Posts Tagged ‘Marin Real Estate Agent’
I keep seeing emails flying about saying- motivated sellers, make an offer. Unfortunately, most sellers don’t realize (or won’t admit to themselves) that this tactic doesn’t generally work. There are a number of flaws with this strategy:
- How many people truly get the “memo” that the seller is motivated? A few real estate agents? Certainly not all of them, or even a majority of them.
- Buyers (who may not even be working with an agent) may not visit the home or look at it on the web because they don’t want to look at something they can’t afford. OR, because the listing price isn’t reduced in the multiple listing service,they just simply don’t know about it (their searches never find it!).
- Many home buyers (and often agents) don’t want to offend sellers by writing a lowball offer. We know you don’t get it. I don’t get it. But it is true, the majority of people don’t want to write a really low offer.
What does truly motivated mean? What it means to a seller might be very different to a potential buyer. To me (a real estate agent), it means they are not motivated enough to put it in writing.
If a seller is truly motivated, their motivation needs to be reflected in a good healthy price reduction- in most cases at least five percent!
MOTIVATED SELLER??…..(should =) BIG PRICE REDUCTION
Starting to think about buying a house in beautiful Marin? You probably start your search on the internet. You start looking at what homes are selling for, doing your initial research to see what you can afford, you might even call a realtor.
You aren’t really ready to look seriously for a home, just doing a little initial research and then you see it- your perfect dream home. It is “the one” and you HAVE to have it. You call your favorite Marin county realtor and say Ginger, “I want to put an offer on that home.”
“Great Joe,” I say, “did you call the mortgage broker I referred you to and get pre-approved?”
……
……
“Joe, are you there?” 
A year ago, you could almost get an approval in a hour or so. It wasn’t a good one, but nobody really cared. Right now, pre-approvals are taking about two weeks for Marin home buyers. Why so long? Well, there are a lot fewer places where you can go to get a jumbo loan in California, and even fewer lenders with reasonable rates.
What we have here is called a roadblock.
Fewer lenders available = a serious back log of buyers all going down the same single lane. The road isn’t closed, but traffic is pretty slow. The mortgage brokers I work with say it takes about two weeks for a pre-approval and suggest 60 days for a close of escrow.
I have a secret for you. (There is a way around the roadblock!) Listen close…
Get pre-approved BEFORE you find your perfect Marin County dream home!
The median home sale price in Mill Valley was $1,063,500 in February 2008, down from $1,255,000 in January, and down from $1,125,000 one year ago in February 2007. The number of homes on the market dropped 20% from one year ago, while the number of Mill Valley homes under contract dropped over 45%.
The number of closed Mill Valley home sales was down almost 68% from one year ago. The average days on the market in Mill Valley was 58 in February.
| Mill Valley Homes |
Feb 2007 | Feb 2008 | ∆ | % ∆ |
| For Sale | 103 | 82 | -21 | -20.39 |
| Under Contract | 22 | 12 | -10 | -45.45 |
| Sold | 25 | 8 | -17 | -68.00 |
Many cities and towns in Marin County require mandatory re-sale inspections before a seller transfers home ownership to a buyer.
Marin Cities that require resale inspections
- Belvedere
- Corte Madera
- Fairfax
- Larkspur
- Mill Valley
- Novato
- San Anselmo
- San Rafael
- Tiburon
Fees range widely from about $100 to close to $300 in Novato. Ouch! In addition, what is inspected during these inspections vary widely. Most check to make sure permits for any property improvements have been pulled. The cities also note issues that may not be compliant with current building codes, check on zoning, property usage, etc. Re-sale inspections in Marin county do not cover property condition, quality of construction, general defects with the property, termites, etc. Look for a general home inspection and a termite inspection to cover these items.
Marin sellers are strongly encouraged to perform the city/town re-sale inspections prior to going on their market. Your Marin real estate agent should help you arrange this. Some Marin cities and towns take an extended period of time to schedule inspections and also to return the inspection report. If you do not get the report in time, you could end up delaying close of escrow.
If you have not pulled permits, you may be fined, asked to pull those permits retroactively and in some instances, sellers have been asked to remove unpermitted improvements.
I have seen many deals fall apart after the reports are returned on a city/town resale inspection. Buyers don’t like surprises at the last minute. It is much better to know any issues relating to the city inspection before you find a buyer!
Marin home buyers: Never sign off on your resale inspection unless you have seen the report in your hands. Even if you attend the inspection, the city inspector may add mandatory items that you aren’t expecting. View the actual report. Some Marin cities and towns (such as Tiburon)do a re-inspection of required items (with an additional fee). If you fail to make corrections within your allotted time period, you may get fined per day. At last check, Tiburon fines racked up fines at a cool $103 a day. Now that can add up quickly!
A “deal” is not necessarily a “deal”:
Buyer walks in to an open house and falls in love. Buyer has been working with a reputable real estate agent, Marin Real Estate Agent A. Real Estate Agent B is the listing agent for the open house and is representing Seller. Real Estate Agent B tells Buyer if they list their house with her/him, she/he will help them get a "deal" on the house they fell in love with. Real Estate Agent B will then handle both sides of the open house transaction, representing the Seller and Buyer. Real Estate Agent B will then go on to represent the Buyer of the open house on the sale of their home.
So who really gets "the deal"?
Real Estate Agent B, of course. Real Estate Agent B now has the original listing, can double end it with his/her own buyer, and will also have the listing on Buyer’s home. Three transactions. In pricey Marin County, that equals big $$$.