Contract Deadlines, To Do or Not To Do?

Bottom line, Deadlines… I don’t like them, they can hurt you, but sometimes they are necessary.

If you have read my other posts on bidding wars and putting in offers to buy Virginia, MD or DC homes for sale, you know that I obsess with the art of negotiations. How you put in an offer matters. Want me to prove it? I can send you a 20 minute, non-public raw video I made of an analysis I did for a 7 contract bidding war. We were on the listing side. I compare and ridicule the 7 offers. You can then see how to make your contract stand out and see me yell (at the screen) for not-so-sharply written contracts and how that hurts the client. This shows you what not to do. It shows you a spreadsheet analysis and how to make your offer the best in each column… except maybe the price. I prefer my clients win with the lowest offer or at least not the highest offer. (this private link is only for people not currently working with an agent)

Back to deadlines. I don’t like them. Why? Experience. Seems logical to put in an offer and put a deadline of X days or X hours. Logic won’t win you a home (more…)

  • 4
  • April
  • 2014
Posted in Bidding Wars, Buying Advice | 3 Comments »

Letter to Bidding War Listing Agents: Why Pick Us. (Bonus: Testimonial from a Lister!)

YouTube Preview Image

Dear Listing Agent,

You were sent a link to this post, because a Frankly agent has submitted an offer to buy one of your coveted listings. We understand (more…)

  • 25
  • May
  • 2013
Posted in Bidding Wars, Buying Advice, Testimonial | 4 Comments »

Bidding War Exhaustion: Sellers Don’t Underprice!

More and more I am seeing the technique of purposefully underpricing a listing in order to create an artificial bidding war. It is a very tempting pitch from your listing agent, but don’t fall for it! They may want you to underprice in order to sell your home quickly and to move on. Their goal might not be to net you the highest amount. And it doesn’t work, in my opinion.

Example (ass described in the video)

Listing 1, our listing. $429,000, sold for  $432,600 or 101% of list.

Listing 2, not ours. $399,000, sold for $433,000 or 108% of list

One might initially think listing 2 did better. However, #2 was listed a month after #1 went Under Contract fast (so they should know that it went near full price, and newer listings in an up market tend to ask for about $2,500  more). Listing #2 was nearly identical, but two floors higher plus a fireplace. Two floors is about $6,000 in value, a fireplace, maybe $2k. Yet they only got $400 more on a place worth $8,000 more. The result of underpricing to create a bidding war… a loss of $7,600-$10,000 in value. Oops!

Why doesn’t it work? Bidding War Exhaustion ™, (more…)

  • 28
  • March
  • 2013
Posted in Bidding Wars, Buying Advice, Listing Advice., Youtube | 7 Comments »

(Meet Baby Tayo) Bidding Wars from a Seller’s Perspective {Video}

Now for Listing Advice. I previously spoke about Bidding Wars for Homes for Sale in Maryland, DC and VA in my post Bidding Wars. Secret to Winning A Home in the DC Area (of which about 20 people emailed me directly for my #1 secret tip).

But this video is from the perspective of the SELLER who might find themselves selling in this Hot Market.

The first instinct is to think one’s house is “easy” to sell. It actually becomes kinda a joke because we hear it so frequently. Everyone thinks their home will be an easy one. Yet it never is.

Especially now that there are bidding wars and it is a seller’s market (meaning sellers have more power now). Heck, why not just throw it up on the MLS (see Throw Up Listings, from 2007, but still applies) since it “sells itself.”

I wish it was that easy. Or maybe I don’t because then I might be out of a job.

Our goal is to get you the highest NET possible. That includes being aware of what you are paying in commission and your alternative options (but heck why go anywhere else). We respect your (more…)

  • 12
  • February
  • 2013
Posted in Bidding Wars, Listing Advice., Uncategorized | 2 Comments »