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Here is a selection of my recent posts:

 I was talking to a colleague today. She said she had a disappointing day yesterday. I asked her what had happened. She explained that her client made an offer on a property. Of course there were multiple offers and their offer was already, what my friend believes, over the market value. The seller which is a bank, or perhaps the listing agent counters the top 2 offers for their highest and best offer. My friend doesn’t want her client to buy this property for more than what it’s worth. But, on the other hand she doesn’t want her client to loose another house to multiple offers, either. She said that she would feel guilty no matter what the outcome. “I know the house will not appraise,” she said. My advice was that she explains everything to her clients and let them make a decision.

It seems like the inventory is low and some listing agents take advantage of the situation and list the properties below market value. This becomes very difficult for the buyers. How high should they offer? How can a regular buyer who is using a conventional loan compete with an investor who is buying properties all cash and waiving all inspections and financing contingencies? Read more

Recently, it seems like buyers are writing several offers on multiple properties simultaneously before they can ratify one. One of my clients has 3 offers on short sale properties. He asked me yesterday to show him two more properties. There is no certainty that he ratifies any of the offers. Good thing is that he is not giving up and in fact, he is certain that one of these days he will own a house. Is this a numbers game? How many offers do you have to write before you actually ratify one and become a home owner? What has been your experience lately?

Here’s the story of how I became a home owner … I bought my house about 9 years ago. I looked at properties for about a month, found a house and made an offer. I got countered to give my best and highest offer because there were 2 other offers. I came back with my best offer which was $25,000 over asking. Luckily, I wrote the winning offer. The point is that I only wrote ONE offer and I became a home owner.

Shokoofeh Nowbakht      http://www.shokoo.com/

About one & a half year ago, often I was asked “How much lower can I offer?” It seems like those days are gone. Last week I wrote 3 offers for 3 of my clients. And yes, you guessed right, I was asked every single time, “how much higher do I offer?” Real Estate market has clearly changed, I’d say, since 2 months ago. Many properties receive multiple offers after only a short number of days on the market. Most offers are over the asking price. One of my clients offered $530,000 on  property listed for $499,000, and his turned out to be one of the 14 rejected offers. From my experience and what I hear from my colleagues, offers may need to be over 10% of the list price to be considered a strong offer. What has been your experience recently?

How do you evaluate a rental property?
There are many formulas to calculate different income ratios, various expenses and taxes you incur as a landlord. The first thing you should pay close attention to is the existing leases. Find out the current rents, the remaining lease terms and the annual increase in rents for every unit. It is very important to determine how these rents compare to the rents for similar properties in the area?    Read more

Just wanted to share an experience.  One of my clients is getting a VA loan to purchase a house. Even though it has been taking longer than we had originally anticipated, it has genuinely been a teamwork all the way through. Buying a house requires all players to work together so that everyone wins at the end. The game started with my client choosing a great mortgage officer and getting preapproved. We then found a house he liked and made a good offer. My client offered the asking price. Did I mention   Read more

I went to visit my clients who just bought their first home 2 weeks ago. They had bought new dining set, living room set, and a flat screen TV over the fireplace. They were very happy and their little toddler boy had the greatest time running around the house, climbing over the couch and the dining table. He hugged me so many times and blew kisses at me. I enjoyed watching them. We were so used to meeting several times every week especially since the loan was getting approved and funded, that it was hard to say goodbye.

I’m going to miss not seeing them as often.

Read more

Buyers and their agents need to be very careful about not only the offer price, but also the terms of the contract. Sellers do not always just accept the highest offer, as one might think.They want to SELL the property and the only way that would happen is Read more

Last week I had a really busy open house. I don’t know if this is particularly good. I don’t know if I were able to answer everyone’s questions and concerns. I tried to respond a little loud so that everyone in the room would hear me. I didn’t always had a chance to greet everyone as soon as they walked in the door, or hand them a flyer soon enough. I don’t think the buyers like a too busy open house either. I have heard complaints from my clients that he couldn’t move in the hallway, couldn’t see the kitchen well enough, or didn’t get a chance to check out the garage as well as he wanted. Read more