Late last week I showed a home to a first time home buyer in the Lake Oroville real estate market. She liked the house enough to make an offer on it last Saturday evening  through the online bidding process that the seller had established.  No paper offer to write and no signature needed when submitting our bid.  I simply discussed the offer terms with the buyer and from my desk and computer  in my home office I entered the online bid.

Come Monday morning I received an e-mail, on my iPhone, at about 6:30 am informing me that the seller had responded to the offer by sending us a counter offer. I immediately called the buyer, discussed the counter offer and decided to submit a counter offer to the seller’s counter offer.

I submitted the new terms to the seller. After about an half hour I received another e-mail letting me know that the seller had accepted our new terms. I promptly called my buyer to inform her of the good news.  After congratulating her and discussing the next steps in the process, I ended the call and hung up the phone.

It was then that it hit me.

I was sitting there in front of my computer screen, in the privacy of my home office, negotiating, and getting an acceptance on, a contract for my Lake Oroville real estate first time home buyer, IN MY UNDERWEAR!!!

Not only can you now do a lot of your real estate business from home,  you can even do some of it in your tighty whities.

Ok, so now you think I am some kind of nut case. Heck, you might be right. It  just happened to be one of those things that brought to mind how quickly this industry is evolving. Probably should not have gone off my medication!!!! LOL

Is this technology thing terrific or what.

Well, this has never held more true than it does today in this age of bank owned properties. No, this is not another one of those bank, bashing blog posts that seem to be everywhere these days. Quite frankly it is difficult to tell if the expanding trend of banks REQUIRING  more and more of a potential purchaser before accepting an offer, is the work of the banks or of some of the bank-employed REALTORS® that have hitched their fortunes to their bank-employer.

Let’s take a little walk down memory lane to see what I mean.

Inch #1-In the beginning, banks that owned foreclosed homes simply required that a buyer present a loan prequalification letter with any offer that was made on one of their homes. This seemed fair, as no seller wants to be dealing with a buyer that is not qualified for a loan.

Inch #2- It was then not good enough that the purchase contract stated that the buyer had given a deposit check to their agent. The bank wanted a copy of the check.

Inch #3-Next the major banks required that any prospective buyer be loan prequalified with their bank before they would consider the buyer’s offer. Great way for the bank’s loan officers to try and persuade a buyer to swtich their business to them. Yes, it is happening!

Inch #4- Banks then refused to sign their own counter offer before the buyer signed it. So even after the buyer agreed to the terms of the counter offer there would be no binding contract until the seller signed. Providing more time for other offers to come in that may be more attractive the bank. Totally backwards from how it should be done.

Inch #5-Now some banks are not only demanding  for a loan pre-qualification letter, but they are demanding for proof of the buyer’s credit score and in some cases asking for the buyer’s social security number. We just had a bank ask our buyer for thier social security number and we refused to give it to them. Guess what, the bank accepted our offer.

Inch #6- The latest twist is that some banks are requiring that the buyer open escrow and place the deposit money in the escrow account at the escrow company before they will sign their own counter offer. That’s right, Mr. Buyer, put your money up first and then the bank may or may not sign the counter offer that they drafted.

So who is responsible for this “taking of the inches” and how do we stop it from turning into a mile?  My take on this is that the banks are the inch-takers. They will continue to take as much as they are given. I also believe that nearly all of the local bank-employed REALTORS® have a hand in this too.  I always get the same answer when I ask any of them about the shenanigans their banks pull.”It is the way they want it done,” they say. “The buyer can take it or leave it.” Virtually none of them stand up to their employers on these issues, they simply go with the flow.

You, the buyer have total control over this nonsense. Don’t stand by and let the banks’ demands compromise your financial security. Take a stand and hold your ground for what is right. Yes, you may miss out on a house or two but there are plenty of others out there.

The extension and expansion allow buyers in the Lake Oroville real estate market, and beyond,  to claim the credit as long as you are in a binding contract no later than April 30, 2009 and close not later than June 30, 2009.

And no ,you are not allowed, on May 5th, to back date your contract to April 30th.

Below are links to  further information from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) on the new rules for the credit. Please take the time to read and understand them as you are ultimately responsible for following the rules. And please let me know if you need any further explanation on how this credit works.

NAR Tax Credit FAQ

NAR Tax Credit Extension Chart

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