patrick.net

Seems a bit strange. I'd reccomend you go get a pre-approval letter from a bank - that should be enough to prove that you are a "serious buyer".

Tell 'em to take a flying leap.

Call and Ask your AGENTS How much you could sell it for, in say 2014 ?

Is this a serious question? Are you really asking if making an offer on a half million item without seeing it is a good idea? I mean you could always back out later, but why go through that headache?

If you do, like the saying goes, I gotta bridge to sell.

Is it a good idea to bid on a house without seeing it first? If it were me, I would be asking the agent WHY you can't see it first. The last thing you need is to blow half a mil ( not cheap even if this is an REO) on a house only to be shocked to discover it needs major structural repairs- aka- a bad foundation, rot, or whatnot.

So make a sight unseen bid, with a disclaimer that the offer is only as good as the the condition the house is in.

Nomograph says

Just make up some ridiculously high number for the purchase price.

How about 100 billion dollars?

Thanks guys.

It does sound a little ridiculous to make a 1/2 million bid just to see a house. The agent says that nothing will be final until the inspection report, but seriously... has anybody heard of this before?

You guys have confirmed that this is strange proposal. "Flying leap" it is.

I've heard of it before. For investors (mostly outside US), in areas of the country that have rental demand and crashed the worst (Florida, Nevada). Prices are so cheap now that investors are bidding sight unseen based on $/sf. That's OK for someone who is not going to live in it. An investor cares about ROI. They bid cash, expecting to put more into repairs than they are paying for it. They often bid much lower than asking price. If they win the bid, fine. If they are outbid, they move on to the next one.

ask him if he would let you live in it BEFORE paying?

Thanks again guys.

Just to close up the story, my agent called me up today and told me that the Seller already accepted another offer, not even 24 hours after asking us to submit a bid. It would have been a waste of our time and effort to have submitted all the information. So I guess the seller already had a bid in the works and basically wanted a backup offer (which they may have never submit). They would have never taken us seriously nor would they have shown us the house.

Speaking to a co-worker, apparently selling agents in short sales have asked for a bid before showing homes. I guess it "may" be a common thing under a short sales scenario. Who knew?

As someone stated, it's sort of irrelevant if you put in a bid or not. You can walk during the inspection period for any reason you make up, pretty much. But there's no way in hell I would go through the effort :) Screams shady.

I would get another agent. I wasted three years dicking around with Realtor turkeys, with deals that went down eerily similar to your story. Of course in hindsight, those wasted years were the best thing for me. God forebode I actually had bought a house during that time.

When RE finally got to where decent affordable places were moving, I had to dig up a relic from my past to help me out.
It was the only time I actually felt like I was dealing with a party that was actually interested in the outcome "I" was expecting.

Like listening to my expectations, of what I want, and what I wont accept.

pseudosea7 says

It does sound a little ridiculous to make a 1/2 million bid just to see a house. The agent says that nothing will be final until the inspection report, but seriously... has anybody heard of this before?

This was very typical during the housing boom. The market was so hot people were even skipping inspection clauses. This crap however is long over. Never allow yourself to get pressured on making an offer on a house. If your agent doesn't want to show you the house, get another agent.

That sounds very fishy. There is absolutely no reason why you should not see it and inspect it prior to submitting an offer. What is an agent trying to hide? Usually they like to create a false sense of urgency so that it suckers a buyer into the sale terms not favorable to the buyer. Residential real estate is a sucker game played mostly on emotions of the buyer, who forgets to treat it like any other business transaction.

There are more houses than people now. Almost everything out there is labeled as a short sale or a flip so don't rush it. Doesn't necessarily make it a good deal. Check the real estate in the area, check out the neighborhood, check out the house. You can update the house as time passes, you can't change out your neighbors.

pseudosea7 says

At this point, we are thinking that this is a scam...

This is why the bubble isnt over... and why congress is wasting too much time blaming/chasing banks as the cause of the bubble. When you have such scam, its no wonder many buyers used ARM loans to buy in to the easy gravy train.

You guys have been a great help. It's really encouraging that others feels the same way about this situation and the way that the real estate industry has become. The experience of looking for a house has been discouraging to say the least.

We'd like to think of ourselves as a typical first time home buyer... maybe a little too innocent, but the real estate agencies/banks have made us more cynical. We are NOT bottom feeders waiting to snatch up a rock bottom real estate deal. We are NOT the liar-loan buyers with 0% down. We are not unscrupulous flipper who only want to make a quick buck on another person's expense (buyer or seller's expense). We are the typical families who are expected to buy into houses and "help" bail out the housing market. After all these years, the real estate companies and banks are still up to their old tricks.

Doesn't seem like a big deal. Just write something down if you dont like the house tell your not interested.

This post is really harsh for the agent. Remember that he/she is just doing a job. The house is occupied and the tenant has no intentions to open the door to anybody and you cannot forced them to do so. Blind offers are not so blind as the purchase agreement has the option to make the offer conditional to future interior inspection. The contract can be cancelled for not reason at all. As for the money, it’s just a paper check that will never be cashed unless the offer is accepted and escrow is open. FICOs are used to estimate the probability that your loan will be approved or rejected by the lender. I see a lot of smoke but not a real fire.

Where is your buying agent in all of this? Isn't this his/her job, to handle the negotiation and show the seller you are serious? I would think your agent would stand up for you and let them know that if you weren't serious buyers he/she wouldn't be working with you, and that there is no way you can make an offer site unseen. Otherwise are you paying them for?

It's probably not a scam, just really stupid sellers.

It's common for sellers to demand that "only qualified buyers" set foot in their house. This presents a problem for the listing agent because they either have to convince the sellers to chill out and be more trusting, OR, they end up demanding ridiculous stuff like this.

I betcha it's not the listing agent behind this because he wants to get paid too.