Caleb Yamanaka's Q&A

Without seeing your contract nobody can answer this question.  What contingencies are there in the contract?  Many contracts are written these days with many various contingencies that will allow for many different scenario.  I would suggest getting an Attorney to look into your contract, but you already have one.  What does your Attorney say?

By the sounds of it they are already in escrow.  Not sure what a release will do in regards to the Agents commission, as the Agent started the transaction as the Buyer's representative and is the procuring cause for the agreement.Commission agreement is between Seller's Agent and Buyer's Agent, regardless of if homeresearch fired their agent, the Seller's Agent is probably obligated to compensate the Buyer's Agent.

You need to stand up to your Agent, and if you want to get in the home do not let the Seller extend anymore.Although you are first time homebuyers it sounds like you are letting the other parties involved walk over you.  If you have met all your contingencies and are ready to close, why would you extend closing for the Seller if what you really want is to move in the house?  Also if you want into the house why would you rent the property back to the Seller? Just tell your Agent "we want to move into the house when it closes so we will not be renting back to the Seller".  If your Agent doesn't like that, then tell them "thank you" and tell them that you will not need their assistance in the transaction anymore.  Find an RE Attorney and begin communicating directly with Seller's Agent.  Your Agent will still get paid, but they will not get in the way of you getting what you want.Now all of this does hinge on how your contract is written, because you don't want to get too tough if the Seller has outs and you really want the house. 

what I meant was... "Seller isn't dictating the price"

 high inventory turnover and low times on market. we have that.you have that, but only for specific product which is bottom end REO's.  You do not have high turnover and low times on market for most other product that is not REO.definition:Situation where demand is high but supply is low, therefore sellers can dictate prices to maximize theirreturns. Also called hard market. Opposite of buyers' market.It is not a Seller's market when prices are falling or even staying flat.  At this point Seller is dictating the price, the market is dictating and the Seller is following suit to get the property sold.

Places like Murrieta and Corona have 20 or more bids on each property, so thinking it is only happening in Las Vegas or Orange County is extremely naive.There is nothing naive about my statement.  They were held up as examples.  Its a bit mundane to have to list every single market that is experiencing this multiple bid situation.For it too be a Seller's market Median price on these lower listings would have to be going up.  Just because you have 20 offers on a property doesn't mean anything if the property is worth less 2 months from now.Now are there micro markets where it could possibly be a Seller's Market?  Sure.  Just like there were Micro Markets that were good buys over the last 2 to 3 years.  But as I am constantly reminded on this site... Its a National site and for the most part we are taking a Macro view of the Market and it is by no means a Seller's Market.If Corona and Murietta are anything like Las Vegas with its multiple offer situation then you should be happy to not have bought in the past year as there are still 1000's of foreclosures off the market and the market will only continue to fall.

NTETS,I would disagree that its practically a Seller's Market.  I think you are referring to maybe what's happening in Las Vegas and Orange County, CA in regards to multiple offers on Lower End REO properties.I think that is not the norm and Buyer's are still in the drivers seat.  For example the Las Vegas low end Buyers appear to be mostly investor types.  I have heard of Buyer's from Taiwan and Germany in the LV market buying substantially.  With these types of Buyer's its not a matter of Agents or NAR saying "its a great time to buy".  Today's market is neither the worst market ever nor could you say its the best market ever.  Its a market with opportunity to make good buys as well as the opportunity make bad buys.  Residential in my little town is extremely active.  Whether we like it or not, the $8,000 credit is a factor and First Time Homebuyer's on the fence are making the decision to buy now (to close in time for the credit).  Two homes that I recently listed, were listed to take advantage of the uptick in activity that will probably die down in 3-4 weeks.  While the property still has to be priced right, there is definite activity.  One of those homes went into escrow within a couple days which is fairly fast here.  

reasons for a survey...  I know that in Hawaii it is very common to get survey's especially here on the Big Island.  If you are looking at bigger property you can understand your boundaries and also confirm that you are indeed buying the property that is being conveyed to you (I have seen both people living in wrong home for years selling a home they do not technically own, also have seen people build homes on the wrong lot only to have figured that out after they've completed the home).As mentioned earlier a survey can help with boundary encroachments.  If a survey is written in as a contingency, a survey allows you to correct/or come to an understanding with your neighbors prior to closing on a home (encroachment agreements help in the long run when you want to put up a new fence or haw a wall moved).That being said...I've purchased in Los Angeles and surveys are not common with resales of homes.  We had survey performed anyway. 

Hawaii Property Tax records show a recording of $2.2M on 8/12/2009

Can I build multiple layers of graphs in the Local Info charts area?  I wanted to compare various zipcodes in my area (to embed in another site) and can only seem to get only one chart line for the graph.Thank you for your help.