The cottage was listed the day after we left Canada. We went with the pricing recommended by our realtor as neither of us had any idea what this year's market was like. With no real current comparables at the starter end of the spectrum, told her that our goal was to be fair, not greedy. Plus we believed too, that the market will correct errant pricing either way.
By the time we got settled a couple of days later, we found out about the 10 booked showings. By the end of the week, there were 20, with 5 registered offers plus 2 others that withdrew for various reasons. As we were in an a region with rolling blackouts and unreliable internet, we had to make the decision to postpone review of offers until our return 12 days later.
I particularly felt horrified that it would appear as if we were trying to take advantage of the interest to delay, in order to encourage a bidding war, so had to hope that our realtor would be able to relay our situation clearly to the parties involved and trust they would believe us.
D wasn't as concerned as I. He felt that in this day and age, a simple google of both our names would easily land on my office website with a vacation notice and his LinkedIn and Facebook page. Just like we would be doing the same with their names later to try and see who we were dealing with.
The world of real estate has changed a lot since our last engagement years ago. We were impressed with the new software allowing date stamped binding signatures to be made on agreements with simple clicks and a choice of writing styles. That part was actually fun! And how the agreement gets emailed to subsequent owners to sign once one person has completed their signing. Very sleek.
Neither D or I have ever been in a multiple offer situation. You read about it and see it on the numerous real estate shows but I have to admit, it isn't as glamorous as it appears. It's pretty nerve wreaking. There were a couple that gave 1 hour non revocables. Four out of five changed their conditions and or pricing on the last day. One sent a personal note. And we felt very rushed. It wasn't all that exciting.
D decided to call the bluff on the highest offer (34K over asking) and it worked. They were not serious, wanted an extension that we were not willing to grant and created a lot of noise and drama for about 40 min. I didn't have a good feeling about the offer and could have done without that whole interaction.
The second highest offer (10K over asking) didn't get a chance due to lack of time and having the most conditions. Their realtor called inquiring about status as they were anxious about the outcome. I felt bad that we didn't engage with them but offering more money did not balance out the sheer amount of steps they needed for a really short closing request (2 1/2 weeks).
We really liked the idea of a quick closing, but to make it work would have involved signing back and trying to change too many things and I didn't want this process to continue all night or into the next days.
We passed on the lowest offer. There wasn't enough interest to negotiate. Which left two offers priced the same, one that came a note explaining why the financing clause was present. We deferred to our realtor's experience with such clauses.
It is getting harder to qualify for 2nd mortgages for recreational properties and it usually involves a bank assessment and she had not been contacted by anyone about that. In her experience, the whole process has taken up to 10 business days. She cautioned on any offer that contained it.
When I made my purchase, I used the equity of my then house to self finance it, so avoided that whole application process. Recreational properties are considered to be higher risk to the bank as they are the first to be defaulted on when things go bad financially.
In the end, the "cleanest", strongest offer (firm, 10K deposit, 6 week closing) was chosen, as is, with no sign back from us requesting more money. It was for a touch over asking, with no conditions other than to leave it in clean condition with personal effects removed.
They (and everyone else who offered) wanted all the furniture, appliances, everything in the shed and garage, which is what we had hoped, as it meant less work. Most every major item are in newer condition, within 5 years, so it is move in ready. D will continue to head up biweekly to enjoy the remaining time as well as maintain the lawn etc. until closing.
The whole process took about 3 hours the evening after our return. And I couldn't sleep after, probably from all the adrenaline. We are super glad that our realtor is experienced and her years of wisdom made all the difference in our interpretation and response to the various parties.
By the time we got settled a couple of days later, we found out about the 10 booked showings. By the end of the week, there were 20, with 5 registered offers plus 2 others that withdrew for various reasons. As we were in an a region with rolling blackouts and unreliable internet, we had to make the decision to postpone review of offers until our return 12 days later.
I particularly felt horrified that it would appear as if we were trying to take advantage of the interest to delay, in order to encourage a bidding war, so had to hope that our realtor would be able to relay our situation clearly to the parties involved and trust they would believe us.
D wasn't as concerned as I. He felt that in this day and age, a simple google of both our names would easily land on my office website with a vacation notice and his LinkedIn and Facebook page. Just like we would be doing the same with their names later to try and see who we were dealing with.
The world of real estate has changed a lot since our last engagement years ago. We were impressed with the new software allowing date stamped binding signatures to be made on agreements with simple clicks and a choice of writing styles. That part was actually fun! And how the agreement gets emailed to subsequent owners to sign once one person has completed their signing. Very sleek.
Neither D or I have ever been in a multiple offer situation. You read about it and see it on the numerous real estate shows but I have to admit, it isn't as glamorous as it appears. It's pretty nerve wreaking. There were a couple that gave 1 hour non revocables. Four out of five changed their conditions and or pricing on the last day. One sent a personal note. And we felt very rushed. It wasn't all that exciting.
D decided to call the bluff on the highest offer (34K over asking) and it worked. They were not serious, wanted an extension that we were not willing to grant and created a lot of noise and drama for about 40 min. I didn't have a good feeling about the offer and could have done without that whole interaction.
The second highest offer (10K over asking) didn't get a chance due to lack of time and having the most conditions. Their realtor called inquiring about status as they were anxious about the outcome. I felt bad that we didn't engage with them but offering more money did not balance out the sheer amount of steps they needed for a really short closing request (2 1/2 weeks).
We really liked the idea of a quick closing, but to make it work would have involved signing back and trying to change too many things and I didn't want this process to continue all night or into the next days.
We passed on the lowest offer. There wasn't enough interest to negotiate. Which left two offers priced the same, one that came a note explaining why the financing clause was present. We deferred to our realtor's experience with such clauses.
It is getting harder to qualify for 2nd mortgages for recreational properties and it usually involves a bank assessment and she had not been contacted by anyone about that. In her experience, the whole process has taken up to 10 business days. She cautioned on any offer that contained it.
When I made my purchase, I used the equity of my then house to self finance it, so avoided that whole application process. Recreational properties are considered to be higher risk to the bank as they are the first to be defaulted on when things go bad financially.
In the end, the "cleanest", strongest offer (firm, 10K deposit, 6 week closing) was chosen, as is, with no sign back from us requesting more money. It was for a touch over asking, with no conditions other than to leave it in clean condition with personal effects removed.
They (and everyone else who offered) wanted all the furniture, appliances, everything in the shed and garage, which is what we had hoped, as it meant less work. Most every major item are in newer condition, within 5 years, so it is move in ready. D will continue to head up biweekly to enjoy the remaining time as well as maintain the lawn etc. until closing.
The whole process took about 3 hours the evening after our return. And I couldn't sleep after, probably from all the adrenaline. We are super glad that our realtor is experienced and her years of wisdom made all the difference in our interpretation and response to the various parties.
Wow! Well, that's exciting (and sounded utterly exhausting - cheeky folks, some of them!), but hopefully you're already feeling a bit lighter about having less to worry about. One step at a time. Funnily enough, I was pondering items I have for sale here (not so substantial as homes and cars, however). I have to come to honest terms with why I'm hanging onto these things: bike, camera, etc. that I haven't used in, well, an embarrassingly long time. Do I like the IDEA of them more than I actually like the item now? But it's all in the thought stages.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the handing over of keys, etc. Hope the rest all goes well too! xx
Thank you!!! I'm happy to read your move went well and are settling in. Lots going on in the home front for both of us.
DeleteWe will be counting down to the closing date. Don't believe there is any reason why it wouldn't close as expected. D is heading up to see how things look after having so many people walk through.
Our realtor just told us that she couldn't get any water for the water testing we are wanting to do, so that tells us someone turned the power off to the pump... hopefully nothing more serious than that...never a dull moment.
While I was getting my stuff for consignment sales, I did a lot of self questioning as to why I even bought those items in the first place and then find myself clinging to them because of their expense. Can't win sometimes battling with oneself!
Good luck with sorting through everything on your end!