PODCAST 022 - MAKING A GOOD OFFER.mp3 (transcribed by Sonix)

It's time for The Savvy Realtor podcast. I'm Walter Storholt alongside Angie Cole the owner and broker in charge of A Cole Realty serving you throughout the Triangle teaching you about the ins and outs when it comes to buying or selling a home. You can find the team online by going to a Cole realty dot com that's a o l realty dot com or by calling 9 1 9 5 7 8 3 1 2 8 that's 9 1 9 5 7 8 3 1 2 8. And now it's time for one of the top realtors in the Triangle. Angie

Cole and The Savvy Realtor podcast. Angie you want to talk about making a good offer obviously maybe this is like obvious statement of the century but it's a crucial part of the planning process is making a good offer but it might be a little bit more complex than you think it's you know you wanna go to low and maybe offend the seller or not even get a response from them. But you also want to overpay for your home can be a big matter of debate trying to find that middle point. So let's talk about some of the factors you should consider when you're making an offer on a home and then on next week's program we'll kind of flip the question around and we're gonna talk about from the seller's perspective how to evaluate those offers that you might be getting on your home. Because in many cases you're getting multiple offers in today's market so it's important to evaluate each one that comes in. But let's approach it from the buyer's side today and this one's kind of funny Angie but there is a little bit of personality that's entered into an offer. Yeah sounds weird to you think of it as just a dollar figure on a math problem is kind of how we approach it. Yeah but you want to kind of be likable. Yeah. For how does that happen.

Yeah. You know the one thing that we always love to share with our clients are buyers is to write a letter worked for us yet write a letter and it sure is your has right. One of my buyer specialist on. They were just mentioning how they were about to make an offer on a home that is now a vacant home. Unfortunately the owner who has been there forever had to go into assisted living. Okay. And so of course as the buyer you know what write a letter to that seller and I want you to be honest and truthful about it. But I mean pulling out the heartstrings is a tad bit helps right too with a person like that you know at that home. They love that home. They've lived in there for so many years. You know that home to them is just so important so many memories so you know I talk about how you're going to take care of that home how you can't wait to create more memories. You know you want to make sure that you are likable and the seller is excited about you moving into the home. So to me that's what likable means. Of course you know I know we'll get deeper into this you know but we never want to butt heads and all that good stuff. But I think the big thing to me would be be likable and really express it in a letter to the seller when you get to make an offer.

It's a little thing but it goes a long Oh yeah. I told the story on the show before but in case you haven't heard it I'll tell you the short version of it. And we were so busy and it's hard you're so busy you're looking at homes you've got other things going in your life. It's sometimes can be really hard to take that couple of minutes to sit down and write write them a letter for your offer. Right. Because we've spent so much time talking about what to offer how to structure it. I think it was like I don't know 10:00 or 11 o'clock at night when we finally Vicki was talking to us about it. We finally decided all right this is what we're gonna do. She's like well if you can get me the letter I can submit it with the offer in the morning. And so I'm like I'm so tired it's 11:00. Let us say we want to do is go and on and try and put some thought into this my brain is wiped out. But you know I took 15 minutes and just wrote exactly we're talking about heartfelt letter right but very truthful. Yep. I didn't try to go too crazy on it and it's all it took. And that made the difference of getting our dream home. Yeah. We beat out a better offer because we made that emotional connection with the seller and it worked in our situation won't work in every situation. But a 15 minute investment helped us get our dream home. Mm hmm. Pretty awesome.

I had the same situation with a home in Durham and they had multiple offers. And you know they had one that read this heartfelt letter to them you know hey we actually are your rent here in the neighborhood you know we would love to stay in this neighborhood because our kids love it. They have friends dad and that and you know my sellers on the wife Amelie she was like we got to choose these people got to choose people and I was like All right let's let's take it back. Now the other offers way way stronger you know they actually end up going with a stronger offer. My my advice but you know what. I guess I was meant to be because that buyer ended up terminating and then these people came back and of course my seller especially the wife was so excited that this person that wrote the letter to them has now come back to them and now they've closed on the home and they lived there but that goes to show you you know and I think it was several thousand dollars I can't remember exactly to back in my head but several thousand dollars that you know this offer with a letter was less versus the person that didn't have the offer but the wife was all about moving forward and losing money you know because of this letter.

So you know be heartfelt be likable and we turned around and sold our home had multiple offers. Yeah. And one of the ones they didn't write a letter but there were a few things that the agent threw in there that made you feel like these folks really want to be from an emotional standpoint. Yeah. And if they'd read the letter there's no telling right we might have chosen him out of the White House that we're a little closer and it wasn't a enormous financial difference between the two offers that came through. So it might've been a little easier decision to take a small hit. Sure. I mean it could definitely work but they did yeah.

And so it wasn't enough to get a contract to close process too. Yeah. You know what is it going to look like in the future. You know just the negotiations and the initial offer is just one step of the whole process. You know that's just the beginning. So working with someone who's likable that's very important that it's gonna be a win win. You know these people aren't going to just be difficult. You know the rest of the way you know. So yeah be likable.

Yeah absolutely. The other obvious advice is when it does come to the dollars you want to be careful of the like let's just throw out a lowball offer and see what happens.

Yeah for sure. It's less common these days right. Since it's such a seller's market.

Yeah I mean here there we still see you'll you'll be surprised you'll be surprised we have a home that will go on the market for only a day and you'll get a lowball offer. I like guys like you just wasting everyone's time. But you know the biggest reason why we say be careful about just kind of playing the market and throw an adult lowball offer even though you'd go way way higher is you can insult the seller. So this seller remember they have options. They can accept. They can counter your response or they can just decline you know and just say you know what. No we're not even going to give you a counter. And I see that happen a lot. I've also seen where sellers can just get irritated and it almost just like pisses them off to be honest with you and instead of they won't just decline your offer they'll counter back and they'll counter back at full price you know. And so it's you've lost all your negotiation power when you start off that low and by insulting the seller. So you know if you have reason to go in low because the comparables justify it. Well you know what. You or your agent should be doing this for you is share those comparables justify why you're making this lowball offer and put it in a nice way. Hey this is not meant to be an insult. You know the reason why we're coming here in at this price point is because of these comparables you know let's work this out but just throw in a lowball number out there. Don't do it don't do it because you potentially might lose that home that you want.

This might sound really funny but you'd be surprised. I think is what you're going to say here Angie is be ready for the yes. Be ready for them to accept your offer. Yeah. And it sounds really funny but you have people that submit offers that weren't actually emotionally ready for it. You've seen that.

Yeah. Oh yeah. Because remember if they say yes and they don't even have to let you know as the buyer that they're saying yes right. They can just sign because you're already signing signed cards. I was going to say yes. The process is typically not always they could they could reverse it on us. But typically is the buyers that initiate an offer so you sign as the buyer you send it over to the seller or to their agent. If the seller signs that and then it is sent back to you or sent back to your agent that's representing you as being the buyer. You now have an executed contract. You are officially under contract now can you back out. Sure you can but you would lose money. Right now depending on you as soon as you start that process. So you know be ready and be all in. You know and if there's any concerns you know ask those questions upfront read through the contract paperwork you know the time to do that is not after you've already submitted the offer ever because once again they can sign it and you are under contract.

Make sure it's truly the house you want. Yeah I'm sure. I know it seems bizarre but I was there when we bought our first home. I was one of these people we put in an offer and I definitely wasn't ready to say yes. But I don't know why we just did it and luckily we got to do a multiple offer situation and we didn't you know bid high enough to then get.

You were like OK I was meant to be but thank goodness I mean am I right. Thank goodness.

I mean I think we would've ended up fine in that home but we definitely were like after where we like who we dodged a bullet there.

And then what said about like this is crazy was put it off ha ha.

But you do a weird emotional thing and you know I now it's all I mean especially with them crazy market and the limited inventory you can feel that extra pressure that hey you know if I find something that I like. Ninety five percent of it. I need a jump on it. But you know what. You're right. You know make sure that you are ready for a yes. Should you submit an offer. So I know we're talking about a lot of great ideas and just suggestions when making an offer for buyers but of course is very important for buyers to also understand the process as far as making an offer.

You know contract to close all the terminology just to make sure that they truly understand what's happening from start to finish so we will love to share with you a copy of our contract guide Laura Home Buying Guide. And this is just the steps from start to finish as far as you know what it all takes. As far as purchasing a home it's great for sellers too. So if you would like to receive a copy of our home buying guide you can text on your smartphone. You can text the word contract to the phone number 5 5 5 8 8 8. So once again to get a copy of our home buying guide which goes through the steps from start to finish when it comes to purchasing a home. Just text the word contract to the phone number by 5 5 8 8 8.

Again that's all you have to do to get Angie calls and echo Realty is home buying guide. Great starting point for anyone looking to buy and even sell a home here in the near future. Just text the word contract to 5 5 5 8 8 8. That's 5 5 5 8 8 8. Put the word contract into the message and send it over will text you right back with a link to download that buying guide.

If you would like to get the buying guide by calling in you can certainly do that as well. Angie's direct number is 9 1 9 5 3 8 64 77. Just tell her you'd like to get that buying guide and she can e-mail it to you if you don't have texting ability on your phone or something like that. 9 1 9 5 3 64 77 seven is that number. We're coming up on today's edition of The Savvy real tour with Andy Scholes there at

Let's shine a little light on some of the Triangle's best areas right here on the neighborhood spotlight.

I love the neighborhood spotlight. Each week here on the savvy real tour Walter saw Holt alongside Angie Cole. It's because we get to learn about new nooks and crannies of the triangle and Angie where are you taking us this week.

Yeah so I thought I would take you guys over to a pax so the neighborhood spotlight is cold then park that c o l VII and Cole then park and this is right off of 10 10 road you take 10 10 to Smith road and then to Stevenson road. So beautiful beautiful neighborhood. It is a brand new built neighborhood built by Taylor Mawson is the builder. These are single family detached homes. Some of these homes also have a full finished basement. They range around twenty three hundred forty seven hundred square feet. They started building in 2014 and the right on the tail end of completion. There are currently two active homes left in this neighborhood that are brand new built homes. There's also one active resale home as well. This neighborhood has wonderful amenities so they have a 15 acre lake. They have a junior size Olympic pool a clubhouse a tot lot and walking trails. And once again it's the newness which counts right. It is just a gorgeous built neighborhood along with the homes. You know they have all of the wonderful upgrades and features that are put into these homes that make them just absolutely beautiful. So if you would like to get more information on Corbin park feel free to give me a shout. You can call or text me directly. My number is 9 1 9 5 3 8 6 4 7 7. Once again is 9 1 9 5 3 8 6 4 7 7 and the homes in Corbin park they range around 350 up to about 560. As far as the price range. So once again if you would like more information on our neighborhood spotlight located at Calvin Park you can give me a call at 9 1 9 5 3 8 6 4 7 7.

Pretty cool neighborhood a great location really not far at all from us one. And you know access to other locations around the triangle and you got a Publix for publix fans. Oh yeah. Right nearby. That's definitely convenient shopping in nearby as well. That's the neighborhood spotlight this week again it's Calvin Park in Apex cool location.

You want more information about that. About buying or selling homes. You can always call Andrew directly so that 9 1 9 area code and then 5 3 8 64 77 or look us up online a call realty dot com. Listen to past episodes of the program learn more and search for homes there on the Web site as well. Equal realty dot com.

We're coming up on today's show. This is the savvy real time at the Enrico

It's time for the mailbag. We want to hear from you

Nico has our first question of the week. Nico is in Raleigh at our old neighborhood in Durham.

There used to be the same kid that lived around the corner that would always run into us when we were walking our dogs and his name was Nico Miguel and cute little like you know just a little and I mean this in a cute way like no chubby kid. Yes real cute and pants always fallen down off of her knees trying to run around hold his pants up. He'd always come say hi and wave at the dogs and ride his bike around the neighborhood so shout out to Nico Nico. This one's in Raleigh so probably a different Nico. He says we were gonna wait until next year. In fact until later next year to sell our home. But I saw a story recently that predicts a huge jump in interest rates soon and I'm scared trying to read the tea leaves here that it'll dry up the pool of buyers. Should I just go ahead and now even though it's not really that convenient for our situation.

Nigga you are definitely right and there is talk and we are positive already. Interest rates have started to you know increase and they will continue to fail. Definitely not going to shoot up. I don't foresee that happening. You know of course that's just something that I of course cannot predict. But you know they very quickly into 2019. I do think that we can expect over 5 percent. And I know that that scares buyers. You know for some reason that 5 number is scary for people even though several years ago I mean they were way higher than that. But for some reason going over that mark it freaks buyers out. Now do I think that they will just stop buying because interest rates go up. I don't know. Buyers are in the market for all different reasons and just because of a change in inventory levels or interest rates that's not going to stop people from buying you know may people have to buy you now or have to sell same idea. So I wouldn't let it freak you out so much sadness. You must put your home on the market now but it is something to think about because I would can only seem there's going to be more buyers in the market when interest rates are lower versus as they continue to creep up the pool of buyers will be smaller so it's never too early to start that process as far as getting your home in the market.

Yeah great question Nico. Thanks for sending that went in. Always tough trying to read the tea leaves the future it's never an easy thing to do so maybe the question comes down to how inconvenient is it for you to sell it and your future right.

Not so much. It's inconvenient but just how much would it really be. You've been listening to the savvy real tour podcast. I'm Walter store Holt alongside Angie Cole. She's the owner and broker in charge of eco realty here in the Triangle and if you have questions for Angie we invite you to go online to a cold Realty dot com. Listen to past podcast episodes on the Web site read the blog and all the great information including the option to find a home right there on the website. That's a call realty dot com and you can also call ante with your questions. 9 1 9 5 7 8 31 28.

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