NO YOU AREN'T THE BOSS!!! Yes this is the message you have to get in your head if you are a buyer in the metro Detroit real estate market. If you do not know the metro Detroit real estate market is a seller's market. There is very low inventory and many buyers out there. So we are seeing many homes go for list price or higher. We are seeing homes that have multiple offers. Some of them have waiting lines to get into the house. I recently saw a house that had 17 offers before we even saw it. SEVENTEEN. That's a lot and I thought the house was priced at the top end of the price range already. I bet the house sold for $20,000 over list price.
The seller's are in the driver's seat. They are controlling what is happening. I recently helped a Oakland County lakefront buyer win a bid. There were 3 other offers on the home. One of them was $5000 over the list price. We did win the bid, by being a cash offer. My clients were going to do a mortgage, but they had the ability to pay cash for the Oakland County lake home. So we won the bid because we did switch to a cash offer with no appraisal or possible underwriting issues.
What does that mean to you? It means that you the buyer cannot lowball the offer. It means that you cannot put in a lot of contingencies. Many times in this market I am seeing the contingency to sell your home denied. The sellers would rather take a clean deal where the buyer has sold their home versus a buyer who has to wait until their home has sold. Sellers do not want to take a maybe deal. They want a sure thing and they usually can demand it in this market. You can dictate the terms of what you want.
Many times VA Loans are turned down because of the harder VA home inspection. Sometimes FHA Loans are turned down because the seller has recieved a conventional loan with more money down. The seller knows that if they have recieved multiple bids they can be choosey. The want the deal that is more likely to close. If their home price is already on the high side they may not take a FHA loan bid with seller's concessions that equate to more than list price. Why would they do that? If the house doesn't appraise then the seller is going to have to lower the price. The buyer may not have the money to bring to the table. So then the seller would have to lower the price and take out the concessions. So in the end that offer with the concessions might be lower than another offer the seller had.
As a buyer you cannot dictate anything. You have to get it through your head that the seller can just go to the next buyer. If they don't like your terms and the other buyers have as good as or better terms you may lose the deal. It is the same with with the home inspection. Many times after a multiple offer bid if something turns up on the home inspection the seller may tell you that you either take it "as is" or they will go to the next buyer.
I myself when I was representing the seller actually had the buyer put a new septic field in. It was a $6000 repair and the buyers were willing to pay for it. Otherwise they would have lost the house. So as a buyer you are not the boss. You really can't dictate the terms. The seller is in charge in this market. You just have to accept this or you may not get the house you want. For more information go to http://www.oaklandcountylakefronthomesmi.com
Have a great day Russ Ravary your Metro Detroit realtor
