Holding Off On Second Offer

I spoke with the agent for this property again. I told her I noticed that the property was still available and I would like to make another offer on it. She remembered me and said I would have to do "much better" on my offer. I was able to get a bit more information. The listing said the property fell out of escrow and the seller wanted a quick close and had reduced the price $10,000. Based on that, I made the assumption that the owner needed to...

Another Offer Submitted (Updated)

I put in an offer yesterday on a condo that looks like it's in pretty good shape. The listing said the seller needed a quick close, which is what caught my eye. When I talked to the listing agent, I was a bit disappointed to learn that the seller was looking to close around the middle of January. That's almost a month away and not really what I would consider a "quick close." However, I submitted an offer anyway, at about $35,000 under the list...

Another Offer Made And Turned Down

I love it when real estate agents feign surprise or outrage at your offers. I came across a property in the MLS today that had just fallen out of escrow. The description said the seller reduced the price by $10,000 and that the seller wanted a quick sale. The property just came back on the market within the last day or two, so I checked it out and quickly put in an offer that was $40,000 under the asking price, but all cash and "as-is." About two...

Are Banks Reluctant To Foreclose?

This article on slate.com puts forth the notion that banks are afraid to foreclosure on delinquent homeowners. The author makes the argument that foreclosures cause a hit to the bank's balance sheet and create bad PR, so banks would rather let mortgagees miss more and more payments than take their houses back. Lower foreclosures also helps keep the bank's stock price high.I'm not sure I agree with this. As the author states, in Louisiana and other...

Offer Turned Down

I guess the agent was not able to convince his seller to take my offer. I never heard back from him and my offer expired at 4 PM yesterday. If the seller is really strapped for cash, and based on the agent's suggestion of a 7 day escrow and non-refundable deposit, I think he is, I may hear back from them. Then again, it might just be that the agent wants to sell this property more than the seller - he works for "Scottsdale Luxury Properties" and...

Offer Possibly Accepted

Got a call from the agent for Property C. He is going to take my offer to his client and he thinks his client will accept it. He wanted to know if I could close in 7 days. I have no problem with that, but I had to check with my escrow company if they could move that fast. He also wanted to know if I would make my $1,000 earnest money deposit non-refundable upon contract acceptance. I agreed to that. The agent said the guy needs money and this would...

Back Into The Swing Of Things

With the holidays approaching, I felt I really needed to at least get some offers out there. I figure there probably aren't too many people buying houses this time of year, so I'd have a better chance at getting my lowball offers accepted. I've had this thought in the back of my mind since before Thanksgiving, but I just been so busy. Even though I'm still really busy, I managed to make some time for research yesterday..I spent a couple of hours...

Foreclosures Increasing Nationwide

I found a news article on The Creative Investor from RealtyTrac which states nationally, foreclosures were up almost 19% in October over the previous month. At that rate, 1 in every 1,422 households in the nation has entered foreclosure. The states with the largest number of foreclosures were New Jersey, Texas, and New Mexico. Here in Arizona, the foreclosure rate actually dropped by 6.9%.What surprises me is the Arizona statistic. Actually, in looking...