Call Denver Home Real Estate Blog

Archive for October, 2009

But Uncle Fred Got His House for $40,000 Under List Price in Highlands Ranch

Fact or Fiction

If I had a quarter for every time I hear somebody brag about the killer deal that so and so got just last week I’d travel to Alaska.

I mean really, how do you expect me to respond to that?

“Uh okay lets offer $40K under asking price on that new listing that just came out on the market with 3 offers on it asking for highest and best.”

So now that I have that off my chest lets talk.

The Facts

There are some fantastic deals out there in Highlands Ranch and the low financing rates make it more affordable than it has been in a long long time.

The statistics say that the average house in Highlands Ranch sell for 97% of the asking price.  If the average sale price is close to $330,000 then you can expect close to 10K in discounts or incentives.

The Lesson

I appreciate that you need to ask advice from trusted friends when it comes to making a big decision like buying a house.  Just make sure that the person giving you advice on value has enough CURRENT experience to advise you correctly.

Is it Good or Bad to own the Newest and Nicest Home in a Development?

Who wants to just keep up with the Jones’s? Isn’t it better to make them keep up with you? As far as your sports car, manicured lawn and super white teeth go, I leave that up to you. But I can help you with owning a house in Littleton that will make them jealous with envy. And to top it off you can own it for less than most of them paid for their smaller less desirable houses. Just check out the video below of the property on Jamison. The owner has recently added new carpet and paint along with a host of other upgrades. It also has a full basement just waiting for your finishing touches.

And just to make them squirm with envy, I’ll throw your welcome to the neighborhood “Open House” party and tell all of them what a screamin deal you got in Southbridge.

Looks Like A Home, Smells Like A Home, Feels Like A Home. Must Be A Home.

If you have spent any time lately trying to buy a home in Southeast Denver or Aurora under 200K you will know what I am about to tell you is true.  Be prepared to offer more than the list price and still be frustrated when you get outbid.  I get calls on properties that I advertise from buyers that are frustrated that they haven’t been able to buy a home after placing multiple offers on several different homes.  I’ll share with you a few of my real estate tricks that sometimes lean offers in my favor and uncover potential deals that most agents will never know about.  And after all of that I will encourage you to consider a second option that may just get you more square footage for less money.

Tip #1  Use and escalation clause when making an offer on a house.  Are you willing to offer $2,000 more than anybody else up to say $175,000?  Then make sure that your real estate agent communicates that to the listing agent.  I usually send it in the body of my email when I send the offer,  I call and tell the agent directly and I place that information in the additional provisions of the contract.  Some bank owned agents reject these clauses but I have gotten deals this way so give it a try.

Tip #2  Send an email to the agents with pending sales in the area and price range that you are interested in.  Make sure the address of the property is in the subject of the email.  I don’t write a book in these emails.  It usually looks something like this.

Maria,

I see that you have an offer on this property.  My buyers are super interested and super qualified.  If anything happens to your deal, please let me know.  They can go up to 160K to make the deal work.  They must close prior to end of November.  They could close next month easy if we could just get them a house.

Thanks,

Matt Kuchar 303-710-3810

Most of the responses say they will let me know if the deal gets shaky or that the deal closes in a few days.  But one out of about every 20 emails gives me a response like this:

” Buyers is having trouble with financing and deal may go south.  I’ll let you know.”  In those cases we go in and look at the property and put in a back-up contract right away.

Tip #3  If you are going to even consider a short sale.  Your agent needs to call the other agent and ask a few questions before dragging you out there to look at a property that you cannot possibly purchase.  I email these questions to the agent and call them before wasting my client’s time.  Again place the address in the subject of the email.  Then place something like this in the body of the email.

Bonnie,

I’ve got a buyer that has an interest in this property.  How far along in the process is the short sale?  We need to be in a property by the end of November.  Is that a possibility? Do you have offers already?  Has BPO been done?

I usually get a response like this actual email:

“Hi Matt,

We have a contract in with the bank on this property and have 4 solid back up offers and 15 behind those !”

But once in a while I see this:

Matt, I will definitely let you know.  The buyer has been waiting FOREVER on this and is rapidly losing patience so…. stay tuned.

So What Looks Like A Home, Smells Like A Home and Feels Like A Home?  A Town Home.

There are two main reasons some people shy away from these great opportunities.

HOA Dues and Rules and Regulations.

HOA Dues aren’t that bad.  Add up what you pay in insurance, water and sewer, painting the exterior every 5 years and lawn care and I bet there isn’t much difference between what you pay and the monthly HOA dues at many townhomes.

Rules and Regs can also be a plus.  Drive through some neighborhoods under 200K in SE Denver and Aurora and tell me they couldn’t use a few more rules and enforcement.  For instance check out the video of this Town Home in Denver that I have listed for sale.  It is in Cherry Creek School District and has a garage.

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