I watched a house that sat on the market for about six months. It was originally listed higher than any other house on the block, and every two to three weeks the seller, a private LLC, dropped the price. Eventually I put in an offer before the holidays. After a few rounds of negotiation with the seller’s agent, Entera Realty, we reached an agreement.
I did not use a buyer’s agent. I have had several bad experiences with buyer agents and decided to self represent. The seller agreed to apply a 2.5 percent buyer agent commission as a credit toward my closing costs instead. Financing was through a credit union and underwriting went very smoothly. No issues with documents and they were essentially ready to go.
Everything was fine until the inspection. The roof and heater checked out, but there was visible water damage inside and outside throughout the property. Some areas had obvious and sloppy cover ups. I obtained multiple quotes averaging eight to ten thousand dollars to properly seal the exterior and fix drainage issues. I asked the seller for seven thousand.
Per the contract, there were five days post inspection to either reach agreement or back out and recover earnest money. The seller did not respond for several days. They later claimed they could not respond due to holidays or weekends. On day four they said they would have an answer by end of day, but they never followed up. At the end of the day I sent an email stating that the deal was over.
The next morning at 9:00 AM the seller’s agent responded asking for an extension and said they would have an answer from the seller. I asked repeatedly for a written extension. Previously, every document exchange had been fast, usually signed within an hour. This time there was no response all day.
At the same time my credit union was waiting on one final item from the seller, a legal signature, to complete their side. I asked multiple times for an update and was told they were looking into it.
At 4:30 PM the seller finally countered with five hundred dollars and minimized the water damage. Even if I wanted to respond, there was no time left to properly sign documents, and the seller’s agent stopped responding after 5:00 PM.
After receiving no response on the inspection issue or the required legal signature, I sent a signed termination letter and copied the title company handling escrow. The title company reviewed the full email chain and was confused by the seller’s delays and lack of documentation. They confirmed they had the full record and told me I should receive my earnest money back within 24 hours of the seller signing the release.
Given all of this, would you put in a new offer on the same home? The house is in a good area and is a good size. Price wise it is still decent but slightly high, and there have been zero renovations. I am not opposed to making another offer, and since the seller is an LLC I assume there is little emotional attachment. However, I am not in a rush to buy a house nor am I emotionally attach to this particular home. It has the bones to be something great but so do many other homes. I am curious how others would approach this situation.
Would you put an offer on a home after walking away the first time after inspections?
byu/maxxor6868 inRealEstate
Posted by maxxor6868
12 Comments
I wouldn’t be afraid to submit an offer. Nothing to lose to a little bit of time.
Whenever going into any sort of negotiation (or anything really) I always look at it as, “I am already at no.” Any movement off “no” is a win for me.
I don’t understand the question. If you want the property and can negotiate a price you like then do it. The worse they can say is no.
Make an offer, but scrape your time from the BS off the top, and then some.
Nope. Not a chance
What’s so special about it? Why aren’t you interested in a different comparable property?
No. These people knew and deliberately covered up water damage (that should be in the disclosures, so super shady and maybe fraud) and didn’t have the respect to respond on time or counter with anything reasonable. Imagine what you can’t see if they are willing to hide the water damage. Imagine the closing issues you could have with these people.
The universe is telling you to walk away, and if you felt totally comfortable with putting in another offer, you wouldn’t be asking.
There is a no reason to resubmit an offer, obviously they know you are coming back.
Figure out your offer situation and move forward.
You couldn’t come to terms the first time so you think another offer is going to somehow remedy that?
Also, in my MLS five days would be five business days meaning holidays and weekends wouldn’t count. So if there were holidays and weekends and you only waited four calendar days for a reply, that was on you cutting them off.
I am confused. But I will answer anyway. If you loved the house, had it within $500 of an accepted offer I would already have been back assuming nothing had changed. But this time, make a non. Contingent offers at the same price
Yes. Now you get the house you want and everyone us healthy!
Sure. But as a seller I wouldn’t want to deal with you.
You chose to “save” 2.5% by not having an agent. You should have known that was the only discount you were gonna get. Instead you gave them a whole laundry list of complaints.
Better luck next time.
It sounds like all this just happened. I would probably watch the house and give it some time. It may go lower still.
But personally, if you had just backed out, I as a seller would tell you to pound sand if it was too recent. If you came back 6 months later I might be more receptive.
I don’t think there’s any point debating it, put in the offer. You already did the inspection so you could settle it quickly. If he hasn’t lowered the price it could just be a waste of time but that’s ok and at least you have an answer. Some sellers don’t like to negotiate too much they prefer to do price drops over time. You may need to wait longer.