Tuesday, November 18, 2008
High End Mixed Use Developments Are The Future Of Los Angeles Real Estate
I am beginning a series of blogs about some of the new up and coming high end mixed use developments that are beginning to pepper the Los Angeles Real Estate market. The first of which is The Glen At Valley Glen, along Victory Blvd in between Coldwater Canyon and Woodman Ave. I am separating each blog so that the specifics are a self contained unit. Feel free to contact me with your own requests for profiling a future and/or current development. Or send me what info you have, and I will fill in the blanks! The Glen At Valley Glen Much of the info is specific to this development, but this is also a place to discuss general trends of mixed use developments.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Documents Make Or Break The Deal... What You Need To Have To Be Successful
When writing an offer, whether it is to a bank or to an owner, you want to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are the one buyer who will have NO problems closing escrow. This is a winning formula of documents that leaves nothing to the imagination of the seller:
1: The bank/broker prequalification letter- probobly the least important document in these times, because banks constantly renig and change thier lending requirements. But people still want to see it and always will.
2: The earnest money deposit check- generally 3% of the purchase price and generally the total amount of money that is put at risk from the buyer defaulting on his responsibilities per the purchase contract
3: Proof of funds- in the form of a checking account statement, with the account number blacked out
4: The first page of the buyer's credit report- with the social security number blacked out
5: The bio- an often neglected part of the offer, telling about the buyers financial position and incorporating emotional elements designed to appeal to the person making the selling decision. Be sure to use any and all information to paint THE most positive picture you can.
Follow this formula and half the battle is won. The other half being that you must have the best price and terms out of all the potential buyers. Does anyone else have something to add or more details on any of these points?
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Short sales stink. That is what I tell my buyers who are looking to buy a property to move into immediately.
The MLS is flooded with homes for sale that are not truly for sale. The owners do not have the authority to sell the home, because they owe more on the home to the bank than they can sell the home for. This is what we call a short sale.
So when I carefully select the homes that are immediately available, such as traditional sales and foreclosures, I am always dissapointed that my clients do not listen. Instead of selecting from this ample pool of homes, they go to an online search source and select 20 short sales that they want to see. And they don't even know that these homes are short sales.
Almost all search tools you will find on the internet do not offer the ability to filter or even identify short sales from your search results. So get a Realtor you can trust to do this for you. Generally, the fact that a home is a short sale is concealed in the "private remarks" section that is only available to Realtors.
Nobody truly cares about getting this home to change hands but you.
This is where the frustration begins to set in. They find that they would love to own most of these homes that are short sales. And of course, who wouldn't?! When a property is priced far below market value, it seems very enticing. Until you write the offers. And then you wait. And wait. And wait. And call. And call. And call.
Even the "approved" short sales do not respond to your offers when they are written at full price! This is because the "seller" is not the seller at all, just someone who wants to save a small part of thier credit rating in order to save the disinterested and unorganized banks some money. And the listing agent doesn't care either, because they know the game. These short sales only serve to bring them more clients that usually do not end up with the short sale they initially sought to purchase. By the end of any short sale closing, the buyer and buyer's agent have spent waaaaay too much of thier own time securing a home to save the bank a buck.
So the bank, the listing agent, and the owner of the property all do not really care. Why should you? In my opinion, you should not.
Share some success stories with us, readers. I want to hear from those of you "lucky" enough to take advantage of these great "deals". And tell us, was it all worth it?
The MLS is flooded with homes for sale that are not truly for sale. The owners do not have the authority to sell the home, because they owe more on the home to the bank than they can sell the home for. This is what we call a short sale.
So when I carefully select the homes that are immediately available, such as traditional sales and foreclosures, I am always dissapointed that my clients do not listen. Instead of selecting from this ample pool of homes, they go to an online search source and select 20 short sales that they want to see. And they don't even know that these homes are short sales.
Almost all search tools you will find on the internet do not offer the ability to filter or even identify short sales from your search results. So get a Realtor you can trust to do this for you. Generally, the fact that a home is a short sale is concealed in the "private remarks" section that is only available to Realtors.
Nobody truly cares about getting this home to change hands but you.
This is where the frustration begins to set in. They find that they would love to own most of these homes that are short sales. And of course, who wouldn't?! When a property is priced far below market value, it seems very enticing. Until you write the offers. And then you wait. And wait. And wait. And call. And call. And call.
Even the "approved" short sales do not respond to your offers when they are written at full price! This is because the "seller" is not the seller at all, just someone who wants to save a small part of thier credit rating in order to save the disinterested and unorganized banks some money. And the listing agent doesn't care either, because they know the game. These short sales only serve to bring them more clients that usually do not end up with the short sale they initially sought to purchase. By the end of any short sale closing, the buyer and buyer's agent have spent waaaaay too much of thier own time securing a home to save the bank a buck.
So the bank, the listing agent, and the owner of the property all do not really care. Why should you? In my opinion, you should not.
Share some success stories with us, readers. I want to hear from those of you "lucky" enough to take advantage of these great "deals". And tell us, was it all worth it?
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