My Real Estate Friends Again....

[StevieD]

I posted a while back about having cold feet purchasing a house. Perhaps, the term "cold feet" was misinterpreted by some to mean I just wanted out of the deal. The problem was then and is now the comps.

We are scheduled to close on Monday. At 2:30 yesterday afternoon I got a call from my buyers agent. He said there is a problem with the comps. They can't find any that justify the price of the house. He told me all my options and explained that most likely the seller will back down. Unless they find a comp that satisfies the bank.

He told me they have one they think will comp out at the price agreed to months ago. It is in another town about 10 to 15 miles away.

My questions are many. I tried to call my personal lawyer but he is out of town. My real estate lawyer I don't trust because all those guys work together all the time. My question is number one, is this legit. Can they do that and go to another town to find a comp. We are talking about a densely populated area of the world here. One of the Boston suburbs.

My other question is that I was told on June 23rd that they had comps. That is what triggered my first post here because they said at that time they needed another comp. Now they are throwing the first three they gave me out and going with this one comp in another town.

Plus at this late date they can't tell me what the house comped out at because the bank has not approved it.

Do I have any leg to stand on because it seems to me they are lobbying awful hard to get this house up to the price.

 

[lowell]

first of all i would fire the realtor. i have been selling homes for 21 years and this buyer agent stuff is often crap. he should have shown you comps before you made an offer. you are paying for the appraissal and i would raise cain with the bank if they will not share it with you. i would insist they give you a copy. if your offer was contigent upon it appraissing and it came in 15k low then i would expect seller to renegotiate. if you don't want the house there are ways to get out of it but if you had a good realtor these things would not be coming up this late in the game. i have had people go and buy a car just to mess up their ratios to have an out. last week i had someone who found out a sex offender lived across the street and we got out of deal. as you know, if you do not close the realtors and the bank do not earn their fee. good luck.

 

[ferdville]

I don't know if you have the options where you live, but in California we can access a data base that lists addresses of all registered sex offenders according to the severity of their crimes. I hope you don't have to resort to such things to get out, but if they try to stick it to you that is one possible way out. Lowell is right however, the realtor is really at fault and it never should have come to this.

 

[StevieD]

Thanks Lowell. Once again if everything is on the up and up I don't mind going thru wh the purchase. I just don't think it is right that at this late date they come with problems that I knew was a problem a month ago but they assured me everything was all set.

 

[lowell]

you have nothing to lose if the appraissal is low in trying to negotiate a lower price on home. worse case try to get them to meet you half way.

 

[lowell]

I don't know if you have the options where you live, but in California we can access a data base that lists addresses of all registered sex offenders according to the severity of their crimes. I hope you don't have to resort to such things to get out, but if they try to stick it to you that is one possible way out. Lowell is right however, the realtor is really at fault and it never should have come to this.

did find the guy on the intenet. checked with the real estate commission and we do not havew to disclose this info but i would just because it seems the right thing to do

 

[LUX]

Something just isn't right and I'd hate to see you get upside down in this property. CYA!!

Here is an article from the PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., which provides mortgage insurance that protects lenders against potential losses in the event of borrower default.

article

AND I just pulled this article from the Kiplinger News Letter regarding the real estate bubble in the northeast.

Kiplinger?s Personal Finance list:

?Soaring prices and the emergence of a generation of wet-behind-the-ears real estate investors stoke fears that the boom is turning into a bubble that will burst,? says the report, released this afternoon. ?Another reason for concern: the growing number of houses bought as investments: nearly one-fourth of purchases over the past year were investments, and they?re concentrated in a few markets.?

Here?s the list, with the probability of a decline in prices over the next two years rated as a percentage:

1. Boston, 53 percent (the area has lost 200,000 jobs since 2000 and home prices remain high);

2. Los Angeles, 40 percent;

3. San Francisco, 40 percent;

4. Sacramento, Calif., 40 percent;

5. Providence, R.I., 39 percent (no population or job growth);

6. Detroit, 38 percent (auto sales are awful);

7. New York City, 31 percent;

8. Minneapolis-St. Paul, 25 percent;

9. Fort Lauderdale, 23 percent;

10. Denver, 21 percent;

11. Washington, D.C., 19 percent;

12. Miami, 18 percent;

13. Tampa-St. Petersburg, 14 percent.

 

[Mjolnir]

never heard of going to a neighboring city to find the comp's. realtors are supposed to do this before hand. i always check comps before offers are made. and anyway isn't this also a finance problem most of all? if you cant find real comps that you can use, out here in cal the buyer would have to make up the difference.
i believe it all comes down to financing.
i can try to look up some stuff for you monday with some help at work. i know there are more seasoned realtors and loan officers on madjacks. maybe they can help you. i am more familiar with california.
what is it you would like to do at this point?
good luck.

 

[StevieD]

mjolnir, I would like to pay what the house is worth or let the seller keep it.Since June 23 they have been telling me everything is all set. Then a couple of hours before the weekend they say there is a problem with the comps. That the house doesn't meet the amount of the loan. So I would like the Seller to come down or to forget it. But with so little time left they told me they got a comp from a neighboring town that they submitted but the bank has not approved it yet. The closing is Monday and they still don't have a comp.
I don't know idf they approached the seller and he told them no deal, so they are tryingthing they can to get the price up.

I know monday morning I will be calling a lawyer I just want to know if what they are doing is legit. They claim it is common.

 

[cavy1]

What town is it in?

 

[Mjolnir]

out here i dont see a bank accepting a comp from another town. it doesnt make sense. how much have you put down for your deposits. i'm curious how much out of pocket you are right now. you dont need to tell me, i'm curious if it makes sense to walk away from what you've put in so far. the seller is motivated to sell it, your realtor should be working hard for you, it is his fiduciary responsibility to represent you to the best of their ability. if the asking price is too high and you are not willing to make up the difference, you could possibly lose what you have invested so far. the residential purchase agreement you signed is obviously the contract. see if maybe the contract is incorrect somewhere. maybe there are parts that arent signed wheree they should be.

 

[skulldog]

SteveD, lowell was right about getting a copy of the appraisal, they have to give it to you if you request it in writing, but if the underwriter accepts the comps, you have little say.

In real estate transaction we ,as rE brokers are told quite often that everything is all set, when in fact it's not or when you get a call on the morning of a the closing saying the package didn't show u

IMO, you don't need that big of excuse to get out of the trasaction, the seller would have to show the judge that they suffered a loss, which is very hard to do. You don't need to run your credit cars up etc to get out of the deal.

Again if the bank accepts the appraisal you have no say, unless it's a local bank or a credit union, so if you want to buy the house at the agreed upon price, then go forward, if you want to get a lower price, then hope the bank doesn't accept the comps.

Your buyer agent shpuld have put into the agreement that the houses appraises for the sales price and went over the comps with you before the offer was given to the other agent.

GL

 

[Franky Wright]

StevieD,
Been away from MJ's a bit. Just saw this. If you remember what I told you before, well were to far past that. Why dont you call the seller and ask him whats up?
Franky

 

[StevieD]

The question now is how, or is it possible, to challange a comp?The deal was based on the house comping out at an equal to or higher value. We were suppose to close today but we did not. I went by the house and at 5:00 PM they were still moving out. It wasn't until about 12:30 I got word that the house comped out at exactly the value. But to do it they had to get a comp from a house in another town, a bigger house with one more room and another bathroom.
So they told me at 12:30 they had the comp but didn't know anything about the closing. I knew we were not closing because the seller was still moving out.
Does any one know how to challange a comp? So far everyone from my lawyer to the lender tells me that the underwriter accepted it.
Of course they tell me all this at the very end of the process when we should be closing so I don't have any time to act. I still do not have a closing time. They tell me they hope sometime tomorrow morning but I dont have any commitments yet.

 

[SixFive]

sounds like the seller must be a Republican! Maybe the agent as well. Those crooked buzzards are all around!

 

[ripken8]

I hear that...

 

[StevieD]

I am glad you find it funny that I am having a problem Sixfive. I don't let the politics get in the way of friendships or whatever. I guess someone like you doesn't care if someone gets screwed if that person doesn't subscribe to your political beliefs. And thanks for the concern. Sorry to disappoint you but I will get through this. I can take a hit and still survive. I just want to be able to fight back. You know, like you feel when a poor person steals a loaf of bread. You just wanna get even don't ya.

 

[SixFive]

I am glad you find it funny that I am having a problem Sixfive. I don't let the politics get in the way of friendships or whatever. I guess someone like you doesn't care if someone gets screwed if that person doesn't subscribe to your political beliefs. And thanks for the concern. Sorry to disappoint you but I will get through this. I can take a hit and still survive. I just want to be able to fight back. You know, like you feel when a poor person steals a loaf of bread. You just wanna get even don't ya.

i apologize for the comment. I see now that it came off as inconsiderate and mean. I like you as a poster, and I'm sorry for your plight. I was trying to add levity, but I failed. Sorry, and hope it works out.

 

[ripken8]

me too. I just got caught up in a little SixFive humor. sorry and good luck...

 

[skulldog]

Stev, welcome to the world of buying a home. This shit happens all the time and 90% of all contracts are geared toward the Seller. But keep this in mind, the closing date and time has to be mutually agreeable.

GL