All Forum Posts by: Eric Dowling

@Geo Tan your agent should be able to coach you on exactly what to have since you want to tailor each offer to each seller depending on what they are looking for. The must haves are:

Proof of funds: a bank statement with your name bank name and  amount exceeding down payment and closing costs. Account numbers blacked out.

Pre-approval: make sure this is a pre approval and no pre-qual, there is a big difference. Have a copy of your credit report ready too and ask if they want that up front.

For the earnest money it is normally handled by wiring the funds to escrow, so you wouldn't need to provide it with the offer.

The best way to get the best price is to meet all their other conditions like length of inspections and length of escrow and don't fight them for what services to use like escrow and title.

They main thing besides price that sellers are looking for is, can this buyer close? Don't give them any reason to doubt that you are ready, willing and able to close on the property.

@Geo Tan I can't say 100%, but I would say she is wrong. My assumption would be it is subject to rent control.

Kristina Inglis still put in the offer. Cash buyers are very flakey. A lot of the time when I put in an offer and there is an all cash for sure coming, I end up with the deal because they never end up putting in an offer.

@Christopher Rogers As I understand it the problem you run into with these is the loan is attached to the property taxes as an assessment, so a bank will not loan on the property because they would be in second position.

I have never seen the subordinate clause at the end there and don't know how that would work.

If you take the buyers perspective, they also want it paid off because they are paying full retail for an updated house, then are making payments on the upgrades for years. They will feel like they are paying for the upgrades twice.

Any one in the area know at what cap rate multi families are currently trading? I'm trying to get a value of a 5-unit in the area. Maybe some one in the Santa Cruz area knows the market?

@John D. looks good, I got similar numbers when I ran the numbers as well. 

I'm curious how you are calculating your gross income? When I do it I come up with an average rent per day and use 48% occupancy (which seems like a typical occupancy for the first year of a new VR).

What is your target market with an 8 bedroom house? I would assume wedding are big, especially if you have an acre to work with.

Marck Paul no, you have to live in the property.

Mario M. There is not much you can do on your own at this point. Sometimes a letter explaining the consequences does the trick. A lawyer will be needed going forward for sure. They can file a Lis pendens on the property basically putting a stop to any future sale. The good news is you should also be able to sue for attorney fees as well, at least that is how our contracts are written here.

@Geo Tan thanks for the info! I'm going to mark my calendar and attend as well.

Chris Rose it is actually pretty common for people to waive contingencies with their offers in very hot markets. I would still advise against it. You can still write a strong offer with a short inspection period and do your due diligence. Sellers love no contingencies more than anything. To the surprise of our sellers we actually advise them to not accept an offer with no contingencies, and counter back giving them a couple days for investigations. This is to prevent the buyers from coming back after close and claiming we didn't let them do inspections. Which unfortunately happens more than it should. Might just be a California thing being so litigious.