Zillow Advice RSS: Question-Discussion-Guide,Home Buying,San Mateo- CA

Short Sales -- Patience is a Virtue - Buying

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:46:00 GMT

I met with one of my clients who thought she was priced out of buying a home. So we looked at short sales. It didn't matter how long the purchase would take, it was more about having the right place at the right price.

Month 1: We make an offer on a property and wait, wait, wait.

Month 2: Another offer — with a higher offer price — is submitted by another buyer. We think our deal is dead and search on.

Month 3: We write an offer on another short sale. With all this waiting my client is losing enthusiasm.

Month 4: We hear from the listing agent of the second property that they don't think our offer is going to be enough for the lender and that they are going to submit an offer from another buyer.

Month 5: We are back to the drawing board. Our patience is being tested, and my client starts to think that it wasn't meant to be.

Month 6: We get a call from the listing agent of property number 1 that the buyer with the higher offer can't be found and we are being asked if we are still interested. Amazing! My client can't believe it!

Month 7: My client, a woman who started off thinking she could never buy a home, moves in. She did not have to change her expectations – she simply had to be patient.

It was a lengthy process, but it felt good in my heart that I helped this person.

Short sales may not be right for everyone, but don't rule them out. Here in San Mateo, Pacifica and the San Francisco Peninsula, short sales will, for better or worse, be here for a while.

2 replies

REO condo in process of closing, but found special assessments needed at HOA documents...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:49:00 GMT

We're on the process of closing escrow in about 2 weeks, however, we just found out from its HOA documents stating that the HOA just had a 4% assessment increase due to the special assessments for repairs and severally underfunded reserve funds. Fortunately our inspection contingency is not removed yet. So since this is an REO property, is there a possibility that we can negotiate with the bank and ask it to pay for the known costs involved. Another problem is that the HOA doc. already stated that there is going to be more future special assessments coming. Any advices would truly be appreciated, thanks!

2 replies

I am interested in Bridgewater emeryville. Any comments about price/location/ etc.

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 05:41:00 GMT

I am interested in buying a place in Emeryville. Do you have any comments about Bridgewater? have you heard any positive/ negative comments about the condo?

0 replies

Is it common for bank own properties reques pre approval letter from them to be submitted with offer

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:34:00 GMT

I want to place an offer on a bank owned property, but the agent told me that an pre approval letter from a specific lender (themselves) needs to be included with the offer. Is this common? Should an pre approval letter from another big bank be sufficient?

8 replies

What are advantages of "trading homes"? I found someone with a large house who is interested in down

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:51:00 GMT

0 replies

EnTitleDirect gives me what seems to be $2000 cheaper title insurance. is it really working?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:44:00 GMT

did anyone use it?
the problem is that all local closing/escrow places I was reffed to by agents say they must do both the escrow,closing AND title, I cannot find a place that will do the closing but let me buy the title insurance from EnTitleDirect. Advice?

EnTitleDirect can handle closing, but I am a but less comfortable doing closing without a local physical location.

local "do it all" places charge me over $5000 something like this
1. Escrow: $1,420.00
2. Homeowners Title Policy: $2,379.00
3. ALTA Loan Policy: $872.00
4. Loan Tie in Fee: $150.00
5. Notary: $60.00
6. Recording: $85.00

while what I got from EnTitleDirect seems to be just $2000 for the items 2 and 3 above

help!

0 replies

First time home buyer in San Mateo

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:24:00 GMT

Hi,

I made an offer of $450k, on this property in San Mateo...

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1724-2nd-Ave-San-Mateo-CA-94401/15524552_zpid/

too much? too soon?

any advice?

Thanks!

22 replies