San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

Yes, unless they really have them.

Is the Pope Catholic?

Remember, were talking about Realtor's here...

Although I do recall my agent telling me not to buy in Temecula - I do believe he was actually giving me good honest advice.

As much as I hate to admit it, Paramount's cynicism is not wrong.

Remember, its easy to lie (or at least mislead) verbally.
Harder and more risky to do in writing.
If you want an answer that is more likely to be accurate, email the LA and ask directly if he has any written offers under review.

Good luck.

In all the 3 offers we made so far the listing agents bluffed via email about other offers being higher than ours :). 2 of the 3 houses went below what they said they had the offer for... 1 of them is still in market

Wow that post had more scrotum references than usual.

BTW.. we didnt ask for the information, they volunteered the information while counter-offering.

Just because there was higher offers doesnt mean they were better. Perhaps they were higher FHA/VA offers and they went with a conventional offer. Perhaps they had a higher offer but that buyr walked. I'm not defending the guy/gal but unless you know all the backstories (which you never do) its tough to say whether they were bluffing or not.

I explored renting from a woman who turned out to be a Realtor; she said she would "have to consult with her clients" regarding my offers before accepting them, implying she was renting the place on behalf of the owners.

Turns out, looking the joint up in SD County Tax/Treas website, she is the owner.

Hmmm.

I did not rent the place.

The reason i'm asking, is i'm thinking of making
an all cash offer on a decent place but the agents
are "We have several outstanding offers", well
that's fine, i'm not getting into a bidding contest.

I'd rather bid low all cash and lose out then
overbid and get hosed, especially in a deflationary environment.

Fax is better than email.

I just had a client who made an offer on a short back in may at $440k for large house in Clairemont (like 1900 sf). We finally got approval and they got cold feet.

The other night he calls me to find out prices on some places he has noticed for sale. A similar place now runs about $480k.

Considering that the monthlies are comparable with rents and supported by area income at that price, I consider those prices unlikely to drop any time soon.

Of course a major economic event could change this, but the stability is suggested by standard and demonstrable history going back to the 1940s.

The point is that all offers should be based on solid number-crunching.

One thing that buyers have to always remember is that they can do whatever they want to do. I call the listing agent to find out if they have any offers on a home my buyer is interested in, and then convey that information to the buyer.

It is UP TO THE BUYER to tell me what they want to offer.

You have to recall that market condition drives alot of the behavior as well. In conditions like we have right now agents may indeed have several offers. Now alot of those offers may indeed suck. Alot of those offers may be present when I make the call, BUT may be gone two days after I make that call.

Similarly listing agents indeed risk scaring off buyers as well when they say they have several offers. Many buyers I know simply walk when a listing they are interested in comes back with many offers.

When people ask me, do I think the listing agent is full of sh-t or not, I do give them my opinion. In many cases, I run into agents I have worked with before and I have a good feel for the transaction, in other cases I do not. So it is kind of a crap shoot. The market conditions, in my opinion, help me determine if the listing agent is jerking us around or not. Also as previously pointed out, a better offer is not a higher offer all the time. We had a condo in Kearny Mesa recently that came in at 135k cash and a 12 day escrow and we had offers at 145k. We took the lower offer. We recently had another condo in RB where we had 9 offers in the first few days. The highest and best was on the verge of being accepted, but then exhibited behavior that made us pass on it and we took the next best offer.

None of this is to defend anyone. You should do what works for you as a buyer. Set your limits, set your strategy but moreover, know your market. If you are shopping for a home at the present, be prepared to deal with a pretty active market. Quality listings are getting alot of offers.

Just remember, nobody is forcing you to buy. Sit it out if you don't like the climate.

She used the old "resort to higher authority" negotiating tactic on you. Similar uses are "I have to check with my wife/husband", or "I have to run it by the 'board of directors'". Here's some info on it:
http://www.rdawson.com/articles/higher-a...

Just curious as to when teh last time anyone walked into a car showroom, electronics store, furniture store or any retail outlet for that matter and the salesperson told them what their wholesale cost was and how cheaply they could buy something?

Had a nice talk with the store manager for a
Sams club, we discussed margins and inventory turn.
I was stunned everything had only a 5% margin
but they ahd a frightening turn rate