All Forum Posts by: Chris Brillante

@Daniel Gonzalez Great points. As far as I’m aware the offers were very similar. We offered a lot with this deal. Flexible closing, way above asking price, waived some inspection terms, along with waiving a portion of the appraisal contingency. This was the most uncomfortable I’ve been with an offer, but the numbers still worked and I honestly thought I had a solid offer. All it takes is one person waiving a bit more and you don’t stand a chance. 

I agree with you that offering ridiculous amounts and taking on a huge risk just to win a house isn’t worth it at some point. I just don’t know how to get around this wall. I will not be able to compete with offers like that. I guess I hope a seller somewhere has a heart and wants to sell it to someone decent? Rather than investors just throwing money around like crazy. Not implying that investors are heartless people but it’s just an unfair playing field. 

@Francis Louis Vogel Jr The appraisal process would still have to happen. When I talk about waiving the appraisal contingency, basically that means if the house appraised for less then the agreed sale price, there is no renegotiation. By waiving the contingency, I have agreed to agreed upon sale price and then I have to bring that extra cash to the table to satisfy my mortgage. Huge risk in my eyes but it seems to be the going strategy here in NJ to win homes. Very frustrating to say the least. 

@Joshua Gorsky Thanks for the response. The house was 2 units, over/under. I’m pretty sure this was being sold via a standard realtor contract. No commercial aspect to this property. 

It’s been super frustrating dealing with this. I’d like to waive my appraisal contingency if I could. But you never know what the appraisal process is going to be like. You can look at all the comps you want but one appraiser can throw everything off. But it seems once a seller sees one buyer waiving the contingency they jump on it. Nothing else matters. Do you have any advice for different strategies? Or is just waiving a portion that you are comfortable with the best that can be done - other than waiving it entirely. 

I am currently looking for a multi-family house in the Somerville area and am running into an appraisal issue when putting in offers. I was just recently beat out on an offer as another buyer completely waived their appraisal contingency. Is this going to be the norm going forward? I had incorporated a term in my offer waiving up to 10K for the appraisal and I thought that was crazy. The thought of waiving the appraisal contingency entirely seems reckless. But it also seems to be what wins homes. Just curious to get your thoughts and maybe advice dealing with this moving forward. Thanks!

Thanks again for all the replies.

I went back through the contract and riders that have been produced thus far, and after speaking again with my attorney, it seems to be a case of the sellers attorney stating that they wont renegotiate based on the appraisal and we have to move forward with the sale despite the appraisal, and even if our mortgage is withdrawn because of the appraisal. They are not budging on having language included to help us out there. According to my attorney, the sellers attorney said that "they offered that amount and that's what they have to stick with". I know the market here in NJ is very competitive these days but that seems a bit unreasonable to me. Not sure how I am supposed to close on a house, especially in NJ, without a mortgage. I'm not sure the seller's attorney knows what she is doing at this point.

Thanks for the replies. I may have mis-worded my post. I don’t believe there is any language requiring that we proceed despite appraisal, but there is not any language saying we can back out at the r appraisal. So it could be a dangerous gray area. Their lawyer is not willing to entertain any more changes at this point, also a bit of a red flag. Since there is no language either way, what are your thoughts based on that?

Hello!

I am currently under contract on a property in North Jersey (Morris Plains). The property is a two family house, 2 bed 1 bath on the first floor, 1 bed and 1 bath on the second. We are running into some issues with the sellers attorney regarding the appraisal language. They are insisting that the contract state that no matter what the house appraises for we still have to proceed with the sale. My offer price was a bit over listing as the market is extremely competitive. I am not extremely worried about the house appraising low but I was curious if anyone had any input on a particular situation like this. Or if anyone is an appraiser and wouldn't mind chatting further. I appreciate the help!