Selling a house: offers are bidding too high! - Posted by John

Posted by John on September 15, 2004 at 10:49:43:

Thanks for your info. It makes sense.

Selling a house: offers are bidding too high! - Posted by John

Posted by John on September 14, 2004 at 23:44:32:

I haven’t been in this situation very often, but I LIKE IT!!!

I have a finished rehab on the market (very very hot market). There is a real shortage of resale houses in my big city, and they are being bid up. I have two buyers who are bidding against each other. But the problem is this: I don’t know what to do when the bid price starts being too much higher than the comps in the area.

The houses like mine are currently “listed” at $165K to $166K, but the last house that actually sold in this subdivision 4 months ago only sold for $151,000. Because I made this property so nice, and houses are in short supply, I’m getting a bidding war after being on the market for only 4 days. They are already up to $168,000, and rising. But if I accept the bid that nets me the highers amount, what happens if it won’t appraise for that much?

Should I insert in the contract that if the house doesn’t appraise, the buyer will have to make up the difference in cash at closing? Is that how they handle it in California? (LOL!)

Wow. I love this market.

Re: Selling a house: offers are bidding too high! - Posted by E.Eka

Posted by E.Eka on September 16, 2004 at 13:50:39:

DOn’t worry about that. The appraisal is to support the loan amount. So what you want is the buyer to put a “decent” down payment so that it will gladly appraise. IF there is a bidding war, chances are you’ll get your down payment. Don’t waste your time trying to figure out “what if”. That is just like saying, i won’t drive because what if I get into an accident.

Where? (nt) - Posted by Sara_CA

Posted by Sara_CA on September 15, 2004 at 11:57:16:

Where in CA?

Re: Selling a house: offers are bidding too high! - Posted by jasonrei

Posted by jasonrei on September 15, 2004 at 11:31:00:

I’ve had properties not appraise high enough. I’ve told buyers “no deal”, and I’ve told buyers “let’s get another lender”. Also, this year I’ve listed a couple of houses at prices I wasn’t too sure they’d appraise at. One house I listed at $89,900 even though I wasn’t sure it’d appraise. Buyer wanted me to pay $5k in closing costs. So contract went up to $95k. Sure enough, it appraised. Go figure.

I also had a deal recently. Contract price was $100k. Appraisal came in at $97.5k and it was a good appraisal. I was just asking a lot for the house, but I knew the buyer REALLY REALLY wanted the house.

The buyer agreed to pay my remodeling company $2500 for upgrades I’d made to the AC system. I think they agreed to $1500 after closing, and $100 per month for 10 months. So I’ve received $1500, plus 7 or 8 $100 payments so far.

Re: Selling a house: offers are bidding too high! - Posted by rdla

Posted by rdla on September 15, 2004 at 08:20:15:

You are right and verify their funds, income and credit reports so you can be sure they can close and come up with the difference if the appraisal come short. They will say we can not release that BECAUSE THATS CONFIDENTIAL. TELL THEM TO LET BUYER SIGN THE FORM called AUTHORIZATION TO RELEASE INFORMATION.
This might be too harsh but I do it, if they are serious they will wilingly do it. Get the one who have the strongest income and credit.
Good luck,
RDLA

Phoenix nt - Posted by John

Posted by John on September 15, 2004 at 17:19:44:

.