Make sure that you stay on budget.
• Make sure if you are submitting an offer on more than one property that you disclose that to the sellers.
• Make sure to check any special assessments/melo roos, etc. as they can drastically change your PITI (Principle, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance).

Home Sellers:
You truly are in the driver's seat today. But with that in mind, be realistic.  Don't puff out your chest and scare away that ideal buyer! You may receive multiple offers; some may be well above your asking price.  But will the property appraise at a price that high?  If it won't, did you just pass on a buyer who could actually get the deal closed because you were playing 'hardball'?

• Have a plan and stick to it.
• Determine the terms that you'll accept (Cash/Conventional/FHA/VA) and why.
• List your property on the high end of comps as values continue to climb in most areas.
• Review offers only after at least one full weekend has passed, but disclose this to all prospective buyers. Most offers stipulate that the prospective buyer needs a response within 72 hours, but that can be addressed. 
• Counter all offers as you don't know what a particular buyer's motivation is: don't tell them "no" by not countering...give all of your prospects a opportunity to respond.
• Know in advance when you'll do a price reduction, and by how much.
• Ask your prospective buyers if they've written offers on multiple properties.
• Understand that your first offer may be your best even if you received it the 1st day. Stalling or sand-bagging to wait for a better offer might cost you the one you've got in hand.

Fellow agents:
I know you're busy...so I'll keep this part short.  If you're not reading the confidential remarks, then you're calling me to do it for you...you're being a complete tool!  Contrary to what you  may think, you're time is NOT more valuable than mine.  You do your job and I'll do mine and our clients will be happy.  If you are one of the many, many agent that love your job and love the smile on your clients faces when you close...and really do sleep well when your head hits the pillow, please remember that we have to police ourselves.  Nobody else is going to do it.  Call an agent; call a broker; call a local board of Realtors if you have to. Don't just roll over (finger pointing at myself right now!) In time the lazy and unethical will realize that being a Realtor is hard work, then they can run off to try their hand at some get-rich-quick scheme and leave us to best serve our clients.

Then of course...I could be wrong.

I'll leave you with this Taste of Wisdom, 

" Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." 

 ~ Henry Ford

Until next time, and thank you in advance for remembering me when the topic of real estate arises.

Andy Blasquez ~ The last Realtor you'll ever need to look for.
DRE# 01826135

www.andyblasquez.com

Email me at andy.blasquez@gmail.com
Click here to reach Macky Hensel.

Please Follow me on Twitter and Re-Tweet these blogs.
Please Add me as a friend on Facebook 
Finally, please comment or ask questions.  Other readers may be wondering the same thing.  I love the feedback, critical or otherwise, and love the interaction: I love this job.

Thank you always for your support.

Available Homes in Brentwood, CA: There's no doubt we've turned around. Will it last?

East county's inventory continues to dwindle, further driving up active home prices.

Click here to see available homes in Brentwood as of September 12th, 2012.

Since January of this year there's been a 72% decrease in active homes in Brentwood, CA.  This chart clearly illustrates that trend.  What it doesn't show is that we have only 60 homes active as of today.

The table below demonstrates similar trends to what I posted last week with regard to homes for sale in Oakley.  Looking at the last row, median home prices, you can see that in January the median price of a home sold in Brentwood was $279,000 while in August that rose to $330,000.  That's averaging an increase of nearly 2.5% per month: Staggering!

What does that mean for you if you want to buy a home in Brentwood?
If you're looking to buy, it's really time to get going.  "Well, I was thinking about maybe calling a lender to see if I might qualify..." Nope!  Call!  If you'd like to buy in this market, get your pre-approval in hand, get your earnest money deposit funds into your checking account, find an excellent buyer's agent who will represent you fairly and effectively...then get in the car and go!  By the way, bring your pen.  As a buyer, the best news you can hear other than "Here are your keys!" is "Your earnest money is going to be deposited into escrow!"

What does that mean if you want to sell a home in Brentwood?
If you are thinking about selling your home in Brentwood, have someone (I'm very happy to do so) provide you with a professional CMA, or Comprehensive Market Analysis.  From this, you can get a strong understanding of what your Net Proceeds (what you can anticipate walking away with after the close of escrow) will be. 

Will this market last?
This is a simple question to answer honestly.  The answer is..."Who knows?"

What's going to happen to interest rates?  What's going to happen to the real estate market before the election?  What's going to happen afterward?  What happens when the banks release this mythical (in my opinion, there is no inventory that banks are holding on to) sea of foreclosures to be sold?  If I had a crystal ball I'd be sailing around the world looking for great surfing waves with my family rather than sitting at my desk. The market is what it is, and it always will be.

If you would like a CMA, please drop me a line; email, text, call, etc.  I just need your address and a way to reach you.  If you know someone else who'd like one done, even outside of the areas I service; Alamo, Walnut Creek, Brentwood, and Oakley, please forward on my contact information. I will put them in contact with an local area specialist form their area.

As always, I'm here for your questions, comments and concerns.

I'll leave you with this Taste of Wisdom, 

"But until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise." 

 ~ Stephen R Covey

Until next time, and thank you in advance for remembering me when the topic of real estate arises.

Andy Blasquez ~ The last Realtor you'll ever need to look for.
DRE# 01826135

www.andyblasquez.com

Email me at andy.blasquez@gmail.com
Click here to reach Macky Hensel.

Please Follow me on Twitter and Re-Tweet these blogs.
Please Add me as a friend on Facebook 
Finally, please comment or ask questions.  Other readers may be wondering the same thing.  I love the feedback, critical or otherwise, and love the interaction: I love this job.

Thank you always for your support.

How to find the best Realtor to sell your house! (Part 2)

More tips on how to avoid having this guy represent you in your next real estate transaction.

"What? Are you from not around here?  

Forget about it!"

This post is a continuation of "How to find the best Realtor: Questions to use when interviewing a real estate agent." If you haven't read that one, just click on the link above and it will set the tone for the responses below, if the cheesy image above doesn't do that already!

Q3. What is your best Marketing Plan or Strategy for My Needs?
A3.  Insert generic sales pitch here!
Your listing agent will probably say that his/her services include having your listing on MLS and on all of the popular real estate websites.  They'll do open houses, put up a sign post, do a brokers' tour, etc.  That's terrific! You want all of that.  However, it's almost impossible to list a property and NOT have all of those things happen automatically.  Those things mean that your house is on the market.  Better questions are: In a seller's market, how are you going to handle a multiple offer situation?  How will I know which offer is best for my unique circumstance? What is going to differentiate my listing from other listings that we're competing against? What is plan B if plan A doesn't work?

Your buyer's agent needs to provide responses to questions such as: Other than just looking on MLS like everyone else, how will you search for my home? Why is a buyer with multiple offers going to choose my offer or all of the others? Are we going to look at bank owned properties and short sales? Should I go looking on my own?  Should I look at properties from local builders?, etc.  Remember to ask "Why?" as often as is appropriate!  Why your agent selects one activity or strategy over another is as important as the strategy itself.  Also, listen and watch carefully.  The responses to these questions ought to be immediate and comfortable.  If your agent knows the answer AND knows why, then he or she ought to be quite comfortable explaining their responses to you.

Q4. Do you have references, testimonials, and/or reviews?
A4.  This answer needs to be a yes, even if your agent didn't bring any printed out.  They ought to be able to quickly provide this information.  Ask if you can call a reference.

Q5. What skills and traits differentiate you from other agents?
A5.  "I've been doing this a long time" doesn't necessarily mean "I've been effective and efficient for a long time"!  How many deals a year do you close?  How many with buyers and how many with sellers? Do you have a good relationship with lenders and title companies? etc.  All of these are important

Q6. May I have a copy of the documents and forms I'll be signing in advance?
A6.  This needs to be a resounding yes!  California Association of Realtors makes all of these forms available to agents in multiple formats.  You ought to be able to have them e-mailed to you, or handed to you in hard-copy.

Q7. What, if anything, haven't I asked you that I really ought to know?

A3.  Your agent should not reply with, "Well, that's pretty much it!" That answer means that you know the process as well as the agent.  The odds of a buyer or seller bringing exactly the right questions to a listing or buying presentation are very, very slim.  Your Realtor should provide additional points of view, should set explicit expectations, and ultimately needs to ask you if there's anything he or she didn't answer for you.

I'll leave you with this "Taste of Wisdom" from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer:

" The way people treat you is their Karma. The way you respond is yours" 

Until next time, and thank you in advance for remembering me when the topic of real estate arises.

Andy Blasquez ~ The last Realtor you'll ever need to look for.
DRE# 01826135

www.andyblasquez.com

Email me at andy.blasquez@gmail.com
Click here to reach Macky Hensel.

Please Follow me on Twitter and Re-Tweet these blogs.
Please Add me as a friend on Facebook 
Finally, please comment or ask questions.  Other readers may be thinking the same thing.  I love the feedback, critical or otherwise.

Thank you always for your support.

My introduction. My goal. The pulse of Real Estate in Brentwood, CA and beyond.

Best of days to whomever this post reaches.

This is my first blog of which I really believe is the first in a long line of Real Estate related posts.  

I've been a Realtor for 6 years and can sincerely say that I have enjoyed it and continue to do so.  I grew up in Alamo and Walnut Creek, so I know those areas like the back of my hand.  For the past 10 years, I've been in Brentwood and Oakley, thus gaining a wealth of experience in and around those cities as well.  

I may be a rookie blogger but I'm certainly not a 'rookie' Realtor.  All agents have been 'rookies' at some point.  Some just happen to still be making rookie mistakes, causing their clients a great deal of emotional and financial pain.  My goal is to help you avoid that. Let me be quite clear about the purposes of this blog:

• To inform.
• To be a trustworthy resource.
• To expand my real estate business.

  One of the main goals of this blog is to secure, not only more clients, but better clients.  Another goal is to give my readers a crystal clear understanding of who I am.  I want you to see me not only as an excellent Realtor; a set of skills and experiences that repeatedly prove to be effective in the Real Estate arena, but also to see my character and the values I live by.  I really believe that by sewing these seeds, I'll reap the lifestyle that I see myself and my family living.  One of joy.

These posts will typically focus on the following items, but if there is a Real Estate related question that you'd like me to address on this blog, I'd be honored to provide that support.

Topics will include:

• Market trends from both the home buyers side as well as the listing side.
• Dynamics of buying and selling real property.
• The Short Sale Process.
• Unique experiences I've successfully (and a few not so successfully) worked through.
• Builders sales motivations and selling strategies.
• The art and science of effectively selling real property.
• Shining a light on common very costly mistakes home buyers make.
• Contrasting conditions and trends between differentiated markets.
• and much more.

My goal is to post at least twice each week, but as often as several times per week; perhaps even more than once per day.

This blog will periodically contain videos; some nicely produced, and some much more candid and improvised in content and in production. It will often contain images, if the pictures truly support the topic. And, for fun...I will periodically post what I call "A Taste of Wisdom."  In my years as a middle school and college teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed sharing little phrases, thoughts, points of view, or bits of wisdom passed down, to my students.  I still find that these ideas continue to open my eyes and keep me on track so I thought I'd share them with you.

For today, other than my introduction, I'll leave you with this "Taste of Wisdom" from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Happiness is perfume. You can't pour it on somebody else without getting a few drops on yourself."

Until next time.

Andy Blasquez ~ The last Realtor you'll ever need to look for.

Ps. If you enjoy Social Medial, please "like", tweet, etc. these blogs at will. I appreciate your support, and thank you in advance for remembering me when the topic of Real Estate arises.