Joe Hayden - Louisville, KY Homes for Sale

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Recently, I had a listing that was subject to an act of vandalism. It was a vacant older home that was just on the edge of the residential zoning for the area. The owners were retired and had already moved to a more suitable home, and were leaving a home they had owned for over 45 years. It was in dire need of updating both inside and out, it had already sat for six months with another agent, and the owners were unable to spend much time at the property due to medical reasons.

I had put the home on a lockbox and agreed to stop by the home at least once a week to check on things, plus one of the owners tried to come just as frequently. Well, of course I went by one week and an over-zealous recycler had decided to break the glass on the rear door and remove all traces of copper piping from the home. Literally. They kindly shut the water main off and removed every visible piece of copper in the basement, under the sinks, and even cut a hole in the wall upstairs to pull the piping that went from one floor to the next.

I was understandably upset, and the owner even more so. He was already grappling with the fact the market was slow, his location was less than ideal, his home needed a significant amount of updating he could not afford, and now he had to factor the plumbing into the equation. I felt terrible that this had happened under my watch, but there was very little I though I could do to prevent this in a vacant home with no alarm that sat apart from the rest of the neighborhood.

The owner did not hold me accountable as he realized the difficulty with securing a home in this manner, but that still left us with the additional damage. He looked into insurance, but it was not feasible, nor practical to try to pursue any sort of claim for this act.

We did eventually sell the house, and we actually sold it for what I though it would go for on the open market. As you would guess, the buyers took it as-is. In the end, the owner was satisfied with my work, but I definitely wish I had found a better way to secure that property, or any other solution that could have prevented this situation.

So that's were you come in, fellow 'Rainers. What experiences have you had with vandalism? What did you do to prevent it? What are some suggestions for protecting a vacant home? How did you handle the situation if it happened?

Thanks for the great input in advance!!

Joe Hayden is a Louisville, KY-based Realtor. He can be contacted through his website, Expert Real Estate Louisville, KY.

Lately, my sellers have been receiving numerous offers contingent upon the sale of the potential buyer's home. In fact, the latest one requires a buyer to purchase the home of the buyers who have a contingency contract on the buyers who would like to buy my client's home. Does that make sense?!? If my buyer's buyers get lucky and sell their home, we may get lucky and eventually sell ours to the last buyer standing. I had to chuckle a bit as the deal was explained to me, and I had a hard time suppressing outright laughter as I observed my clients' reaction to my explanation. "Trust me, Mr. and Mrs. Client, I know what I am doing!"

Rest assured, we politely rejected that offer, but I was left wondering what kind of agent would let their clients even contemplate such a convoluted deal. Three 60 day contingencies in a row? Should we allow for appreciation in our selling price? I think my clients were a tad insulted, but we have worked through it together.

I understand the point of the contingency offer, especially in a hot market with quality homes that require speed, deft negotiation, and a willingness to possibly pay top retail price for the privilege, but in a market flooded with inventory does accepting a contingency offer do more harm than good? Why would a buyer who is afforded such a tremendous selection of properties risk putting an offer in on a contingent property, only to lose that property to the contingency and possibly their second choice to another buyer?

When I discuss what to expect from offers with my clients I make it a point to cover the contingency offer. Most sellers react with a healthy dose of skepticism since their stated goal is to sell their home and not gamble with a buyer. I can understand, but I do try to present the buyer's perspective fairly and accurately so they have an opportunity to dwell on the issue prior to receiving any offers. I make it a point to agree that we will address the issue with an open mind should it arise.

My personal guidance to the seller is that if a contingent offer is presented we will fully research and evaluate the deal, and then decide on it's validity. The first thing that we do is determine if the rest of the offer is sufficient or if we need to counter price and terms. After we make those decisions, we deal with the contingency itself.

I immediately look to see if the home is actually listed with an agent. Our local contingency contract requires that the buyer's home be faithfully and fairly marketed for sale with the express purpose of satisfying the contingency. You will not be surprised to find that I have received a few offers in the recent past were the buyers were "getting ready to put their home on the market". Sure. I mean, you just presented to us a signed contract that says your home IS being marketed, so we are comfortable taking your word on this matter.

If the home is listed, I take a hard look at the listing and run a detailed CMA report to see how they look in the market. I review any available photos, and I may even set up a showing with the listing agent in an effort to formulate an opinion on how the market will respond to this particular home. Once I have my information together, I will present it to my clients to allow them to decide how to proceed with the offer.

More often than not, my clients reject the contingency portion of the offer. The number one reason is they would like to see the buyer's true motivation and access to financial resources in an effort to sell their home contingency-free. We reject all poorly written offers, or offers that do not comply with the requirements of the contingency contract. It is too much of a hassle to risk future troubles with a weak buyer or someone looking to take advantage of my clients to bother with these offers.

I find that this approach has served my clients well in negotiations. We will happily entertain serious contingency offers from serious buyers, but we usually keep the right-of-refusal time very short to protect my clients and not scare off other buyers.

What do you think? How do you handle contingency offers? Do you think they help or hurt your clients on both sides of the transaction?

Joe Hayden is a real estate Realtor based in Louisville, KY. He can be reached through his website at www.joehaydenrealtor.com.

Given the recent developments in the lending industry, coupled with the over-supply in the housing market, we find ourselves in a situation that some term a "buyer's market". I want to give my take on the matter and see what other industry professionals have to contribute.

I think this is a challenging issue that needs to be continually addressed with our buyer and seller clients, plus among real estate agents and mortgage lenders. I'm going to explore the topic from the buyer's perspective first and I want to focus in on the new or inexperienced buyer because I think they are most likely to fall prey to skilled marketing or biased information.

Housing is a major supply and demand-driven industry. Prices fluctuate not only with inventory changes, but with nebulous factors such as consumer confidence, interest rate increases and decreases, and even unforeseen factors such as natural disasters or local economy troubles. In our instant-communication world we are fed this information non-stop and are even afforded "expert" analysis 24 hours a day. Buyers, who rightfully are looking for any edge in the market, find it very easy to grasp any data that could be perceived as a money-saver, and the massive amount of seemingly unfavorable news drives their position that the market is theirs for the taking.

For me, the questions are; is this good for the industry, and are the buyers correct in their reasoning? As far as the housing market is concerned, I think proportional adjustments to prices in relationship to the overall strength of the economy are expected and necessary. I think it is very positive overall because of the intimate critical link between supply and demand. The healthy reduction in prices and potential buyers at a reasonable pace keeps the economy in balance.

Our primary trouble in this matter has been a combination of the rate of supply increase, plus the increase in cheap, easy money to purchase combined with a buyer pool that showed tendencies towards financial irresponsibility. Simply, for several years we enjoyed a rapid price increase as buyers flooded the market leading to a rapid increase in supply as investors and builders attempted to capitalize on the boom, and then suddenly, as we all have witnessed, the bottom fell out. The supply remained and a majority of the buyers were gone. Our desire to "win the lottery" outpaced the financial reality.

So, is the perception that we are in a buyer's market good for the industry? If your buyer thinks they are going to receive a significant discount on the purchase of a home based upon the perception that we are in a buyer's market, then no it is not. Quality, well-built homes in nice locations will still command fair market prices. Sellers who are not in a financial crisis will still wait out an acceptable offer. To me, it is an issue of education and reason that industry professionals must recognize and then fully explain to their clients to ensure they do not further harm the market.

Are buyers correct in their reasoning to believe we are in a "buyer's market"? If they understand it is a buyer's market because of the over-supply of available housing and the reduced availability of purchasing power, then yes they recognize that they may take a stronger negotiating position with a seller. It is my opinion that barring the foreclosure mess, home prices are not going to drop more than 1-2% on average. The most significant advantages buyers will receive from this market will be more housing options to choose from, sellers willing to make more concessions for repairs or closing costs, and less competition for premium properties.

What do you think? I would love some input and reasoning from anyone associated with real estate. Keep in mind I think you could write several novels on this topic, so I haven't exactly fully developed my ideas. I'll see what sort of response I get to this post and then I'll post my thoughts on the seller's perspective.

Joe Hayden is a real estate Realtor based in Louisville, KY. He can be contact through his website at www.joehaydenrealtor.com.