About San Leandro's Washington Manor

One of the most difficult parts for a Professional Realtor to do is to have the buyer write an offer to buy a house on an "as-is" condition without asking the seller to do any repairs at all. The obvious fear of having to spend money fixing items that they did not expect is a reason why home buyers are reluctant to pay full price on a house they have not inspected, but inspecting a house prior to buying it is not a feasible possibility either.

But when the buyer is competing with others for the same house, an "as-is" clause on his contract will make a huge difference for the seller when choosing which offer to accept. The seller will always take that offer instead of one that has an inspection contingency.

Most properties on the market have some deferred maintenance, especially listings that are in foreclosure or bank-owned, home buyers would like to know what the true condition of the property is before they buy it, hence the inspection period of about 10-15 days from the moment the offer is accepted. Here is where the seller can speed up the sale of the house by getting a complete home inspection before putting the house on the market.

If the buyer reads the home report before writing the offer, then he can waive the inspection period and speed up the closing. These reports should be offered at the property so the buyer can examine them while looking at the house. I suggest EVERY HOME SELLER take the following steps BEFORE the house goes on the market:

• Order a complete inspection from a local reputable, Professional Home Inspection Company.
• Call a company that DOES NOT DO ANY WORK. Just inspections
• Choose a company that offers the reports via e-mail. This way it can be disseminated faster
• The report should include multiple color photographs within the body of the report. These photos help the average home buyer "see" the problem areas and understand them better.
• The home report should also include an evaluation of the roof.
• A pest control inspection should be done at the same time and a separate report should be issued.
• The Pest control report should include an approximate cost of all repairs called for.
• One final but important step: Make sure the inspector has access to ALL AREAS OF THE HOUSE.

Buyers will pay better prices for properties that are in good condition and only a recent full inspection report from a Professional Home Inspection Company can tell them that. The cost in the San Francisco bay area for a home and a pest control reports is around $550. If the property is in good condition and those reports confirm that fact, the buyers will probably pay good prices and haggle less.

The buyer of course reserves the right the call his own inspections. This is when the professionalism of the home inspection company the seller chooses comes into place. It must be reliable, stable and professional enough to stand scrutiny. After 25 years of experience I use one of the most Professional companies I know out of Walnut Creek, CA. 1 (800) 466-2466 National Building Inspectors. The photos in this post are from an actual report from NBI. Buyers: don't go at it alone, this company will be your best ally when purchasing a home.

Antonio & Alexia Cardenas, "The Realtors In Motion" CRS, GRI, E-Pro Certified. Serving the East Shores of the San Francisco Bay. Alameda and Contra Costa counties; San Leandro, Castro Valley, Oakland, Hayward, Pleasanton, Dublin. Visit us on line at: www.listedbyantonio.com Call us, we'll come and TANGO with you! (510) 326-4263

What if you client ask you to write it? the seller can only accept ONE offer, what would be your contribution to this frenzy bidding? what about the other 59 Realtors? and their clients? At what point would you say, I am not going to be a part of this frenzy bidding. Apart from that, what type of an offer would you counsel your client to write in order to have a chance to be the highest bidder? What would happen if you go too high and then the appraisal does not measure up? What would happen then? who's fault is it that this one sale went out of control? How much time was spent here by would be home buyers and Realtors?

As I browsed this morning our MLS, looking for a house for a first time home buyer in Hayward, CA, I come across a very nice house in an average neighborhood slightly under-priced, (MLS # 40400913) It has been on the market for only 12 days, and I noticed the note from the listing agent "PLEASE NO MORE OFFERS, 60+ HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED, WAITING FOR A RESPONSE" My heart went out to this pour soul, I can imagine his fax machine spitting out offers at the tune of a minimum 17 pages per offer! 1,020 sheets of paper says my trusty calculator and then he/she will need about a day to sort them all out. And then fax that pile of paper to the bank. We are going to need another fax machine! The number of messages to be returned will need to be streamlined in a very unique way. Out of those 60 Realtors, there are bound to be some nasty calls about "What happened to my offer?"

This real estate market is showing us faces we have never seen before, this is early April 2009 in the San Francisco bay area, where according to the media prices have dropped, unemployment is high and nobody is buying... really? 59 out of these 60 buyers are disappointed and still without a house to buy.

There are some serious issues here. In the one hand the listing agent cannot put this house on the "Pending" side until an offer is accepted. On the other hand, the bank wants to see "any and all offers" so they can pick highest and best. Can a buyer sue you for NOT writing an offer on his behalf? Someone will have to take control of this mess and make the right call, choose the right offer, and hope the buyer does not flop before escrow closes, there will be a lot of people real mad if they have to run back up to that house to show it again and write another offer.

What would you do if a client ask you to write offer number 61? would you take the time to write it? If you were the listing agent, how would you handle such a mess. I truly want to know. I have been a Professional Realtor since 1985, I thought I had seen it all... I guess I haven't, enlighten me please. What would you do in both cases.

Antonio & Alexia Cardenas, "The Realtors In Motion" Selling the wonderful counties of Alameda and Contra Costa in the East Shores of the San Francisco Bay. Accepting Referrals to San Leandro, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo, Hayward, Pleasanton & Dublin. Visit us on line at www.ListedbyAntonio.com (510) 326-4263

As a professional Realtor with over 24 years of experience, I have never seen so many bad news about my business put together and shown all over the media day after day after day. You will think that there is a conspirancy to drive us out of our business. I certainly have noticed the drop of phone calls, the lack of transit during open houses, the dissapereance of good, reputable real estate companies and associated and supportive service companies like title insurance, pest control, roofing, mortgage and others that depend on a healthy real estate market. But is it really that bad for everybody? Just as when the market was in the upswing, we knew that it will have to stop one way or another, we clearly see that it did stop and that is going nowhere right now... Or is it?

Despite the obvious slowdown, there is a very active and profitable real estate market going on right now in certain areas. We presently are working with several first time buyers. These people are using FHA loans with downpayments as low as 3.5% and low FICO scores, they are asking sellers to pay closing costs and help with their downpayments, they are taking full advantage of first time buyers incentives, low interest rates and the newly approved $8,000 Tax credit.

Yet, some of them still cannot find a house to buy! Because there are multiple offers on properties that just come on the market, some of those offers in my area below the $300,000 mark are being bid with offers as high as $40-50,000 over asking price. Offers with all cash, no contingencies, "as is" with a fast close of escrow. Unless these people read the papers daily they will not believe there is a real estate meltdown. They simply don't believe the other side of the coin that tells them is a bad market.

Investors are buying at lender's auctions blocks of real estate at bargain prices and then turning around and selling them quickly, those who don't get greedy turn those profits fast. These people are having a ball! real estate is alive and well and triving... in February 2009! These real estate buyers are primed to reap the benefits when this market turn around because it will. In the last few weeks we have writen offers on REO's and Foreclosed homes, and on short sales listings. Banks have learned how to streamline their flow of short sales and REO's to the delight of those Realtors who embrace the new ways and methods of buying and selling real estate.

At current prices, buying real estate offer investors and homebuyers one of the single best long-term investments today. Every coin has two faces, you must look at both sides, if you are looking at the side of a depressed market, don't panic, just flip it over... and over again until you get to see the face that you like. Then focus on the bright side and take full advantage of the wonderful opportunities available right now.

Antonio & Alexia Cardenas, "The Realtors In Motion" San Leandro, CA. Open Servind the beautiful cities of San Leandro, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo, Oakland and Hayward, Dublin & Pleasanton. Call us, we will come and TANGO with you. (510) 326-4263