All Forum Posts by: Kaylyn T.

@Mike Roy - one more thing. Was the hot water running off the oil furnace? If so did you change that?

@Mike Roy, Nicely done! And thanks for the detailed breakdown! Timing is perfect for me. It's great to see that your tenants didn't flinch when you switched the heat over. I am about to do the same thing, but thought I might have to reduce rents not to lose tenants. Do you mind including the town of your property? I am currently in escrow on a 6 unit in Belfast and one of the things I found was I could only put 4 tanks on the property, so I am going to convert 2 or 3 units to electricity which is just a little higher in price, but overall it will save me about 9k a year. Could you possibly go into detail about how you handled the change with your tenants? Were they on leases, for example? I'd also love to know a little more detail about the Section 8 because I am also inheriting one, and any additional improvements you did to attract new renters. Kaylyn

Hey @Joel Owens, thanks for your opinion. I think this situation was just the opposite - this guy is older, definitely late 60s I'd say, and a real estate veteran.  I don't want to presume he didn't have the mobile technology to present the offer the day he got it because that makes me sound ageist and I know a lot of older folks who are very technically savvy. You're right we will never know. My agent seems to think he didn't like the fact that a larger agency, which I won't name, recently acquired their agency and had policies he didn't agree with and that he just did something some way for so long that he wasn't adjusting. Whatever the reason, hopefully things will all work out in the end. Thanks again, Kaylyn

Thanks @Mindy Jensen! Really appreciate your comments!

Hey @Wayne Brooks, @Amy A., @Mindy Jensen, @Joel Owens,@Ned Carey, @Doug N., @Russell Brazil, @Ron H. I wanted to reach out and thank you all for your opinions and advice about my little Friday night realtor crisis. Here's what happened.

First a little back story. The house is a 6-unit property. It had been on the market for 275k listed in June. In Septemeber the price dropped by 76k to 199k and still no movement, but a lot of lookers. The market in mid-coast Maine hasn't quite bounced back like a lot of the country. Definitely not like what's happening out here in LA. I asked my realtor to ask the listing realtor some questions - basically to get to the point of the huge price drop and why she was selling. Turned out the owner's husband had recently died and she simply wanted rid of it, but the realtor said it need about 60k worth of work. After running the numbers, I figured if I could get it for 175k it would work for me. But my realtor suggested that based on her conversation with the LA, we should offer 150. Which is why I didn't initially offer 175 as you suggested Russell.

I sent my offer in on October 22nd, but the listing agent was in a real estate class all day in Boston, so he couldn't present the offer until he got back on the 23rd. Not sure why he couldn't have presented via email, but for whatever reason it didn't happen. Had he presented it on the 22nd, none of this would've likely happened. 

Upon reading the offer Oct 23rd, the owner almost immediately countered with 165k final and I accepted - but that's where it gets weird because the listing agent asked my agent to put the deal together for him. He didn't get the seller to sign the counter offer as he should have. And in the time that my agent rewrote the contract, and emailed it to the listing agent, that's when he said he had another offer and to present my best and final.

As I mentioned earlier, I had already run the numbers and was prepared to go to 175k, but boy it sucks doing that after you already got an agreement for 165. Regardless, I did got up to 175.

Then I did the following: I contacted my realtor and told her she had to push him on the fact that he did not present the counter offer in writing and therefore I could not sign off on it immediately, and that it was because he was in meetings all day the 22nd that the offer wasn't presented earlier. The two realtors happen to be a part of the same agency but located in different towns. My agent called her designated broker, who called and I guess reprimanded the listing agent for not following their protocol. The listing agent at some point went back to the seller and I guess told her what had transpired. According to him the owner felt guilty about the whole thing, and said she would accept my offer at 175k. Which according to the listing agent was still less than the other offer than came in. 

Now I'm not sure exactly what all happened behind the scenes up there - I am currently in escrow - but the listing agent is no longer with the agency. He left shortly after this all went down. 

One additional thing, after I had my contractor go through the property and come up with list of repairs needed to bring the building up to code, I renegotiated with the seller to 165,450k. That's where we currently stand. Hopefully everything will go smoothly from here forward. Inspection tomorrow. I close December 15th. Nuts!

Kaylyn

Hey @Logan Allec I know a woman who bought tons of SFRs in California City and lives off of them. Rents to mostly military and her properties are rarely vacant long. I looked there a bit myself, but don't know the area well enough to feel comfortable. I can tell you that she has done very well there. Good luck! Let us know if you make a move.

The reality is you were excited about getting the price you want and now are not happy about a multiple offer situation. You win some and lose some.

I was ecstatic @Joel Owens, because I was prepared to pay 175! The point is not the price here, it's the realtor not telling his client I accepted her counter offer and then calling around to try to bid me up. To me that is just some shmarmy tactics. And I live in LA - I am no stranger to shmarm. Perhaps to most realtors this is a brilliant way to do business, but it seems like when the seller and buyer agree to price and terms and the contract is there ready to go, you give it to your client to sign, not start calling around to juice up the price and sit on it. It seems unethical. And if this is all completely fine and ethical @Wayne Brooks, then how to avoid it happening again is the real question. By the way, I am not "out" yet. I'm just strategizing.

Thanks for your replies everyone. I do understand that the contract isn't legally bound until it's signed, but I was curious if the realtor was ethically obligated to present his client my accepted counter offer once it was presented - meaning now we are in negotiations and there is an accepted offer. Particularly since he asked my realtor to write up the acceptance offer because he wasn't in the office - and thereby all other offers would be considered back ups. After all, he didn't get another written offer until much later in the day, so he basically sat on our accepted agreement, not telling the seller we had accepted it, until the offer came in.

It's tricky, but anyway I do get the general consensus - it wasn't yet in writing so the point it mute yada yada. I still think there is more to it here.

Anyway, @Amy A.curious if you know where I can find the language for what you're referring to 

The law in Maine is that once acceptance is communicated you have a contract.

I can't find a lot online about the specifics of Maine real estate law and I know it varies from state to state. If you can point me to something online I'd be very grateful.

Thanks everyone! Great to have a place to ask questions like this and actually receive answers! Kaylyn

Thanks everyone. question - the seller's agent doesn't have to tell the seller that I have accepted their offer and present her with the contract? He can legally sit on my acceptance to 'field' other offers?

Hi BP, I'm reaching out hoping someone can shed some light on a sticky situation I have right now on a property I'm negotiation in Maine. It's after 10 east coast time or I would call my attorney, so hoping someone can give me some advice here until Monday. 

I presented and offer of 150k on a property in writing through my realtor. The sellers realtor countered with 165k final via verbal communication to my realtor. I accepted. She called him to tell him this. He then tells her, write it up because I'm out of the office. She does. I sign it. She emails it to him and follows up with a call. He then tells her - not 10 minutes after the previous call with the final accepted offer call - that he got a call that another offer was going to be presented. My Realtor asks that he present our acceptance. He does not. He waits on the other offer. It is higher, so now I am in a multiple offer situation. 

So obviously the question is - Is this legal? And is there anything I can do about it? 

Really appreciate any advice. 

Thank you!