Last week our San Rafael Fixer closed! And here’s how it played out:
The Los Angeles trustee contacted me the week before Christmas and we met before the holiday. Although the holidays slowed us down, the home was professionally cleaned and inspected on New Years Eve. The yard was cleaned up on January 5th. The home was professionally taped on January 3rd and photographed on the 11th. The home was then listed with offers due January 31st.
While we listed this fixer at $1,185,000 we anticipated selling over asking in multiple offers. We had more than twenty offers. As often happens we had an extremely exuberant buyer who offered $1,600,000. As this offer was substantially higher than all of the others, it didn’t seem viable. I discussed with the trustees that we would try to close this and ask the buyer to initiate their escrow deposit within twenty four hours. They did not and escrow was cancelled.
So why do buyers (aka investors) make these wild offers and don’t perform? My best guess is that they make offers on dozens of homes. Then once the offers are accepted they then decide which ones to pursue. The problem is I can never be 100% certain their offer is not genuine and we must play it out. But to do so quickly, by making certain the buyer’s deposit is at escrow quickly.
We moved on to another cash buyer. This one at $1,405,000 and this San Rafael fixer closed escrow in just a few weeks. As we had a pre-inspection and termite report, this buyer was confident in making a non-contingent offer.
Related Post: 165 Sequoia Drive Just Listed
You might enjoy: Girardi Estate Home of the Week
Selling a Pasadena Home Held in Trust
