All Forum Posts by: Amanda Kwem

Quote from @Bill B.:

Why wouldn’t you offer $1.130M, be the highest offer and save $70k?

There is zero chance I would be getting prequalified with a real estate agent, do they own a bank? What’s the interest rate? How long’s the loan? Talk to a real mortgage broker. Ask for the federal NMLS of their lender.

This sounds really shady. Did they give you an estimate of your payments and did that number sound acceptable? (what if it’s a 5 year arm at 12% interest with 20% down?)

 I don’t know what the highest offer is. And I’m so sorry but I mistyped. The counter he claimed was 1.225, so 25k over what they want us to offer in the first place. 

And the offer is from the home loans mortgage company who works with them. I have no idea what the internet rate is or any details about the loan we just got a pre approval letter with the amount. When I asked multiple times they said they needed a signed offer to present it to the seller for seller financing and then it would be discussed then. 

And exactly what I explained to my friend. What if the internet rate is 20%?? Which is why I’m wondering what happens with a short loan contingency. What happens if we don’t agree in that time frame and the seller themself is the one financing and giving the terms. I’m very curious.

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

If they are your agent, they will not make any more or less money if you buy this house. They will make X dollars from selling this house, then they will make Y dollars from whatever house you buy, whether it’s this one or another one. It is a zero sum game when one of your own buyers buys one of your listings.

They are the sellers agent who decided to represent us as buyers for this particular house. Met them at listing. If we don’t go with this house then we may or may not move forward with them. But noted, thankyou 

Quote from @Bill B.:

Only offer what you think it’s worth. If you truly think they are motivated to earn double commissions then offer $50k over asking, or less. If commissions are their motivation they’ll push your offer on the seller over other offers…

Always include an inspection contingency and you’ll probably need a longer loan contingency. (Are you pre-approved, not pre-qualified?) ask your lender how long they need. AND an appraisal contingency, what if it’s worth less than asking?

OBVIOUSLY if the offer “deadline” passed and they’re still willing to accept your offer either there were no other offers or none that the seller would accept. They may have told the seller they would lost it low and then a bidding war would insure, except it didn’t. 

I would probably offer at or near list, heck maybe less if it’s been on the market more than 15-20 days. Lots of sales are falling through when interest rates climb during the inspection/offer period. 

If you don’t get this deal I think I’d find a new realtor, you two have just gotten off on the wrong foot, especially if they didn’t have you sign a “dual agency” form. 

Ps. Pretty sure BP has an agent referral option and you could even try reaching out to David Greene from the podcasts, he runs a broker or two in California.  

 Given the area I think it can very well sell for over 1 mil. Would I be willing to spend 1.2 million in a 2b/2b house? Absolutely not. Despite the claim of other offers it seems to me that if we were to agree and sign that our offer would be accepted, that’s simply the impression I have. 

After the heated back and forth one of the agents said “counter offers are coming out soon and it’ll be 1.125 mil. That’s what I’ll accept”. Thoughts? Does that make sense? I’m just trying to understand the motivation or benefits to either the seller or agent. 

Even after that back and forth the co-agent texted an hour following stating that she added the appraisal contingency and that if we were ready to sign. They also are the sellers agent. If they have better offers why would they be so adamant about us moving forward? Much higher than other offers? Idk.

Does anyone know how sellers financing would play in this situation? They say they need us to sign first then they’ll present the offer of seller financing to the seller. But wouldn’t they have had that discussion already? Esp with other offers?

We got w pre approval certificate from the agents themselves/perhaps the lender they work with. The pre approval is for the exact amount of 1.2 mil and I’m even surprised we got that bc I sent over very minimal information. 

This is an agent my friend met at the listing who sold her the promise of getting her the home. At what cost? That’s what I’m trying to figure out.

I'd like your opinion on a matter.  Myself and 2 of my business partners/friends are first time home buyers looking to purchase in a hot market in CA.  There is a house we like and offers were due yesterday.  List price is 998k but agent is insisting and wrote paperwork for us to sign for a purchase price of 1.2 million.  They said they need this price to be "competitive, though i personally don't agree with offering that much over asking.  I was at work yesterday and I was being pressured to sign the contract as offers were due yesterday and I randomly asked if they were also representing the seller and they said yes.  It's 2 co-agents and I was pretty upset and said that should have been disclosed.  Though offers were due yesterday they have extended it for us and are doing everything in their power to get us to sign.  They've promised my friend (who loves the house and isn't smart financially imo) that they can get us seller financing with no money down (with either a program or getting the seller to agree) but everything seems fishy to me.  In the contract they were trying to get us to rush to sign all contingencies were waived except a 7 loan contingency.  I of course pointed this out.  They said they have other offers, some above asking (which I don't deny given the market and us being in the Bay Area).  My questions are

1.  Are they simply trying to get us to buy so they get double commission

2. If there is a loan contingency but we use seller financing, what happens if we don't agree  to the terms of the presented loan? Will we be out of any money

3. dual agency seems like a terrible idea, pros and cons

4. Offers were due yesterday but they're still going back and forth with me and editing the contract in an attempt for us to comply. why?  There has to be other offers that are above asking with bigger downpayments

5. Does seller financing benefit the seller?  Taxes? getting the house back if anything goes wrong? 

I asked about the terms of seller financing but they said we'd be to sign an offer to present a written offer to the seller first who knows nothing about seller financing but they are confident that they can convince them.  Is that correct?  The loan contingency is 7 days.  What happens if this isn't figured out in 7 days of signing? Do I lose the earnest money?  

Personally this has red flag all over it and I won't be rushed into signing anything  We ended up viewing the house 2 days before offers were due.  What are their motivations?  Anything wrong of illegal here.  This is a very simplified summary by the way there is so much more I can write.  Even after a heated text thread of me laying out all of my concerns and them saying we should pass on the house (after I pretty much told them I don't want the house), they still came back saying they added a loan and appraisal contingency and if we are okay to sign. WHY?