Understanding the Numbers Behind an Offer: Bidding Wars, Low Appraisals and Commissions

July 26, 2024 by Leave a Comment

bidding wars and low appraisalsRecently I wrote a post “How to Improve Your Odds of Getting YOUR Offer Accepted” which included this bit of advice:

“Understand the numbers: Bidding wars, low appraisals and commissions. Your mortgage professional should review strategies regarding how your offer may look like, including how long it will take to “break even” on bidding above the list price. What do your payments look like if you need to bid up $5K, $20K or more in order to “win” the bid. What happens if the appraisal comes in lower than expected? What if the seller is not offering to pay your real estate brokers commission? Understanding the numbers helps to reduce the stress involved with the “what ifs. You may be surprised that bidding up on a home doesn’t impact the payment as much as one would think as cost is amortized over 30 years with a typical mortgage.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Affordable Home Strategies, Appraisals, Residential Purchase Tagged With: , , ,

The Seattle – Bellevue – Everett area named as a Top 5 Place to Sell Your Home

February 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch has named the Seattle – Bellevue – Everett area as one top five markets in the nation for selling your home. From the article:

Homes are flying off the market in Seattle. Listed properties spent a median of 56 days on the market as of January, down 38% from a year ago, according to Realtor.com. That’s almost half the median time homes are listed nationally….

….buyers have been left with a smaller number of homes to bid on, which in turn encourages multiple offers on properties that can push the purchase price higher than the asking price, experts say. There were fewer than 4,000 homes for sale in the Seattle metro area as of January, down 44% from a year prior, according to Realtor.com. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Fannie, Freddie and FHFA, Real Estate Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Seattle PI reports Surging Home Prices in King County

December 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This week Aubrey Cohen from the Seattle PI reported that sales prices in King Count jumped up just shy of 20% last month:

The median price of a King County house that sold in November was $385,000, up 19.7 percent from a year earlier and 4.1 percent from this October, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Wednesday. The median price in Seattle was $425,000, up 18.1 percent from last November and 1.2 from October.

Some non-distressed homes continue to experience bidding wars as inventory remains low. Here are some tips on what you can do to prepare for a “bidding war”.

Experts speculate that part of the jump in sales price could be from home buyers taking advantage of extremely low mortgage rates to buy a higher priced home.

If you are interested in buying a home, whether it’s your primary home, a vacation home or an investment property, I strongly recommend getting preapproved first. Being preapproved will help give you an advantage over unprepared buyers. 

If you are considering buying a home anywhere in Washington, I’m happy to help you with your mortgage needs. I have helping people buy and refinance homes in Washington at Mortgage Master Service Corporation since April 2000.

Filed Under: Economy, Residential Purchase Tagged With: , , ,