The Seller's market offer

Although I think SE Idaho has never truly experienced a seller's market. I have experienced where there were as many as 5 offers on a home.

The best home in any price range can sell quickly and command full price and then some.

Some sellers won't budge a penny. They demand their price and are willing to sit on it. A lot of their motivation depends on how leveraged they are.

You will find a person making payments on empty houses becomes motivated in a hurry.

Finding the right seller in SE Idaho real estate is probably the key to getting a good deal.

If you do find the perfect home after quite a bit of searching and just have to have it, I recommend you offer as close to list price as possible.

The cleaner the offer and the highest money will get the home every time.

I usually have a pretty good feel for why the seller is selling.

If you are not in a hurry to do anything, you have a great advantage.

You might lose a few deals, but with patience we can get you one.

When I was looking for my home, I had just had one snatched out from under me.

I offered full price. Why? Because I had looked for two years, and this was the perfect home for my family.

The way things go up in value, whatever you paid will seem like a good deal eventually .

I look forward to working with you.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

The buyer's market offer

In 2008 we are in a buyer's market. That doesn't mean, however, that every seller is flexible.

Some sellers won't budge on prices no matter what the market conditions are.

A buyer's market is when there are more homes than buyers.

We mostly have one in SE Idaho because fewer out-of-staters are moving here because their local real estate market is bad.

Our market isn't bad, but it is flat. I have been as busy as ever. I mostly have sold to Idahoans, but have still sold to a few out-of-staters. Nothing like 2005 through 2007 though. What I mean by flat is that the appreciation is at 1%, whereas in the past it has been 6.3%.

I think overall, the Idaho Falls real estate market and surrounding areas is pretty healthy, mainly because we didn't experience the huge jumps in appreciation like other areas. Our growth has been steady and consistent.

Sometimes different price ranges are a buyer's market. The higher ranges can sometimes be that way. Mainly because the buyers are few and far between.

The lower price ranges normally always move well because there are more buyers.

If there is a glut of inventory, every time I show a home, the other Realtors will call me and tell me how the seller is willing to do this or that to make a sell.

I showed some homes in the $300,000 range. Right now in that price range there are some motivated sellers.

If you are thinking about buying in this price range, you can get some pretty large discounts and pick up some instant equity.

You must know what the sellers motivation is, however, and then you can possibly prosper in a buyer's market. If you are buying, this economy is truly a gift.

I look forward to working with you.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

Subject to the existing financing offer

One of the strategies that I have learned at Nouveau Riche Real Estate College is the subject to offer.

What it is. "I will buy your home, subject to the existing financing."

Basically, the seller signs the deed to their home over to you, and you can put it in a trust and make yourself the beneficiary.

The trust makes all the payments on the loan, and the seller gets rid of the ownership.

This is a great deal for the buyer of the home. For the seller, it isn't that great of a deal.

This can be a great short term strategy. The buyer only uses the seller's existing financing for like 12 to 36 months.

The buyer then either fixes the home up and tries to flip it, or they do a lease option, where they try and sell the home to another buyer.

This can be a way to get rid of your home, especially if the market is slow. Advantages are, the person buying the home this way, takes over your payments or can catch them up and bring them current.

A person who knows what they are doing and is trustworthy can help you keep or raise your credit score by catching up the payments and making them on time.

This may be an option to sell your home, and if you are interested, I can explain more how it works. This isn't for everyone though.

Thanks,

Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

The wholesale offer

These deals are few and far between; however, they do exist.

A wholesale deal is basically where some investor picks up a home for a really good deal, and rather than sit on it for a while to get his money, he marks it up and sells it.

Most of these guys don't want the home because the home might need rehabbing or fixing up.

The other reason is, they just want money fast.

One of my teachers down in Arizona for Nouveau Riche, Cris Wilson, claims this is his favorite way to do business. He makes millions per year with this strategy.

He has a lot of people that he sells to, and he has a lot of referral business.

I personally wouldn't mind a wholesale deal. Who wouldn't? Sometimes you can get a builder to just build a home for a little bit above their cost, and then you take on the risk to try and retail it.

If you are one of those people that has a home that you just want out of for peace of mind's sake, call me and let me know how much you want and how much you think it is worth.

If I am not interested, someone I know will be.

I look forward to working with you.

Thanks,

Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

The short sale offer - You must have patience on these

I used to never do these, but they are starting to pop up everywhere in SE Idaho.

A short sale is when the buyer and seller agree to a price to sell their home below what the seller owes on the home. The problem with this is that you have to get the bank's blessing. This is called a short sale.

I am starting to have more of these all the time and have had a few go through and a few get rejected.

Basically, you and the seller sign an agreement that says you are waiting for the bank's approval. In the meantime the seller usually leaves the home on the market. The seller will take all offers.

The bank can pick between all the offers. Both the seller and the buyer have the option of backing out of the deal before the bank accepts the offer.

Dealing with the bank sometimes is slow. It seems like these deals can take up to 3 months longer than the average deal, but it is usally under 60 days.

I can walk you through this process, but nothing is set in stone, and you are the mercy of the bank, which may or may not approve your offer.

If you have patience and don't have to have the property you are trying to pick up right away , this might be a great way to get a discount.

The discounts aren't huge, but the closer you are to what they are asking, the better your chances are for approval.

Right now is a great time to get into a short sale deal. After all, you make your money when you buy.

Thanks,

Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

The lease option offer or rent to own

Currently there are over 40 lease options or rent-to-owns in both Jefferson and Bonneville counties. IF Rentals also has about 10 more.

I have done multiple rent-to-owns, and lately I have been doing them for other people.

A rent-to-own offer works like this; basically you put down some option money. This can be $1000 to $10,000 depending on the deal. You get this back when you exercise your option, and it is a credit to you when you buy it. Option money is non-refundable if you back out of the deal.

You rent the home for whatever price we agree on between the buyer and the seller.

You come up with your option money and first month's rent before you move in. Once you move in, you are in charge of all the maintenance, utilities, and repairs just as if it was your own home.

You get your credit in good enough repair that you can buy the home in 2 to 12 months, depending on your situation.

You exercise your option, and we put the financing in your name.

I can do all the contracts on this. My banker can also coach you if you need credit repair help.

This works great if you need to sell a home also.

I look forward to working with you.

Thanks,

Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

Take it or leave it offer

My friend bought a home that took him 9 months. This home appraised for over $900,00 mind you, but this is how he did it.

He wrote an offer for $301,000 and left it open for the whole month for the bank to take it.

Next month rolls around and he writes it again.

He does this for 9 months. The home, sits on the market and finally the bank realizes that this might be the only way they get rid of it.

They called him on the 9th month.

This really only works in a price range where there is not much competition.

My friend also had to dump an additional $100,000 into the home to get it up to par where things were finished.

Most people can't do a deal like this, but if you are patient, maybe you can.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http;//www.seidahohomes.com
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

Things that make your offer more solid

What can make your offer stand out from the rest?

1-All cash deal close in a week if you have the money.
2-Pequalification letter from bank with offer.
3-More earnest money down.
4-No contingencies. Get rid of " I will buy your home if."
5-cleaner and less demanding
6-Shorter time frames to close.
7-You pay your own closing costs.
8-Only ask for appliances etc that the seller is willing to sell. Don't be too demanding.
9-Offer as close to list price as possible.
10-Sell yourself as the perfect buyer.

The bidding war offer

Several times throughout my career, my client and two others find a property all at the same time.

I have been successful in getting quite a few of these.

The problems is if you really want the home, you pretty much have to offer what they are asking.

If you have a good idea that your competition will be doing the same, you may want to offer higher, or close sooner, or put more down.

All these things can strengthen your position to get the home.

Some times this really is the thing to do. Especially if you have spent hours looking at homes and know you have found the right one.

We don't get the home every time, but more often than not we do.

I will be glad to represent you in any way I can and coach you based on past experience.

I look forward to working with you.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

Big discount offer

Usually if you get a big discount there is a very good reason.

Generally homes in SE Idaho are priced with about 1% to 5% play in the price.

This works great if you want the seller to pay your closing costs.

Here is one deal that I got a big discount for the buyer.

This was a bank repo and a manufactured home to boot. The home was the most disgusting home I think I have ever been in, and I have walked through quite a few.

There was garbage and animal waste every where, both in and outside the home.

The home was newer even, but the people before made piggy noises.

The home was listed at $90,000, and we offered $60,000. The bank signed it first time.

These people truly earned their equity on this home because they paid several people just to come in and haul off junk. They had to replace all of the flooring and paint the walls.

They did a great job though, and less than one year later, their home appraised for $105,000.

I am not sure I would go through what they did to get what they did, but they did.

Usually to get a big discount, you have to justify your offer to the seller. The seller has to be flexible also. These two things make good deals happen.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

The all cash offer

Usually about once or twice a year I get someone who want to do an all cash offer.

If you are one of the few people who can do an all cash deal, congratulations!!!

Because you are offering all cash, sometimes you can get them to come down a little bit more.

The offer goes like this. On a $300,000 home, I will give you $270,000, and let's close in 5 days.

The seller might just sign it depending on how many days he has been trying to sell it and his personal financial situation.

This is a lot lower than what they are asking so prepare for a counter, but the fact that you don't have a loan, and can close in 5 days makes you much more legit than someone who has to get a loan especially in today's banking market.

The other good thing if you did make an offer on a home in this price range is the buyers are few and far between so you can be pickier.

I love all cash deals, and cash really is king. You have more freedom than every one else so you might as well be rewarded.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

The almost give them full price offer

Here is another version of my last post. Let's say a home is price at $150,000.

You offer $145,000 and I want the seller to pay 3% of the purchase price towards my closing costs.

On paper it sounds like you are offering $5000 lower, but in reality it is $9500 below list price.

The good thing about this offer is that you are close enough that the seller thinks your serious, and if it is too low they might counter and meet you half way.

I have had the seller just sign these before to my amazement without even countering.

It really is great when you get one of these accepted the first time without a counter.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

The offer that works almost 90% of the time

I would say 90% of my deals look like this and work almost 90% of the time.

Let's say we are buying a $200,000 home, and you want it pretty bad, but have no money for closing costs which usually come to 3% of the purchase price.

You offer $200,000 for the home, and you say, "Seller to pay 3% of purchase price towards buyers closing costs."

Your loan, appraisal, and closing costs come to about 3%. You roll your closing costs into the loan.

The seller really only nets $194,000 after he pays your closing costs. He still has to pay realtor fees.

The good thing about real estate in this area, is the seller pays the buyer's reps fees also.

I have ton a ton of deals like this. You get 100% financing. You can still do this in our rural areas right now, and depending on your situation, we can get you grants too to really sweeten the deal.

How bad do you want the home? This shows you want it pretty bad, and you get the seller to pay your costs so you don't have to show up to closing and write a check.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

Two Low ball offers that didn't work

Let's get to the low ball offer.

I had two really low offers in the same week by two different people. The homes were $160,000 each and both offered $90,000.

Wouldn't that be cool if you could buy a home with that big of a discount?

And if you could, don't you think every realtor, investor, buyer etc would be doing it.

The problem is once in a great great while this happens. It seems people always hear of someone who has done this.

On this particular low ball offer, the seller didn't even bother to counter since he thought both buyers weren't serious.

I can hardly blame the sellers.

I always try and encourage them to at least counter, but some won't.

What I was most surprised about, is one guy knew his offer wouldn't go through, but thought he would try anyway.

The other guy, was flat out mad that the guy didn't even counter.

I am willing to try at least. I have found that the way low ball offer pretty much wastes every one's time.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com

How much should I offer?

Every week I practice real estate, I get asked this question.

I always say it depends, and it really does.

What I thought I would do in this blog is write about some of my offers.

Why they worked, and why some didn't.

This will give you a feel for what you can do and can't do.

It is amazing how some sellers won't budge no matter what you do, and others are calling you.

Some buyers won't budge either. Some are looking for a smoking deal, and others are just looking to get a home quickly.

I will try and coach you no matter what you objective is. Real estate isn't rocket science, but I can honestly say, each deal is different, and what worked in the past, doesn't always work every time.

Let me know if you see a property you want to write an offer.

Thanks Burke Bennett
http://www.seidahohomes.com/
208 589 5599
burkebennett@hotmail.com