Comments on: The purchase agreement is more than a letter of intent (or should be)

By: Can I submit an offer on a short sale property while I keep looking? — The San Diego Home Blog

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:01:12 +0000

[...] As with just about every other topic remotely related to real estate, we have talked about this before. [...]

By: The Nature And Process Of San Diego Foreclosures

The Nature And Process Of San Diego Foreclosures — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 10:00:47 +0000

[...] The purchase agreement is more than a letter of intentABOUT THE AUTHOR Kris Berg is Co-Owner and Designated Broker of San Diego Castles Realty. If not-so static web sites are your thing, go here at once where you will find loads of real estate information including homes for sale, market trends, floor plans. [...]

By: Ben Nicolas

Ben Nicolas — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:04:52 +0000

Hey Kris,

I’ve been reading your artilces on Inman for a long time, first time on your blog, good stuff…

I think there needs to be more accountability on behalf of both buyers and sellers. What you are saying about buyers is true but at the same time do you really think its reasonable for the first time home buyer looking to purchase with FHA financing to loyally waite 2-3-4 months for Short Sale approval and then have some unethical agent sell it to a buyer with more down that comes in at the last minute (or worse their own buyer) ? As a buyer and buyers agent you don’t have to be burned this way too many times to develop the attitude of “Ok, if thats the way its gonna be I can play like that too”, which leads us to the situation we are in today with buyers shotgunning offers. Really the only thing that you can do in my opinion is get a good buyers agent familiar with short sale and REO process that knows the right questions to ask to get a good feel for the trustworthiness and integrity of the seller/listing agent. I’m potentially going to be involved in a suit now because an agent in my office had a short sale listing, short sale got approved, we were moving through escrow and then seller decides they don’t want to sell because some salesperson convinced her she could get a loan mod even though she’d been rejected 2x already. Buyer is suing seller to perform, seller has no way financially to afford current mortgage payment due to stripping all equity from property with refinances, the suit has been dragging on for over 1 year, and because banks are so hesitant to foreclose in current political environment seller gets to live for free indefinitely because she’s figured out how to take advantage of the legal system, craziness….

By: Charles D'Alessandro

Charles D'Alessandro — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:02:37 +0000

Hello and Happy Thanx Giving to all. I am Charles D’Alessandro with Fillmore Real Estate in Brooklyn N.Y. I think we are in society it’s all about me attitude and if it’s good for me to #@$%@ with everyone else.With todays market environment buyers keep on shopping until the closing. If they find something better they move on and “Neener, neener. I changed my mind, and you can’t stop me.” Look at General Motors you can buy a car and if you don’t like it , bring it back
, no charge !

By: Kris Berg

Kris Berg — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:15:20 +0000

Drew – I believe you owe me a picture of a t-shirt. Thanks for suffering through a day with me this past weekend. What a trooper!

By: Drew Meyers

Drew Meyers — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:50:00 +0000

Glad you got that off your chest Kris

And, seriously, I’m bummed for you that the deal fell through. Hope you can turn around the listing again soon!!

By: Kristin LaVanway

Kristin LaVanway — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:19:57 +0000

This brings up a great point about the strength of a purchase contract to define the deal, but the problems do not lie only on the side of the buyer. The current market in Phoenix is ridiculous with REO listers carrying so many listings they can’t even return a phone call or acknowledge an offer, and short sale listers who have no clue how to manage the bank approval process. I have had short sale listers call back after 2,3,4 months of the silent treatment to say, “Hey, does your client still want this house?”

Don’t even get me started about what happens in escrow with any deal that involves a bank. We all know they make their own rules and have no regard for dates contained in the PC.

While I do not condone the practice of meaningless “letters of intent”, we have to acknowledge that in the current market, serial offers – letting each offer run its course before moving on to the next – doesn’t work for most buyers. That in itself belittles the value of the contract. Certainly, it will be a glorious day when the purchase contract means something to parties on both sides of the transaction.

By: too broke to care

too broke to care — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:23:48 +0000

What about buyers that put 20 offers out there hoping to get a house?Is this ethical business practice?

By: Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 11/17/2009 : Tempe real esatate and free home search

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:38:43 +0000

[...] The purchase agreement is more than a letter of intent (or should be) – Kris, this is something I have been thinking about addressing lately, but no way could I have [...]

By: Dean Ouellette

Dean Ouellette — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:39:53 +0000

Kris, this is great. I have been meaning to address this for a while now, no way could I have done it this well.. Great job. It has become so much worse with the short sales and the foreclosures and I have been trying to talk buyers out of the idea now because they hear about so many other people putting offers in as “place holders”