THIS ISSUE: Go For The Backup! / Forgetful Realtors / Death Trap ARCHIVES: www.privatelist.com/newsletter.htm We got an offer! We got a SALE!! Congratulations! But what about those conditions: “subject to financing, subject to satisfactory house inspection . . .”? In the excitement of concluding successful negotiations with your purchasers, it’s easy to forget that until all conditions are formally removed from an offer to purchase, the deal might still fall through. So celebrate your pending sale - then put it on the shelf and go full-tilt for the insurance policy: a backup offer! Keep your lawn sign and highlight sheets up and run some more classified ads (particularly if they’re free)! If subsequent prospects show an interest in the property, advise them that you have a pending deal on it, tell them the first offer’s condition deadlines, and assure them that you will be happy to consider a second offer, to take effect should the first one fall through. Your new prospects will be more responsive, of course, the nearer the deadlines on the first offer, since they won’t want to wait too long to find out if their offer will take effect. (Unusually long deadlines on any condition, by the way, weaken any offer and are covered in our Jan 16/00 newsletter). If a second offer can be negotiated, the acceptance clause governing its status would read something like this (check with your lawyer for preferred wording): The vendor accepts this offer conditional upon receiving an unqualified release from a previous purchase agreement (dated ______________) on or before ____________, failing which this offer shall become null and void and the deposit returned to the Purchaser in full without interest or deduction. (The first blank shows the date of acceptance of the first offer; the second blank shows the deadline by which its conditions must be removed.) Finally, once you have a backup offer in hand, be sure to advise your original purchasers, just in case they’ve assumed an extension on their condition deadlines would be available. Every once in a while I get an email that begins “We’ve just dropped our asking-price and listed with a realtor. Please post the new price on our display . . .” “Buyer Beware” or not, it is simply unethical for a realtor to allow a homeowner to sign a standard MLS listing contract without making it clear that by doing so, the seller forfeits the right to sell privately (see our Jan 01/00 newsletter). Yet of the minority of our clients who at some point list with realtors (see our Apr 16/01 newsletter), too many do so under the impression that they can continue their PrivateList exposure. So please be aware that while selling privately gives you the option of considering offers brought by a realtor (see Timely Tip #3), the reverse does NOT apply. A standard real estate benchmark is that in an average market, with your property priced at the market, it can take 2-3 months to find a buyer. So be patient and determined. If your by-owner campaign is not generating the response you need, consider options like those described in our article on regrouping. If at some point you feel you must list with a realtor, do so with your eyes open/ Refuse any realtor who shows the slightest reluctance in going through the listing contract with you clause by clause, and if you’re promised something that doesn't appear in the agreement, write it in (and have it initialled)! Some time ago, at a photo-session for a rental property, I watched the owner, a volunteer fire-fighter, climb a ladder to replace a dead light bulb. And saw him descend, shaken, a few minutes later. The replacement bulb didn’t work, and when he removed the fixture’s discolored backing plate to see why, he found that the ceiling paint behind it was peeling and that the circuit’s wiring was burnt through and its wrapping melted and brittle for several feet back. Further probing showed that the paper backing of the surrounding fiberglass insulation was also charred for a radius of over a foot. The owner knows about fire: a few years ago, he pulled one of his neighbours from an inferno across the street; the flames prevented him from reaching a second. Had the wiring not burnt through and broken the circuit when it did, he told me, heat from either the overloaded circuit or the light bulb itself would soon - likely within minutes - have ignited the materials in the ceiling, all because the tenants had used a 100-watt bulb in a ceiling fixture rated (as most are) for 60. There were no batteries in the nearby smoke alarm. FRIENDLY REMINDERS . . . Are the thousands of dollars you'll save by selling privately worth, say, an hour each week-end, spent reviewing your progress to date and mapping out your continuing campaign? It's important to maintain an active marketing focus until your property is sold. Therefore, each e-mail version of this newsletter links to a series of reminders, tips and tools that lead to a sale! To access these resources, press here.
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