All Forum Posts by: Ericka G.

Charles Soper in case it helps, the 2 escalation clauses I’ve seen offered $1k over the next best offer up to their cutoff. Doesn’t have to be a huge amount over the next person to win the deal

Charles Soper escalation clauses seem to be common here in Georgia, it is included as a “special stipulation”. I wish I’d known about them sooner. We had 2 escalation offers on our most recent sale and it definitely helped the “winner” and our broker was very ethical about it - I don’t think a buyer who offers an escalation would honor it without seeing another offer in writing. Escalation offer example below: SPECIAL STIPULATIONS: The following Special Stipulations, if conflicting with any exhibit, addendum, or preceding paragraph (including any changes thereto made by the parties), shall control: Buyer's purchase price offer is $x with $x Seller's Contribution at closing; however, if Seller receives one or more higher NET offers before this offer is accepted, then this offer is increased by $x above the other acceptable offer up to $x. Upon Binding Agreement, Seller will provide Buyer with a copy of the other acceptable offer that increased Buyer's Purchase Price.

I agree with the flooring reco - removing the curtains and adding wood-looking flooring (vinyl or laminate) will likely help you get a bit more, or at very least rent the units more quickly

Matthew Olszak thanks for weighing in. Appraisers have so much power these days. Sucks for areas that are trying to “come up” - we submitted the cancellation already, had to as the appraisal contingency expired the same day we got the 2nd review one back. We have had radio silence from the seller despite efforts by our broker to discuss a way to move forward. I guess this one wasn’t meant to be :(

Dan Mahoney you make some excellent points...especially about taxes. I hadn’t considered that and actually may crunch the numbers again with that in mind. Hadn’t considered how buying a more expensive house might impact our tax filing situation. Hmmm. I do see this next move as being a place we’ll stay at least 5 years, maybe longer, but the idea of dropping a ton of extra cash makes me uncomfortable...hopefully the seller will work with us of we’ll find something else. Sucks because we have the perfect buyer lined up for our current house and it sucks to have to let that fall thru as well. Good point about the hot market making appraisals struggle to keep up. In this case though, there are plenty of way more expensive houses surrounding this one but the appraiser said they couldn’t be counted as comps b/c they are in gated communities and the subject property is not. I guess we’ll just keep searching

Victor S. Max Tanenbaum Grant Rothenburger I think you are right that the seller will continue to have this issue and might eventually agree to come down. They already put the house back on the market for the original price, which is $50-60k more than we’d agreed to and about $80k more than the appraisal came back for so I’m not sure what they are doing... At this point, we would only move forward with another appraisal if they confirm in writing that they will negotiate down IF the appraisal comes back low again. Spoke to two other mortgage brokers today and rates have skyrocketed since we locked our rate, so moving the deal would mean a big interest rate jump Love the house but there is always another deal out there...I’ll keep you posted on how things end up

Wow, as always this is super helpful. Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to chime in. Dan Mahoney good to know. I had no idea appraisals were still coming in low in Atlanta given how hot things have been. We’re discussing the option of getting another bank to weigh in...but do worry about having a similar issue when/if we go to sell in 5-10 years Victor S. This would be a personal residence/luxury house hack so there is a bit of an attachment. It is pretty close to being our dream house...the things that make it unique: inside the city of Atlanta but has a Buckhead estate feel - circle driveway, gates, 1.3 acres, mature trees and estates surrounding. There are four bedrooms in the main house and then there is a huge finished basement apartment with its own patio/entrance, kitchen, etc. so we planned to Airbnb the basement unit. This area was hit hard by the downturn though and there are still foreclosures that are getting resolved that drag the market down. Schools are also marginal in this area. Caleb Heimsoth good point about having the same issue when we try to sell. That is weighing heavily in our decision. My hunch is this area will continue to appreciate due to the prime location and housing stock, just need to get those last foreclosures out of the marketplace and hope the local economy stays steady. I’m guessing we’d be in this house 5 years

Vanessa Allsup try NREIG - they gave me a much better price on my ATL triplex than I originally had with Geico/Travellers and I like that you can access all of your paperwork easily online - very user friendly.

Thanks for all of the input. This isn’t a rural area - it’s in the city of Atlanta but is a fairly unique property so comps are tricky. Their agent did submit additional comps for reconsideration and the appraisal review came back with the same number. It was definitely priced too high to start, but the number we ended up with felt fair to us...not sure why it is appraising so low but we don’t want to pay more than what the bank thinks it is worth so I guess the deal is dead :( Seller didn’t even try to meet us in the middle just said they wouldn’t come down.

Daniel C. Had a similar situation TWICE once in Manhattan/Harlem and once in Atlanta so I feel your pain. Both times the tenants hung in there with me. The main thing is to be proactive and transparent- hire an exterminator to come and secure the property from any intrusions and set traps as a precaution (be proactive - rats and mice will always find a way in if there is one). Try to get an idea of when construction will end or at least when the demo phase will end. The good thing is that construction always ends eventually. In my 2 prior situations it was 2-3 months of annoyance and then all was fine - with a lovely, improved property next door. If needed, offer to give them a bit of break on the rent for the couple of demo months to make up for the inconvenience. Honestly though, you shouldn’t have to do that. Any tenant in NYC should be willing to roll with a few punches for a good place in a good location with a good, proactive landlord. Let them know you are doing what you can to make things as comfortable as possible for them and keep them in the loop on your efforts and they should hang in there with you. Good luck!