The Atlanta Report

I wanted to share a success story I had with a recent buyer.

Many people use my home search tool to keep track of homes coming on to the market.  Then they call me when they want to go look at homes in person.  It’s my main method for finding new buyer clients and has been working very well.

On a Monday morning I checked my email at 9:00am to find a request to see a home ASAP.  I immediately give the person a call.  They told me that they had seen this home a few weeks ago when it was “for sale by owner” and they were told at the time that it was under contract.  The owner’s fiancee was an agent and said she would call if things fell through.

These buyers saw it come up  on my website and wanted me to find out about this home and if it was available that they wanted to see it immediately.  I called the agent and she said the previous deal had fallen through and they decided to get it listed on the MLS.  She had just put it in the MLS yesterday and she had it underpriced in order to sell it quickly.  She and the owner were getting married in six weeks and wanted to have it sold by then.

At 9:30 am I called the buyer back and agreed to meet them at the home at 12:30 that same day.  They also wanted to see another home in the same neighborhood. 

At 12:30 pm we see the home, we see the other home, and we come back to the first home to look at it again in detail.  My buyers like it a lot and I tell them I will send them the comps for the neighborhood.

At 1:30 pm I get back to the office and I run the comps for the neighborhood.  It’s an area where many homes are being torn down and million dollar homes are being built.  So I have to go through the tax records to find out how much builders are paying for the tear down homes.  There are several recent sales in the $290,000 range.  The home of interest is listed at $279,000 and is not really in tear down condition.

At 1:45 pm I send all the information to my buyer and suggest that it’s already a good deal but if we act quickly we might be able to get it for less.

At 3:45 pm my buyer calls me back and tells me that they want to buy the home.  We write up an offer for $255,000 and they tell me that they would be willing to go up to $272,000 if they had to.  I tell them that the sellers seem pretty motivated to get this home out of the way before their wedding so they might be pretty motivated.  I get them to have their lender email a preapproval letter to me and we also put a 24 hour deadline on our offer.  The home had only been on the market for a day and any negotiating strength we had would quickly evaporate as soon as someone else showed some interest.

At 5:00 pm we submit our offer.  The listing agent complains that it is pretty low and that the home is underpriced already.  I agree with her but tell her that my buyers can complete the deal in four weeks and are already approved with a lender.  I ask her to just come back with a counter and I’d see what I could do. 

At 7:30 pm she comes back with a counter of $272,000.  That’s the price that my buyer was ready to accept in the beginning.  So they were happy ready to make a deal.  I told them to hang in there and come back at $262,000.  They agreed and I relayed our counter back to the other agent over the telephone.  Things need to be in writing but I didn’t want to waste time and allow another offer to come in and wreck things.

At 8:30 pm the listing agent comes back at $270,000.  She says that that is the best and final offer that they can do.  I talk with my buyers and we decide to make a counter.

At 9:30 pm I call the listing agent with our counter of $267,000.  I find that a gap of $3000 or less is usually small enough to get a motivated seller to accept.  I tell them to think about it over night and get back with us first thing in the morning.

At 8:30 am Tuesday morning the listing agent calls me to tell me they will accept the $267,000.  They make the changes on the contract and initial them and fax it over to me.  I fax the contract to my buyers for their initials and then fax it back to the listing agent.  In less than 24 hours we have a deal.

At 4:00 pm I call the listing agent about the inspection and she tells me that she has received a few more calls about the home.  I feel that we were very lucky to get the offer negotiated before another one came in.  We might have had to pay full price.

Two weeks later we get the appraisal back.  Usually appraisals come in right at the contract price.  This one came in at $283,000.  So my buyers had instant equity of $16,000.

My commission was $8000 for a few hours that day and a few more hours spent during the inspection, where we negotiated another $3000 in closing costs in lieu of a few repairs.  Am I over paid?  Some might suggest that if they look at it on an hourly basis.  But I don’t think that anyone else would have made that deal come together as quickly as I did.  I give my clients the information they need to move quickly then I help them execute the details in an efficient manner.