Seller rejected offer due to not Seeing in person

[Tim B.]

I am wondering if anyone has been and this situation and has ideas on how to handle this. I am an out of state investor and in the past I have purchased my properties based on video walkthrough that my (trusted) realtor does. I submitted an offer that must have been competitive because the seller responded via email with a counter on terms, then called my realtor and asked if I had seen it in person. I had not, and they decided they didnt want to deal with us anymore. Their prerogative of course, and I understand why a seller would be apprehensive of a buyer that hasn't set their own eyes on a property,  but does anyone have any suggestions or advice on how to get them back talking with me? I thought about resubmitting with a small non-refundable deposit. My offer did include an inspection contingency which I would not be willing to remove, but they didnt seem to have an issue with that specifically. 

[Bill B.]

I think you’r paying the price for shady wholesalers. 

You could/should offer a small non-refundable EMD, say $5k if that's equal to a couple month's rent. You could also ask if you could do your inspection prior to going under contract and then make an offer without the inspection contingency.

The seller 100% does not want to go under contract with someone who isn’t going to close or is going to ask for a discount after it’s under contract. Prior to going pending the power is about 90/10 in favor of the seller after it’s us. Contract it’s about 80/20 for the buyer. 

The last property I sold I countered with 1) the buyer's inspection is a yes/no within 5 days, no discounts will be given. 2) they asked for $5k off and I countered with I would discount up to $5k but the amount of the discount is the amount of EMD that is non-refundable. They put up the non-refundable $5k and closed 45 days later, we were both happy. As a seller I wouldn't let anyone tie up my property that I wasn't AT LEAST 90% sure would close (not wanted to close, not said they would close.) and that number is probably closer to 95%.

TLDR: if you offer a couple months of “rent” as non-refundable earnest money you’ll probably get the deal. Add getting the inspection done prior to going pending and you should be fine. Good luck.