Is something up that I'm missing?

[rayinpenn]

Ok so our investment condo has been on Zillow for two weeks (For Sale by Owner) and traffic has been a little slow. (But a the few that came have been interested) I get a call Monday from a guy named Eric asking me to show the place on Tuesday. Eric shows up and he's about 30 clean cut, polite and very business like. He takes pictures, has a little notebook that he writes notes in and seems very familiar with the condos layout ''I've seen many" ... I ask "are you an investor?" He says "we do lots of things?". After we have a little chat - I ask him how he likes the Prius, and chat a bout hybrids etc. he mentions his dad's got a tesla. He says I'll give you a call in a few days and "see if I can get you an offer". I drive away and I see he's is writing in his little pad.

Yesterday, as I'm driving home from work I get a call from him he says I'd like to meet and present you with an offer. I tell him that i don't want to waste his time and I believe the condo is fairly priced and I'm not looking to come down. He still wants to meet so I say sure I tell him I've got someone coming at at around 5:10
(a realtor wants to see it before he brings any clients)... Eric says I can come earlier...

Call me suspicious but it all seems a bit off.. Anyone have any ideas?


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[Dawg52]

Perhaps he's one that just like's to do business eye ball to eye ball. Doesn't hurt to listen.

 

[jfn111]

I'm sure he wants to make you an offer of what he thinks is a fair price. You just want to make sure that he's actually making you an offer with a nice earnest money payment and not a wholesaler trying to get an assignable contract from you.

 

[braumeister]

He's a flipper. He'll offer you a low price with quick closing. Ignore him, as it means your place is already priced to sell.

 

[rodi]

My husband has been in process of selling his mom's house. (She moved to memory care more than a year ago.) Because it was priced to move - several flippers showed up - many offering ridiculous low-ball offers. Instead it came down to a bidding war between 2 investors - both plan on using it as a rental. The buyer that won gave DH a clean offer, $2k above list price, no givebacks, etc.

Don't get me started on the ridiculous give back thing - buyers wanting the seller to pay their downpayment and all closing costs.... Totally stupid.

It never hurts to listen to an offer. You don't have to accept the offer.

 

[Sunset]

Don't sign anything, any real offer will give you 24 hrs to have your lawyer review it.

This guy sounds like he was pretty cagey, most folks who wanted to buy something would have asked questions about living there.

 

[RobbieB]

It sounds like the non-stop robo calls I get here along the lines of "we have international buyers that want to buy your house for cash now" sort of thing.

 

[W2R]

Call me suspicious but it all seems a bit off.. Anyone have any ideas?

Honestly, I have no idea.

I rely on my real estate agent for many services, one of which is to meet prospective buyers, obtain their offers, present them to me in a rational way, and keep them from taking advantage of me and possibly even wasting my time with face to face interactions like that.

Since you chose not have a seller's agent, I am thinking then you must already know how to deal with this sort of thing. At any rate, I'm sure you will be better at it than I would be.

 

[jazz4cash]

I think this is perfectly normal these days. I would be reluctant to accept a response of "we do lots of things" (e.g. let them know it is not helping their effort). I went to a flipper's seminar a few weeks ago and it really opened my eyes wrt some of the tactics that are out there. Let us know what happens!

 

[FiveDriver]

Ok so our investment condo has been on Zillow for two weeks (For Sale by Owner) and traffic has been a little slow.

The thing with Condos -- they are really cookie-cutters. Once you've seen a 2-bed/2-bath layout......they're all pretty much the same and the Price Point is a narrow range. The Kitchen is the most important room, and any improvements there will put you at the high end of the value range, but there's not much else to distinguish between units. A view, maybe.

Have you Priced your Unit in line with the recent similar Sales in your complex ??

Is this prospective buyer talking about a Cash Sale ?? No Mortgage ?? Once you get a Lender involved, there's that pesky little thing called "The Appraisal" get thru. Sometimes a Cash Offer is the best Offer you'll get. Every month you have carrying charges to pay on this Unit. The Selling Season is all but over now.....very few serious Buyers over the Holiday Months.

Also, I'm not sure Zillow is the best place to sell a Condo these days. You're really going to attract the Bottom Feeders on Zillow. You might be better off getting a Realtor to list it in their MLS to get wider exposure.

 

[ivinsfan]

Yes, I 'd say what you are missing is that when you floated the FSBO idea, more then a few posters said you are going to have to deal with the hassle alone and suggested you were a little too gangbusters about how "special" your property was.

Now you see what they were talking about. If you don't know how to deal with these things now, I'm guessing you plan on being a quick learner. And I'm curious why you are worried about wasting the buyer's time, why do you care if he wants to waste his time?

 

[Aerides]

The "I'll see if I can get you an offer" thing is annoying. No, dude, I'm selling at this price, FSBO, take it or leave it. He may well be wasting YOUR time, so treat it that way until he starts talking like a real buyer.

 

[RetireAge50]

Maybe he is a realtor. I don't see any problem. If the offer is not acceptable just decline and move on.

 

[brewer12345]

Your investor/Kiyosaki-wannabe will likely lowball you. Since this is more than likely a waste of your time, I would tell him that I will meet him at the condo at 4:30 to receive his offer, but he needs to be gone by 5 since you have someone coming. Expect this to be a lowball offer, but you might as well hear it since you are going to be at the condo anyway.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

What some sellers in our area do is just say we are reviewing offers on X date. If you want to make a bid please have a written offer in place by then and we will compare it to the others received.

 

[COcheesehead]

One of the good reasons for hiring an agent. To keep us away from ourselves and over thinking situations.

 

[Shanky]

Two weeks with no offers probably means you are not aggressively priced. If you are not dropping the price, be patient and someone may want your condo at your price. Or not.

All written offers are data points you don't have now. For the moment all you have your own opinion on value so the will help.


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[rayinpenn]

Sale leaseback I told him I'm not interested...


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[FiveDriver]

You should really get this Unit in the MLS to get the widest possible exposure. By mid-November most of the Market Segments start winding down with no real uptick til after the Super Bowl. You can negotiate the Realtor's Commish, 5% is just a starting point. Remember that the Realtor has to split the Commish with their Broker and with the Agent /Broker on the Buy Side. After their expenses and withholding.....they're probably working for 1% of the Sale Price.

Is this Unit a 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom ?? Is it in a College Town or other good Rental situation ?? How much are the Condo Association Fees ?? Amenities ??

 

[jazz4cash]

Sale leaseback I told him I'm not interested...


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Could you provide additional details of the offer (and how exactly this person thinks this would benefit you in any way)? I can only think of sale leaseback in terms of a homeowner that is at risk of losing the property.


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