patrick.net

I can only speak for myself. I have all cash in this range due to selling my RE in 2006 for a tax free massive gain.

Probably lots of buyers now sold during the peak and are now getting back in. Every single indicator you can name was screaming 'bubble! bubble! bubble!' for about 4 years. It was a HUGE window to sell (unlike stock market windows which are tiny and brief in comparison).

You weren't out bid. All the times I was outbid, when I house hunting, every single one I was outbid on, was never taken off the market. After I told the realtor, thanks but no thanks.

You should make time sensitive offers, I always offered asking price, if it was a house I was interested in and was in intentionally limited budget. How ever I never offered no more than the accessed value. And made it known I wont counter offer from the get go.

It saved me a lot of heart ache and at least 75K as the comparable started dropped that much while they were playing that multiple offer crap with me.

One of the first houses I bid, was just around corner from the house I bought. It was still unsold when I bought two years later. It finally sold last year, for 60K less than I bid on it.

I agree with TPB, I don't let stuff like this waver my sitting spirit. I keep monitoring it on Redfin and half of the time it is back on market or sold lower then what you were told about the all cash offer. What matters is when and what price did it sell for.

TPB says

You weren't out bid. All the times I was outbid, when I house hunting, every single one I was outbid on, was never taken off the market. After I told the realtor, thanks but no thanks.

Bingo! You have no way of knowing that the realtors are not lying under the current system.

Realtors have a huge motive to lie to get your money.
They have nearly no risk of being caught.
And even if they are caught, they can lie again and claim the previous all-cash buyer fell through or whatever.
And even if they're caught and can't get out of it, there is no punishment.

Therefore, they will lie.

They are either nigerian prince and princess or rich Chinese government officers.

1: Trusts. 2: Military Contractors. 3: Black Market Dealers. 4: Inheritance.

Last time I tried calling their bluff i ended up losing the house.

toothfairy says

losing the house.

HGTV speak.

xenogear3 says

They are either nigerian prince and princess or rich Chinese government officers.

I am waiting for some one to tell,they are Apple guys. :)

Most Apple guys don't live in Bay Area.

Also we are educated to diversify, and never buy own company's stock.

I know of at least four and am related to one military contractor. These fellows made 400K a year in Iraq. That will buy a lot of rentals!

toothfairy says

Last time I tried calling their bluff i ended up losing the house.

No, you ended up saving the money.

And are you really sure it sold, and what it sold for? How are you sure?

Its pretty easy to know if it sold for cash. The status changes to pending instead of pending wo release. Then it changes to sold. This one sold for full price. There were 3 other people at the house the day it was listed.

Realtors may be bluffing in some cases but some realtors wont even give you the time of day if you require financing and will hold out for the all cash offer

Especially with new listings that are priced well.

Somewhere along these lines... I just looked at a place and the listing agent stated that they already have multiple offers above the list price. Is this (especially disclosing the prices of the other offers part) legal?

If I was at an auction I would understand, but I thought buying a house was more confidential than that.

Thanks for any insight.

toothfairy says

Its pretty easy to know if it sold for cash. The status changes to pending instead of pending wo release.

You mean the MLS? That's a set of private databases controlled by realtors, with no government oversight whatsoever.

Lots of funny things happen in the MLS if the realtors think it will get more money out of you. Not good to base a huge financial decision on its supposed honesty.

The only way I think you really know if a house sold for cash is to go to the county and see the liens on the property. If there are no liens, then there is no mortgage, and it sold for cash.

But trusting the honesty of the realtors' database? Not for me thanks.

toothfairy says

Realtors may be bluffing in some cases but some realtors wont even give you the time of day if you require financing and will hold out for the all cash offer

That is dumb. Their cut is not any more juicy than it would be with financing.

dasai says

Somewhere along these lines... I just looked at a place and the listing agent stated that they already have multiple offers above the list price. Is this (especially disclosing the prices of the other offers part) legal?

If I was at an auction I would understand, but I thought buying a house was more confidential than that.

Thanks for any insight.

Why would you believe the realtor?

They have no motive to tell the truth. Their only motive is to get as much money out of you as quickly as possible.

Just say to yourself:

1. If there are other offers, the realtor is unethical in telling me about them.
2. If there are not other offers, the realtor is unethical in lying to me about them.

Then you will approach enlightenment about realtors.

PockyClipsNow says

Probably lots of buyers now sold during the peak and are now getting back in.

The object of a bubble is to suck as many people in as possible. Even if you were lucky and sold in 2006, the bubble will get you later, one way or another.

JodyChunder says

toothfairy says

Realtors may be bluffing in some cases but some realtors wont even give you the time of day if you require financing and will hold out for the all cash offer

That is dumb. Their cut is not any more juicy than it would be with financing.

Ya but they would rather not let some pesky appraiser or mortgage company get in the way of them getting paid.

toothfairy says

Ya but they would rather not let some pesky appraiser or mortgage company get in the way of them getting paid.

Could always bribe them to see things your way. This could consist of anything from a couple twenty dollar bills to fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Foreigners with cash bought them. It's slightly ironic :)

Why don't you post the addresses of these places so we can all see in about a month if these houses are actually being sold or if the agents are lying to you?

toothfairy says

Realtors may be bluffing in some cases but some realtors wont even give you the time of day if you require financing and will hold out for the all cash offer

Especially with new listings that are priced well.

And you'll have that too. Though "Priced well" is subjective. Nor does it mean they always get the cash offer.

Realtors have a huge motive to lie to get your money.

Really? They make money when the house sells. Is the risk of losing a sale worth trying to get another few hundred bucks of commission?

Maybe you're right, but I don't see a huge motive there.

tiny tina says

Why don't you post the addresses of these places so we can all see in about a month if these houses are actually being sold or if the agents are lying to you?

Yes! Please give exact addresses.

tatupu70 says

Maybe you're right, but I don't see a huge motive there.

The motive is, the Realtor does not want to sell the house to a cheap low balling pigeon plucker. 250K median makes a lot more commission, than 150K median price. In the good ole days, a realtor only needed to sell a few a month to make good money. So it's not a numbers game where they are interested in working quantity. They want large commissions for adorning their Korean Luxury car in the drive way of the houses they are showing.

Obviously there aren't a conga line of buyers lined up out the door, or the house would be off the market, wouldn't it? The realtors hope to play on the psychology of the 2003 buyer. Buy now or be priced out for ever. Sales people are like old dogs with tricks. They stick with what has worked in the past. Not with the reality of the day.

TPB says

The motive is, the Realtor does not want to sell the house to a cheap low balling pigeon plucker

That's not what we're talking about here though. The poster is offering reasonable bids, afaict.

tatupu70 says

That's not what we're talking about here though. The poster is offering reasonable bids, afaict.

Define reasonable, I did see a 600K listing for a 1100sqft house the other day, over there in Lala land.

We are talking about houses in range of $500-$650k.

The OP just said the house was in the range of 500K-650K there are no other facts given. Nor did the OP disclose what they offered.

I see many houses pending in the Danville/Alamo area.. Especially if they are under $700k. More money than sense out there...

It is getting very common in bay area to have cash offers. Realtors now got facebook IPO as a reason to attract/intimidate buyers. Buy now or you will end up paying more once facebook go live.

Any and everyone who sold into the crazy 2000-2007 run up. For all the people that are now underwater on their mortgage, they have the lucky folks that sold them magic beans for a cool million to thank.

leo9 says

It is getting very common in bay area to have cash offers. Realtors now got facebook IPO as a reason to attract/intimidate buyers. Buy now or you will end up paying more once facebook go live.

Pull up the charts for Netflix, Groupon, FusionIO, Zygna, etc. etc. There is no guarantee that Facebook will fair any different. You think we would have learned our lesson from the dot com days. It seems this country is still drinking the "get rich quick" lemonade. Sad for the people who get caught up in the hype and end up passing on their savings to the insiders who are selling. You will hear about retired people in Florida all over Facebook because they use it to see pictures and videos of their grandchildren. They think they understand the money model, but all they know is that the tool is useful for socializing. Sad...