House 18 Under Contract

We got 12-14 offers on House #18.  Our FHA 91st day is 11/19 so it was time to decide which client we wanted to work with, or counter offer a group of them.

One of the main things I have learned when selling a property to a entry level buyer, is be PICKY.  Sure a lot of people can qualify, but it is an investor job to make escrow go as fast as possible.

Here is my process:

• I have offers emailed or faxed to me (faxes end up in my email too).
• I put every offer PDF in a folder on my computer.
• I ask that all agents send loan approval, credit scores and proof of funds with their offer.
• I compile a spreadsheet with: Offer Amount, Closing Costs Requested, Net Offer, Earnest Money Deposit Amount, Proof of Funds and Credit Score.
• First step, credit must be over 620, if it’s not that offer is out.
• Next step, the person must have at least $5,000, if they don’t have that much, I don’t know how they can qualify to buy a house.
• After I eliminate those, I sort offers by the most I will net.

It gets pretty subjective after that.  But my three favorite things: some one with lots of cash in the bank, some one who doesn’t want closing costs and a real estate agent that pesters me about their offer.  If the real estate agent contacts me so much it annoys me, I know they’re going to hustle to get the deal done!  I like it when the agent hustles and I don’t have too.

On this house, we had one offer at list price and the rest of them are all above list price.  The highest one was $25,000 above list price.  We price properties high on purpose, as high as I think it will appraise at and people are still going over top of that number.  This market never ceases  to amaze me.  It’s sure a great position to be in to have property right now.