All Forum Posts by: Robert Fisher

Thank you for the advice!

I saw a property, was interested, so I emailed for more information, and ended up being in contact with the listing agent who represents the seller.  Now after several rounds of questions and obtaining documents, I want to proceed with making an offer; but I don't feel comfortable talking money strategy with this broker representing the seller.  Typically I would huddle with my broker to work out an offer amount in hopes of saving some money; but I don't know if I can do that in this situation.  What should I do?  Can I bring in another broker to represent me at this stage?

Thank you for the suggestion -- an interesting one.  And maybe a ground breaking idea in Silicon Valley given the crazy home prices here.

The money comes from sales of some properties in NYC.  I am moving my investment to Bay Area.  This is a 1031 exchange.  Previously I had apartment dwellings; but now I am looking more at commercial properties because I think management can be easier.  My goal is to invest the money 1) in Bay Area 2) in commercial real estate ideally and 3) in the most profitable type.

Thank you for your insight.  I will look into those areas.  What is your view as to the reason downtown SJ is currently undervalued compared to other communities?

Cash $4.5 mil, loan $5.5 mil for a total of $10 mil.  Assume commercial interest rate 5%.  

Where to buy?  What type to buy? etc.  Would love to have your suggestions.  Thanks a lot.

Just want to add that, my concern about going through the listing agent I current work with is, there seems an incentive for this agent to steer me toward the property he represents.

But at the same time is it too much to be talking to 4-5 listing agents at the same time?

I'm looking at several properties in an area; will choose one among them.  I'm currently speaking to one agent who is the listing agent of one of the properties.  Should I go through this agent to contact the listing agents for the other properties, or go directly to the other listing agents?  What are the pros and cons of the two approaches?  Thanks.

Looks like a gamble to me.  The right person can make it work.  (Donald Trump?)

Hi, no offense taken.  Thank you for taking the time to discuss.

What I am buying is a "2nd home" for now and also for my retirement spot maybe 15 years later.  The area is near Mendocino, CA, a very scenic place.  I'm only looking at ocean-front properties with 3+ acres of land.  Because of this objective, I'm not looking to flip and make a quick profit; and I have even accepted that home value in this area will grow more slowly than the red hot SF bay area where I live and can easily invest in.  In another word, future value is not a big concern to me.  But I surely don't want to pay more buying it if I can pay less.  

So what is the present value?  Prices in this "2nd home" area is very volatile.  All homes I have seen -- and that include comps and current listings -- start with a high price then come down.  Below is one example.  Seems to me people will always start with peak era price levels.  So the question to me is, how much do I shave off that asking price and with what justification.  50% seems a bit excessive just from a statistical perspective, but may not be totally ridiculous.  Some of the comps have as much as 35% discount from the last asking price; I would not be surprised if they are about 50% off the original asking prices.

I look at Zillow only because this site makes available to common investors more information available than other sites.  I will gladly look at any other publicly available site and ask my RE agent.  I will add one thing about zestimate, though, it does not always come down.  As the 2nd image shows, zestimate can also pop up for reasons unknown to me (perhaps someone makes an offer?).  So I won't accuse zestimate as only trying to bring down the price.

I will definitely be asking my agent the question of "what would be a price that will get a buyer today" on any property I want to make an offer on, and factor that best guess into the offer.

Asking price changes:

Zestimate price pop: