Real estate in Calgary - another bubble?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

How is giving 4 hours unreasonable? 4 hours to accept seems pretty reasonable to me if there's a decent sweetener involved and very little conditions. It's not like the buyer demanded that possession date be in 4 hours.

I mean, when was the last time some of you guys went house hunting? It's stressful AF, especially if you lose a bid or two/have a house pulled off the market before you can throw a bid in. You could end up looking at like 20-30 houses and see nothing you like, then suddenly see two or three finalist candidates on the same day. Also, you want to know that day whether you can hunker down and start filing paper work, or if you're going to keep looking at houses the next day. Why the hell would you want to wait 4 days vs 4 hours so you know what to do the next day and for everyone else to look at the place and potentially lose it when your search might be at and end?

Meh. There's other buyers. Let people start a bidding war. 16 bookings - not zero.

Rookie mistake - taking the first offer in a hot market.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I would take the best offer that doesn’t include a house inspection. I sold my house in less than 48 hours above asking price and with no inspection which is about as perfect a sale as you can hope for as some people will nickel and dime you if the house inspection brings up stuff like windows needing replacement, foundation cracks, gutter repairs, HVAC service, etc.

We're about to list our place, and I'm really hoping for a similar experience. We're looking to keep the asking price reasonable right off the bat, so we don't have to drag it all out.

[burn_this_city]

I don't think we want no home inspections becoming the norm here. I wouldn't even consider making an offer without stipulating an inspection.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Mull

It doesn't matter if they know or not, my reaction is to their attempt at a pressure tactic , which is exactly what it is. Its not so the buyer can save their time and move on- 6 hours compared to 24 hours in the grand scheme of house buying?

Its so the seller has a visceral reaction and perhaps looses some rational perspective and then the buyer gets perhaps a better deal.

That is what pressure selling/buying does to the other party. Rational the tactic with any other number of reasons you want, but this is the intent.

That doesn't mean if I was the seller I wouldn't consider accepting an offer from any pressure tactic, but it does mean that if the cards in were in my hands, as this seller has, I would assume I am not thinking rationally towards this buyer and therefore could not trust myself to enter into an agreement with them, really no matter the price.

Hence, tell them to get lost, too much to risk.

I guess to me, it just sounds like the buyer might have a couple places interested, and instead of going through the whole song and dance of negotiating, gave a final offer to see if you'd accept a conditional offer with the $20K sweetener.

The seller has every right to reject it if he/she doesn't like it because they think it's a pressure tactic, but I honestly don't think it's unreasonable ask by the buyer at all. Things move fast sometimes in a real estate market, and oftentimes, people are juggling multiple potential offers. A 4 hour window seems pretty reasonable in my mind.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I would take the best offer that doesn’t include a house inspection if you are lucky enough to receive one. I sold my house in less than 48 hours above asking price and with no inspection which is about as perfect a sale as you can hope for as some people will nickel and dime you if the house inspection brings up stuff like windows needing replacement, foundation cracks, gutter repairs, HVAC service, etc.

If there is no inspection, the seller still has to disclose any defects they are aware of.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I sold a house in Aug 2020 and it was not easy and I lost money. I thought the economy would continue to be pessimistic, yet here we are.

Probably could have had an extra $25k kicking around. Alas.

Did you factor in another 7 months of mortgage payments, utilities, property tax etc. into that $25K? I get where you're coming from though, but sometimes it's for the best.

I could have gotten a better deal on a home if I bought 8 months later, but then I'd have had to deal with working from home in a cramped home with young kids, crazy busy work, major uncertainty due to covid and worrying about exposure during lock down with the moving company.

You should be kicking yourself you didn't go full ape on Gamestonk in December with that cash instead.

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Meh. There's other buyers. Let people start a bidding war. 16 bookings - not zero.

Rookie mistake - taking the first offer in a hot market.

I'm just saying I get where it's coming from and I don't think it's as stupid nor nefarious as some of you are making it out to me.

Yes, taking the first offer is a rookie mistake... if it's the asking price. But if you read my second post, I'd counter offer 3x the amount they offered over the asking price. $20K isn't a bad sweetener at all, but I can see why jwslam didn't take it. It wasn't sweet enough with 16 bookings behind it. If it was 2-3 booking behind it instead, I think it's something I'd consider snapping up.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I don't think we want no home inspections becoming the norm here. I wouldn't even consider making an offer without stipulating an inspection.

This. I would never consider an offer for a place without an inspection. I mean, unless my plan was to level the place and build a new home, and I'm just interested in the land I guess.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Meh. There's other buyers. Let people start a bidding war. 16 bookings - not zero.

Rookie mistake - taking the first offer in a hot market.

Cant really say that without knowing how the house priced compared to market. 16 showings can turn into 0 offers really quickly. If the home is priced accurate to high taking the 20K over could be beneficial. If priced low there could be a little bit of a bidding war. But there is lots of inventory so it’s not as likely.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

This. I would never consider an offer for a place without an inspection. I mean, unless my plan was to level the place and build a new home, and I'm just interested in the land I guess.

Really don't want some of the nutty Toronto/Vancouver real estate situation spilling over here. No inspections, no conditions, yolo your entire life savings on a piece of dirt and a 70 year old shack.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I don't think we want no home inspections becoming the norm here. I wouldn't even consider making an offer without stipulating an inspection.

I bought my current house without an official inspection. Did request one more one-hour walk-through of the house, though, to "take measurements". They accepted, and I brought along an acquaintance who does home inspections and we went through everything we could in that hour. Not an official inspection, but looked at everything I needed to and was able to go forward with the purchase.

My realtor didn't love it, but for the grand total of the two hours he had to put into my file to get his thousands from me, I didn't give a single fata.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

If it was 2-3 booking behind it instead, I think it's something I'd consider snapping up.

I agree. In a cold market this is a great offer. In a hot market, play your cards.

[I_H8_Crawford]

JMO but when making a purchase of over $500K and waiving inspection/conditions is idiotic.

You will "lose" the bid if you don't waive? Great, I would rather rent so when the roof needs repair, or the furnace goes, its up to the LL to repair.

Imagine "winning" a $1,000,000 house only to find out it requires another $200K of work???? Good god.

As for the YYC market, we actually had two open offers out at the same time - one came back asking for $40K more, the other came back at $10K over our offer + included some furniture making it a no brainer for us.

Even crazier is we did something I figured we would never be able to do - we found an inner city house we really liked for under $700K (IMO they listed too low). Home inspection is tomorrow so hopefully that goes well and we are finally done.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by troutman

If there is no inspection, the seller still has to disclose any defects they are aware of.

This is a big thing....although difficult to prove. In a multi-bidding situation at least some of the bidders get an inspection and then will typically disclose any deficiencies to the listing agent. Theoretically, if the listing agent is honest they will have to, in turn, disclose that to you.

There are also huge limitations on what you can do with an inspection. You can only look at superficial things. If there are major unknown problems, you most likely won't see them, even with an inspection. The work history is just as important as the inspection. When was the last time the roof, electrical, plumbing, etc.. was updated.

[The Yen Man]

I'd say go with your gut feeling. If it was me, and I listed my place at what I thought was a reasonable ask, I'd be pretty tempted if someone offered my starter $400K home $20K above asking price. That's a 5% increase. It saves me the hassle of even showing my home any further on the weekend, and any other offer you end up taking will most likely be contingent on inspection anyways.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I'd say go with your gut feeling. If it was me, and I listed my place at what I thought was a reasonable ask, I'd be pretty tempted if someone offered my starter $400K home $20K above asking price. That's a 5% increase. It saves me the hassle of even showing my home any further on the weekend, and any other offer you end up taking will most likely be contingent on inspection anyways.

Totally. And the first offer isn't necessarily a bad offer.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by blankall

This is a big thing....although difficult to prove. In a multi-bidding situation at least some of the bidders get an inspection and then will typically disclose any deficiencies to the listing agent. Theoretically, if the listing agent is honest they will have to, in turn, disclose that to you.

Home inspections are basically opinions though. There isn’t any real investigative work done so would you have to share an opinion? Can they tell some things? For sure.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I don't think we want no home inspections becoming the norm here. I wouldn't even consider making an offer without stipulating an inspection.

A major issue in Vancouver/Toronto is that housing prices are so high, that the types of things likely to turn up in an inspection are small in comparison to the price of the house and the opportunity cost you lose by not getting the house you want.

Inspections are great but they really can only do so much.

I though I'd never go no inspection either. Then I bought my house in Vancouver without one. The way the market and bidding was, the cost of the repeated inspections outweighed the risk. There were also so many things that needed upgrading in most houses anyways. I don't need to pay an inspector $1,500 to tell me that an old house might have mold issues. That's a given, and you deal with them as they come. The inspector can't even get into the really big stuff, which is inside the structure of the house.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I wouldn't say the offer was unreasonable, but I totally understand why it would be rejected. 4 hours on one of the biggest financial decisions you can make is tough. Knowing you had 16 other showings obviously helped in that decision.

I can guess knowing you have 17 showings and an above asking price offer, it would be easy to think you might have priced too low. Was that a strategy or did your realtor give any advice on that?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I bought my current house without an official inspection. Did request one more one-hour walk-through of the house, though, to "take measurements". They accepted, and I brought along an acquaintance who does home inspections and we went through everything we could in that hour. Not an official inspection, but looked at everything I needed to and was able to go forward with the purchase.

My realtor didn't love it, but for the grand total of the two hours he had to put into my file to get his thousands from me, I didn't give a single fata.

Technically, the seller paid all the commissions.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Did you factor in another 7 months of mortgage payments, utilities, property tax etc. into that $25K? I get where you're coming from though, but sometimes it's for the best.

I could have gotten a better deal on a home if I bought 8 months later, but then I'd have had to deal with working from home in a cramped home with young kids, crazy busy work, major uncertainty due to covid and worrying about exposure during lock down with the moving company.

You should be kicking yourself you didn't go full ape on Gamestonk in December with that cash instead.



I'm just saying I get where it's coming from and I don't think it's as stupid nor nefarious as some of you are making it out to me.

Yes, taking the first offer is a rookie mistake... if it's the asking price. But if you read my second post, I'd counter offer 3x the amount they offered over the asking price. $20K isn't a bad sweetener at all, but I can see why jwslam didn't take it. It wasn't sweet enough with 16 bookings behind it. If it was 2-3 booking behind it instead, I think it's something I'd consider snapping up.

That's what I tell myself when I'm not weeping.