Offer over the phone or Appointment then present the offer?

Question

I have had mixed answers on this so my question is. Do you set up an appointment early and then go to house and after walking through present your offer or Make offer over the phone?

Mike Cumbie · Answer

I agree with @Nicole Heasley on this one.

Verbal offers over the phone are a whole lot easier to say "no" to, than a contract in hand with the same number on it. I have clients ask all the time "Can you just call and see if they would take $150,000 for it". I always say "Lets put it on paper and I will present it". I could offer you over the phone $20 for your car snow brush and your first thoughts are "Uggh where do I have to meet him? How are we going to make this happen? Then I have to go get a new one". But if I am standing next to you on a sunny day in a Walmart parking lot and pull out a $20 bill. Odds are a whole lot better than you will reach in your car and hand it to me.

Good Luck!

Jerryll Noorden · Answer

NEVER make an offer over the phone without having seen the house and ideally met the owner.

No matter what if the owner has met you and they like/trust you, the offer will be better received.

But even more important than that, and this is what most people simply do not get,  there is only ONE thing that gets offers accepted and contracts signed.

CREDIBILITY.

Making an offer over the phone will remove credibility and you do significant damage!

Then a tip. Make an offer on the house within 30 minutes of walking the house. We give offers right then and there on the grounds right after the walk-trough.

Nicole Heasley Beitenman · Answer

I find most conversations go better in person. This applies to life in general, not just real estate.

Don Phelps · Answer

We never make offers on the phone, fax or email unless for some reason the owner is not in our area. Even then depending on the deal, we will go where they are.

For example, we found a property pending foreclosure in Austin, had been vacant for over 3 years. No one could find the owner.  Well, we don't give up and we found the owner of the property living in a high-end senior living facility in New York. (I found him based off his parent's immigration papers from Ellis island)We flew up there to meet with the owner who had forgotten he even owned the property (long back story with all that). We gave him all the information and made him an offer right there. We ended up flying back up there on two more occasions and closed the deal.  He told us that if we had called him to speak about the house, he would have thought we were crazy or a scam.

Plus I've met a new friend who was one of the first to patent paper napkins (yes, paper napkins).

John Thedford · Answer

I always carry a blank P&S contract with me. That being said, there are other things to consider. TERMS MATTER. If you want to scam the seller with $1 EMD and 90 days inspection it doesn't matter what the price is. If you walk in asking for a 5-7 day inspection, all cash, no other contingencies, etc your odds are much higher it will be accepted. I recently closed on one Dec 10th. My original verbal offer was 110K. I had a friend with me and she offered to list it at 139K. Seller didn't accept either that day. After looking over the house a different day I decided not to pay the 110K verbal offer so I essentially walked. Two weeks later the seller contacted me. I was then able to get it under contract at 83K with NO contingencies and fast closing. I arrived with a blank contract and we signed. What mattered to the seller was QUICK CLOSING and no contingencies. They wanted it GONE! I could have flipped it and made 30K the day of closing.

Marcus Maloney · Answer

I virtual wholesale and I make and close deals all the time over the phone. We have the initial conversation about the house and get a number from the seller. Then we dispatch our community liaison to walk the property and confirm the condition of the house and sometime we make the offer there at the house or we call them immediately afterwards. The key is to get an initial number from the seller, this make the conversation a lot easier. When your working with at team you can not be a one man show.

Hope this help "Enjoying the Journey"

Jeff Cichocki · Answer

We make verbal offers on all of our properties before we go look at them. We do it to test the waters. We want to make sure we're in the ballpark before we make the trip.

It's not an exact science as much as it is an art. Negotiations over the phone takes a lot a practice. If you learn how to do it right, you can get people to sign contracts via email without ever having visited the property. I'm not saying we do that, but that's how powerful and effective it can be. I've got a couple of friends who wholesales nationwide and that's all he does. They never physically see a property, but they get the contracts.

Good luck!

Pat L. · Answer

In the old days I'd knock on doors & that always worked better than by mail or phone call.

A couple of our best mots lucrative deals were on vacant properties held by out of state heirs/sellers. So, we had to do some homework on their 'feelings' about the property in question. We usually beat out the competition by making the transition painless & close cash asap & we would handle any clean-up, storage of possessions etc that they had not had time to go through.

Aaron Gordy · Answer

Verbal vs Written offer? Written offer wins. Verbal and then written offer is solid.

But, there is so much more than price on a deal. Compare 100k cash to a 100k fha deal... hands down cash wins. How about 100k fha vs 100k va? How about 115k conventional financing with 5% earnest money and $1000 option money close in 4 weeks vs.  85k all cash close in 2 weeks? How about 100k hml, with second lien and little cash out of pocket vs $110k fha 203k loan? It all depends upon credibility of the offer and the buyers and even the agents/brokers.... There are many variations. That is how it is in Austin Texas presently as its such a hot market on some properties in primo areas where many are getting multiple offers.

Now, if you know its an excellent deal and there aren't any other buyers then you offer what you think that you can buy it for with the price and contingencies that makes sense to you not the seller. But no matter what....paper it up. Verbal doesn't mean anything unless paper follows it.

Barry Pekin · Answer

@Mike Lopez,

No one here has offered bad advice.  I think you need to learn both ways.  I greatly prefer in person and on paper, but I recently was talking to someone where they were out of state and insisted on a number right away.  Of course in that case, it didn't pan out, which I think just supports my thought that she wasn't as motivated as I originally thought.  Still, I will continue to follow up until she sells - without being annoying.

Offer over the phone or Appointment then present the offer?

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