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| 3. Make an offer |
- I can prepare a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of a prospective home.
This will tell you, based upon other nearby and/or similar properties
sale prices, what I think the house you're considering is worth. Once
you decide to make an offer on a home, this is how it works . . .
- While I prepare a contract and assorted documents for your
signature, you must contact your loan originator and tell him or her to
email me a Prequalification Letter, with the purchase price you are
offering stated in the letter. Yes, you can ask them to prepare more
than one letter with varying prices.
- Write a check to Dynamic Properties for the amount of the earnest
money. This check will be cashed and placed into a non-interest-bearing
trust account. If the offer is accepted, the earnest money goes toward
your costs in the transaction. If the offer is not accepted, your money
remains in the trust account and can be applied to another offer or you
may have it back. The procedures for getting it back may take several
days. Earnest money is your promise to comply with the terms of an
agreed contract. If you do not comply, then the seller may keep the
earnest money. If the seller does not comply, then you should get the
earnest money returned to you. The broker of Dynamic Properties decides
which party gets the earnest money in the case of non-compliance.
- Sign the contract (Purchase & Sale Agreement). Some of the things listed in
it are the
purchase price, lender, loan type, title company, inspectors, inspection
dates, appraisal date, recording date. We specify a deadline for the seller
to respond. The Purchase & Sale Agreement is the alpha and the omega of the
transaction. We will refer to it often.
- You will also need to sign various disclosures related to
the property, zoning, possible sex offenders in the neighborhood, lead-based paint, and the brokers.
- I take all these documents, make copies, and convey them to the
seller's real estate licensee. Then, we wait.
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- A note about how I get paid . . . the seller pays, not the buyer. A
real estate licensee (the listing licensee) creates a contract with the
seller to sell the property. The listing licensee advertises the property, offering to pay a portion of the commission to
any other licensee who brings a buyer into the transaction. In this way, the
listing licensee and I split the total commission. Then, of course, we
each split our own part of that commission with our broker and Uncle Sam
and kids college fund and car payments, ad nauseum. Wah, wah, wah.
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- A note about For Sale By Owners (FSBO) . . . yes, I am willing to
work with sellers who do not have a real estate licensee's
representation, but the seller must be willing to pay my commission. I'm happy to ask them.
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