Entries from Dan Melson's La Mesa Real Estate and Mortgage Website tagged with 'sellers'
New Consumer Article: Low Asking Price on Unfinanceable Properties
The new consumer article for today is Low Asking Price on Unfinanceable Properties. Almost always, the reason for an asking price well below other equivalent properties is the presence of some factor that means you cannot obtain a regular real...
New Consumer Article: Automated Underwriting In Pre-Qualification or Pre-Approval Letters
The new consumer article for today is Automated Underwriting In Pre-Qualification or Pre-Approval Letters. Not to put too fine a point on it, automated underwriting is useless until all details of the transaction have been finalized. If you're selling a...
New Consumer Article: Two Things Sellers Need To Understand About Buyers
The new consumer article for today is Two Things Sellers Need To Understand About Buyers, a discussion of two things both important and basic that sellers do not seem to understand about buyers, and judging by the available evidence, most...
New Consumer Article: Asking Price Versus Sales Price
The new consumer article for today is Asking Price Versus Sales Price, a short discussion of what they are and the relationship between them. Many agents have forgotten this stuff, but it really is very basic stuff everyone should keep...
New Consumer Article: Some Offers Are More Equal Than Others
The new consumer article for today is Some Offers Are More Equal Than Others, talking about how to evaluate two different purchase offers even though they may be for the same or similar amounts of money. This is primarily important...
New Consumer Article: How To Keep Listing Agents From Filtering Out Offers
The new consumer article for today is How To Keep Listing Agents From Filtering Out Offers. This is a real, major, and once again increasing problem within the real estate industry. You need to take steps to prevent it from...
New Consumer Article: Short Sale Negotiators and the Interests of Potential Buyers
The new consumer article for today is Short Sale Negotiators and the Interests of Potential Buyers. An awful lot of nonsense gets tried with short sales, most of it for the benefit of lazy listing agents who shouldn't have taken...
New Consumer Article: Why Sellers Should Counter All Reasonable Offers
The new consumer article for today is Why Sellers Should Counter All Reasonable Offers. It really isn't rocket science. If your agent advises you otherwise, something is wrong....
New Consumer Article: "I'm Working With Someone Else, But Could You Just Help Me With..."
The new consumer article for today is "I'm Working With Someone Else, But Could You Just Help Me With..." talking about requests for free work from real estate agents. I'm perfectly happy to give general information to non-clients and...
New Consumer Article: I'm Competing Against Multiple Offers. How Do I Proceed?
The new consumer article for today is I'm Competing Against Multiple Offers. How Do I Proceed?. It's an article directed at consumers, not real estate professionals, so it doesn't go over some things such as alternatives to money that are...
New Consumer Article: The Measurement Unit For Desirability Is Dollars
The new consumer article for today is The Measurement Unit For Desirability Is Dollars. It really is that simple. A good agent can make a difference, but a property that has more will cost more. It isn't rocket science, but...
New Consumer Article: You Want an Agency That Can Pay ENOUGH Attention to YOU
The new consumer article for today is You Want an Agency That Can Pay ENOUGH Attention to YOU. It really doesn't benefit you to list with an agency that is too busy to pay proper attention to your property, nor...
State of the La Mesa and East County Real Estate Market April 2009
We were ready for a strong turn in the market, but the strength of what we've gotten in the last six weeks is amazing. It has been, if anything, worse that a few years ago. What caused it? People...
New Consumer Article: Who Has A Legitimate Interest In A Real Estate Transaction?
The new consumer article for today is Who Has A Legitimate Interest In A Real Estate Transaction?. This article goes all the way back to first principles to determine who has an interest worth getting hot and bothered over, and...
New Consumer Article: How Agents Should Respond To An Appraisal Below Purchase Price
The new consumer article for today is How Agents Should Respond To An Appraisal Below Purchase Price. The appraisal is a significant client protection, and trying to manipulate the appraisal to make the transaction happen is not in a buyer's...
New Consumer Article: The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (New Appraisal Standards)
The new consumer article for today is The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (New Appraisal Standards) that are going to be taking effect (appropriately enough) on May 1 ("May Day" or "MAYDAY"). It is going to be almost impossible for...
New Consumer Article: Online Real Estate Photographs
The new consumer article for today is Online Real Estate Photographs. I know why people want to see online photographs, but I don't understand why they obsess about them to the degree they do, even after they assure me that...
New Consumer Article: The Difference Between a Reliable and Unreliable Prequalification or Preapproval Letter
The new consumer article for today is The Difference Between a Reliable and Unreliable Prequalification or Preapproval Letter. Whether you're a buyer or a seller, having the right lender letter is a good thing. If you're a seller, you know...
State of the San Diego Real Estate Market March 2009
Reminds me of this gold rush movie (one that I recommend watching if you have a chance) Okay, it's not quite like that, but correctly priced properties are flying into "Pending". It has to do with supply and demand. At...
New Consumer Article: Title Deeds And The Form They Should Take
The new consumer article for today is Title Deeds And The Form They Should Take, which discusses the mechanism of the title transfer deed and the form it should take....
New Consumer Article: Selling the Property You Should Never Have Bought
The new consumer article for today is Lipstick on a Pig: Selling the Property You Should Never Have Bought. It talks about general techniques for selling properties with issues that make them less attractive to buyers....
New Consumer Article: Transaction Coordinator: For The Agent's Benefit, Not The Consumers
The new consumer article for today is Transaction Coordinator: For The Agent's Benefit, Not The Consumers. Transaction coordinators are mostly a good thing, helping agents ensure compliance and coordinating between various parties to the transaction. But asking consumers to pay...
New Consumer Article:"Quantity Has A Quality All Its Own"
The new consumer article for today is "Quantity Has A Quality All Its Own": Low Price. When people can get a good for less than previously, then not surprisingly they will buy more of it in the aggregate. It all...
New Consumer Article: Termite Work, Wood Destroying Pest Agreements, and Lender Requirements
The new consumer article for today is Termite Work, Wood Destroying Pest Agreements, and Lender Requirements. If you know about work that needs to be done, concealing it from the buyer's lender is fraud. Lots of agents are putting their...
New Consumer Article: Why You Don't Want A "Top Producer" Listing Your Property
The new consumer article for today is Why You Don't Want A "Top Producer" Listing Your Property. The agent makes money hand over fist, but they haven't got the attention to spare for getting the best price on your property,...
New Consumer Article: It Is Illegal Under RESPA to Require Even Prequalification With a Particular Lender
The new consumer article for today is It Is Illegal Under RESPA to Require Even Prequalification With a Particular Lender, debunks the legality of a practice that listing agents are trying to bring back or institute with the increase in...
New Consumer Article: Multiple Offers: Weak But Increasingly Common, And It's Your Listing Agent's Fault
The new consumer article for today is Multiple Offers: Weak But Increasingly Common, And It's Your Listing Agent's Fault, talks about multiple offer situations, what they mean to buyers, and what they mean to sellers....
New Consumer Article: Buyer's Agents Presenting An Offer In Person
The new consumer article for today is Buyer's Agents Presenting An Offer In Person, where I cover the ins and outs of presenting an offer in person, why buyer's agents should do it, why listing agents should prefer it, and...
New Consumer Article: Adverse Possession
The new consumer article for today is Adverse Possession, discussing a method whereby property owners can lose part of their property by failing to defend their rights against squatters....
New Consumer Article: Fake Agent Scams
The new consumer article for today is Fake Agent Scams. Despite how many people get burned by trying to Buy Without an Agent, most of them don't realize how badly they have been taken. In this case, it appears that...
New Consumer Article: Cash to Close - A Basic Primer
The new consumer article for today is Cash to Close - A Basic Primer. The article discusses how much cash a buyer of real estate has to have in order to make the transaction happen. Proving that you have this...
New Consumer Article: Stop Short Sale Bait and Switch
The new consumer article for the day is Stop Short Sale Bait and Switch. I am sick and tired of the fraudulent way that lazy incompetent agents have taken to marketing short sale properties - and it's going to start...
New Consumer Article: You've Got a Great Offer, But Can The Buyer Consummate It? (Cash to Close)
The new consumer article for the day is You've Got a Great Offer, But Can The Buyer Consummate It? (Cash to Close). These days, you have to pay attention to details like the limits of how much lenders are willing...
New Consumer Article: Mortgage Fraud Is Still Happening - What To Do About It
The new consumer article for the day is Mortgage Fraud Is Still Happening - What To Do About It. There are still tricks that the less scrupulous agents and loan officers are pulling that are just as fraudulent as at...
New Consumer Article: Offers Where The Buyer Knows About A Problem With Your Property
Today's new consumer article is Offers Where The Buyer Knows About A Problem With Your Property, in which I consider the differences between an offer where the buyer knows about a defect with the property, versus an offer where they...
New Consumer Article September 22, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Earnest Money: Copy of a Check or Proof Of Funds?, talking about what good various sorts of evidence of deposit do....
New Consumer Article September 10, 2008
Today's new consumer article is The Are No Schools That Teach What A Good Agent Needs to Know, which directly takes on the canard that since being an agent doesn't require a college degree, therefore there's nothing special about it...
New Consumer Article September 8, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Negotiation Requires More Than Dueling Ultimatums, which discusses and suggests improvements to the common model of faxing over bare offers and counter-offers. I don't understand why anyone who wants a transaction to succeed would do...
New Consumer Article August 28th, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Rent to Own and Lease With Option to Buy, which talks about one alternative to the traditional sale that usually gets a seller a higher price, while not requiring a buyer to come up with...
New Consumer Article August 25th, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Negotiation Basics: On What to Offer and Whether to Offer, Which talks about the process of putting in an offer and negotiation, and what effects a couple of common things have upon the process....
New Consumer Article August 12, 2008
Today's new consumer article is What Buyers Need: What Sellers Should Want to Supply, a companion article to yesterday's, helping sellers to be successful by thinking like buyers....
New Consumer Article August 11, 2008
Today's new consumer article is What Sellers Need: What Buyers Should Want to Supply, which talks about thinking like a seller for buyers....
Is San Diego Market Underpriced or Overpriced? - A Thought Experiment for August 2008
Let's do a thought experiment. Any market in any commodity has two components: The demand, or willingness and ability to pay for that good, and the supply of that good. Let's consider the demand half of that first. Specifically, ability...
New Consumer Article July 22, 2008
Today's new consumer article is What Does It Mean To Fall Out Of Escrow?, which talks about the process of escrow and what really causes escrows to fall apart - and that it is not something to fear....
New Consumer Article July 14, 2008
Today's new consumer article is If You Don't Think Agents Are Valuable, Do It Yourself, which discusses people trying to get real estate agents to do our core work for free, and how what their actions say overshadows whatever...
Demands Listing Agents Make That Aren't in Their Clients Best Interest
One of the things I see all the time is notations made on the listing that demotivate buyers agents, or give them a reason not to show the property. This practice has had a drastic fall off of late, with...
What Remodeling is Likely to Show a Profit on Sale?
My general rule of thumb is "Remodel for your own enjoyment. If you're lucky, you'll get some of your money back when your sell." The remodeling industry has made a very large amount of money seducing people into believing...
Real Estate "Pig In a Poke"
Over five hundred years ago in Europe, there was a con game that was more practiced than any other con game in the history of the world. It was simply the thing to try on the new rube in...
Agents "Buying" Listings: Promising the Undeliverable and Hurting Their Clients
Quite a lot of the time when I view a property, I get requests for feedback. Usually it's an automated email. Other times, it's some office assistant who wants to fax me a form which will "only take a...
You Are Never Obligated To Sell to a Given Offer
Must you sell if you list at a specific price and the broker comes up with a qualified buyer? in the US in general, no you do not have to sell, but you could still be liable to the...
Why Do Purchase Escrows Fall Apart? (And Why Is It Happening More Often?)
There have always been real estate transactions that fall apart. The reasons why they fall apart are as varied as the people who enter into the transaction in the first place. Let's get back to the very basics for...
San Diego Real Estate Market: June 2008 Advice
My advice to sellers is very simple: Hold off if you can. Things have already improved, but better times are coming once more inventory clears. The prognosis for this is very good. I'm seeing fewer short sales, at least...
Is The Good Faith Deposit At Risk?
Many agents seem to answer this question differently depending upon whether their client is the prospective buyer or seller. When their client is making an offer, "No, your deposit could never possibly be at risk," while when their client...
What Happens When You Over-Price Real Estate?
Short answer: It almost certainly won't sell! The first thing that happens is that when it goes onto the Multiple Listing Service, all the agents who see it know that it's overpriced. Even on the public part of MLS, the...
Top Ten Reasons Your Home Isn't Selling
No, I'm not a David Letterman watcher, for reasons having to do with turning into a pumpkin before his show starts. I'm going to treat it a little more seriously than he does, as this is a serious subject,...
A Good Listing Agent's Most Important Responsibility
The general public may not understand this, but the most critical parts of a listing agent's job all take place before the property hits the market. The most important responsibility of an agent who wants to successfully list property is...
Buyers, Asking Price and Days on Market
This article is for sellers who want to put their property on the market priced too high "just to see if we can get it." I know where sellers get it. A lot of people are out there hyping...
Sixty Second Public Service Announcement About Selling Real Estate
Here was an idea I had: Pack a list of the most important things consumers need to know about buying real estate, as packed into the words I can say in sixty seconds without sounding like an over-clocked squirrel. Here...
What $5 (and Higher) Gas Means to Suburban and Exurban Real Estate
Most of the articles and things I read about the price of gas seems to be based upon an implicit assumption that the price of gas is only as high as it is temporarily. This is not the case....
Pretending the Service Equation is Simpler Than It Is
Way back when I was just out of high school, I was doing a lot of things with my time. Working, dating, competing on the fencing team, gaming of various sorts. But every once in a while, I dropped...
Another Scam: "Negative Equity? Sell and Get Cash!"
Notice that it doesn't claim that you can do so legally. I saw another of these signs on the way to the office this morning. When things are going sour, there are any number of scam artists who will...
The Ideal Listing Commission and its Structure: Performance Based
Here's the real issue about commissions: They need to be structured to incentivize good results - rewarding those agents who do good work, penalizing those who don't. The current structure, where the brokerage gets a flat percentage of official...
How to Tell A Good Real Estate Market Article From A Bad One
Don Henley has a fun song off his second solo album called "Driving With Your Eyes Closed". I can't find a video performance, but here's an MP3. It's got a chorus that ends with the line, "You're gonna hit something...
CBB: The Art of Setting Buyer's Agency Compensation on a Listing
First off, let me make something very plain. All a CBB can do is give good agent an incentive or disincentive to look at the property. A high one will not, by itself, sell the property. A low one...
Steering: The Most Violated Law In Real Estate
I just picked a random ZIP code in my local MLS, and out of the first twenty listings I came to, ten had explicit violations of one or more of the sections of RESPA regarding steering right there in the...
Real Estate and the Four Levels of Competence
People who talk about learning skills tend to discuss a model for learning called the conscious competence learning model. It starts with unconscious incompetence. You not only don't know how to do something, you don't realize that it is...
The Mortgage Loan Market Controls the Real Estate Market
One of the things I keep telling folks about the real estate market, whatever area you live in, is that it is controlled by the loan market. If you want to understand where real estate in general is headed, look...
Down Payment Assistance: Buying FHA With No Money Down Doesn't Require 100% Financing!
Somebody who's only looked at the specifications for the FHA purchase program will ask me if I'm on drugs. The answer is yes, I have taken my allergy medication today, but there really are ways to purchase a property...
The Best Way To Solve Problems in Real Estate
The same as in every other area of life: Get out in front and stop it from becoming a problem. I do not understand why many people approach real estate transactions like a casual outing. Go window shopping, decide...
Buying and Selling Properties with Unpermitted Additions
Unpermitted additions are popular in California because of property tax implications. You see, due to Proposition 13 back in 1978, taxable assessments are based upon purchase price plus no more than 2% per year since acquisition (although if you...
How to Sell Your Home Quickly and For The Best Possible Price
There's really nothing mysterious about this. There are some subsidiary tricks and issues, but the most important thing is obvious. The economic games theory is crystal clear, as is the research into what really happens. But most people don't like...
Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Loan Officers Don't Want to Compete
It's the same reason the phone company doesn't want to compete, General Motors doesn't want to compete, Wal-Mart doesn't want to compete, Disney doesn't want to compete, and Microsoft will do everything in its power to appear as if it...
The Future of Real Estate Agency: Expert Consultants, Not Market Access
Expertise and attitude, not control of an informational chokepoint, is the way that things are going. Let's analyze this from both sides of the problem. The current owner looking to sell really needs a marketer. For better or worse, most...
Bundling Agent Services: What Services Do You Want and Need?
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but lots of people will pretend there is. It seems to me that many people consider compensation earned by real estate agents as paying some kind of toll. They think of...
Greed Envy, or the Tale of Aesop's Dog
At a very young age, my parents bought me a book of Aesop's Tales. Aesop has gone out of style, probably because these are stories with a moral lesson, and it seems the modern society is actively averse to moral...
Which Makes More Difference - Buyer's Agent or Listing Agent?
Having done both, there's no question in my mind. For the average person and the average transaction, the buyer's agent makes a lot more difference. In the aggregate, a good buyer's agent has the opportunity to make a lot more...
San Diego Market Prognosis December 2007
Moderately good news for sellers, not so great for buyers. I wrote a few days ago about the federal government and lenders agreeing to freeze rates. This isn't a panacea, by any means. It may not help people who...
Move Up Transactions Don't Just Happen
One of the things I've heard and read other agents complaining about is that they can't find qualified buyers to represent. Welcome to Unintended Consequences 101. The way that the market had been working is this: Young, often unmarried, buyers...
Cheerleaders versus Analysts in Real Estate
It's not difficult to see how some of the weakest agents and loan officers I know make lots of money. They work for an office of a well advertised chain, and when they get the walk-in traffic, no matter what...
Listing: Understand Your Target Market
One of the hard things to get through to sellers is the characteristics of the sort of buyers they need in order to have a successful transaction. If a given set of prospective buyers can't afford the property, they might...
Sellers Cutting Their Own Throat In A Buyer's Market
I want to sell my home for sale by owner. Is 1.5% a good amount to co-broke? Or will agents avoid me? In most of the country, this is a buyer's market right now. You need to compete more strongly...
Real Estate: Know What Can Be Fixed and What Can't, What's Profitable and What Isn't
It's a well known fact that not all factors in real estate are equally important, and not all property investments perform equally well. A critical part of successfully choosing the right property, whether it's for investment or personal use, lies...
Failure to Disclose a Material Known Fact to a Buyer
My husband and I bought a golf course-view house in DELETED. We closed 5 days ago; moved-in 4 days ago; and 2 days ago found out that the golf course is scheduled to close. It was announced by the golf...
The Tollbooth Model of Real Estate Agency
Over the last couple of decades, there's been a rising movement, mostly on the part of those who want a piece of real estate agents business, to sell agents as a toll booth. Tollbooths sit there, guarding the entry to...
Seller's Failure to Disclose a Pending Assessment
I am about to close on a condo unit. At the last minute, we received the resale document from the management company. All units are being assessed a one time charge of $3000 due in full Nov. 1 for roof...
The Secrets to Good Transactions
Be prepared for trouble before it happens, know how strong your position is or isn't, and don't ever overplay your hand. Real estate transactions are the largest transactions most folks get involved in. Even small percentages of $500,000 or more...
Problems with Exclusive Listings
There's been a great deal of jawboning in the real estate community recently over "divorcing the commissions", changing the current practice of the seller paying the commission of the buyer's agent. Well, I've said my piece on that, why I...
Why the Real Estate Buyers Agent's Commission is Paid by the Seller
I have to admit I'm uncomfortable with it and don't like it. As a buyer's agent, here I am getting paid by someone who not only is not my client, but whose interests are aligned, in most issues, opposite to...
Low Equity (or Worse!) Relocations in a Buyer's Market
Hi, Dan! I just came across your website and you strike me as the type of guy who has answers for our situation: My husband and I built our home 2.5 years ago. We took out a second mortgage...
Will Agents List My Property if I Owe More Than It's Worth?
The answer is yes. As with everything else pertaining to real estate, there are potential upsides and downsides. First of all, lenders in short sale situations often demand agents reduce their commission, so the agents are not likely to start...
Listing Agents Claiming There Are Multiple Offers in a Buyer's Market
Once upon a time, this was a good way to get more money for your listing. This led to a classic tragedy of the commons. Because it didn't take hardly any extra time, and there was no reason not to...
There's Nothing Sacred About Range Pricing in Real Estate
A few days ago, I had an agent get angry at me about an offer below a range asking price. I had submitted the offer with extensive justification as to why it was an appropriate offer. Basically, this clown had...
Disclosure Issues and Failure to Disclose
One of the most important things for the buyer in any transaction is confidence that the seller has disclosed all known problems. One of the things most people don't realize, or act like they don't realize, is that it's at...
Changing the Contract
What is the reasonable amount of notice to give when changing contract terms in California That was a search I got. Unfortunately for this person, a real estate contract is not something like Lando Calrissian's bargain with the Empire,...
How Can You Tell If A Buyer is Qualified?
A high percentage of buyers out there have no idea of how qualified they really are themselves. They have no clue as to any of the major factors in determining credit-worthiness. To be fair, there are dozens, if not hundreds,...
Missing a Deadline to Counter
One of the best ways I have of telling how good a listing agent is is whether they get the counter to me before the offer has expired. Not that someone who gets the counter back to me quickly is...
What is Real Estate Worth?
One of the most common questions in real estate is "What is this property really worth?" The easy answer is the same as the deepest, most profound one I can come up with, "Whatever you can get someone to pay...
State of The San Diego Market June 2007
Precis: Still an excellent good time to buy and a poor time to sell. Matter of fact, don't put the property on the market if you've got a reasonable alternative. If you're looking to buy, though, you're not likely to...
Real Estate Purchase Negotiability
What's negotiable on a purchase? The short answer is everything. There may be standards and traditions in your area, the same as there are in mine. That doesn't mean they are not subject to amendment by specific negotiation. Once...
FSBO Horror and Failure to Disclose Property Defects
I keep getting search result hits for the string "fsbo horror." It's an amalgamation because I haven't done any postings on this specific subject. Both buyers and sellers have problems relating to For Sale By Owner issues. For sellers, the...
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