How to win in a multiple offer situation.

Have you ever made an offer on a home only to find out there was someone else who also made an offer? Or maybe several other offers?

Maybe you have been looking for that perfect home for months.  Now is the time to make sure you are working with an experienced Realtor like myself.  Recently I sold a home where there were 7 offers.  A few of the offers were low ball offers and the rest were very competitive.  Here are my top tips for winning in a multiple offer situation

Be aggressive on your offer Price -  make your offer a list price and consider using an escalation clause.

Buy “As-Is”   – you can still do a home inspection for informational purposes, but give the seller piece of mind that you will not ask for any repairs

Put a large Earnest Money Deposit Down – 1-3% of the sales price is normal and in a multiple offer situation consider 5-10% using of the sales price

Let the seller choose the settlement company – The seller is going to feel more comfortable with options and choosing their own settlement company

Settlement Date – Find out what is important to the seller and use that date

Rent back – does the seller need a rent back from you, consider offering a free rent back to the seller

**you may want to consider waiving the appraisal contingency

and make sure your agent follows up daily on your offer and is easy to work with and communicate with.

Questions or comments?  feel free to contact me

I can help you:

- Search the Arlington Virginia Homes for Sale
– Receive listings of homes for sale as soon as they hit the market
– Determine your home’s value
– Search for Arlington homes, condos, and townhomes for sale by metro stop
- Arlington VA condos for Sale  -  Clarendon Condos for sale
-Relocating to Arlington, VA

Feel free to contact me anytime  Norm at callnorm.com    Make it a great day!   www.callnorm.com Keller Williams Realty Arlington VA

Real Estate services the following zip codes
22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, 22209, 22213,22202, 22204, 22206

1021 Garfield St  Arlington VA  22201  Clarendon condo   

This is one of the great Clarendon condos located in Arlington, VA  22201

Located just off Clarendon Blvd. and in walking distance to Clarendon Metro stop this is one of the most

popular buildings in Arlington.

Showing properties 1 - 4 of 4. See more Clarendon tract real estate.
(all data current as of 5/19/2012)

1. $475,000 : 1021 Garfield St N #721, Arlington
   
   1 bed, 1 full bath

   Home size: 839 sq ft
2. $695,000 : 1021 Garfield St #505, Arlington
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,334 sq ft
3. $299,999 : 1021 Garfield St N #B35, Arlington
   
   0 beds, 1 full bath

   Home size: 622 sq ft
4. $474,900 : 1021 Garfield St #132, Arlington
   
   1 bed, 1 full bath

   Home size: 911 sq ft

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

building lobby

- Search the Arlington Virginia Homes for Sale

– Receive listings of homes for sale as soon as they hit the market

– Determine your home’s value

– Search for homes, condos, and townhomes for sale by metro stop

- Arlington VA condos for Sale  -  Clarendon Condos for sale

-Relocating to Arlington, VA

Feel free to contact me anytime  Norm at callnorm.com    Make it a great day!   www.callnorm.com Keller Williams Realty

Arlington VA Real Estate services the following zip codes

22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, 22209, 22213,

22202, 22204, 22206

OnToplist is optimized by SEO

Add blog to our blog directory.

Just spoke to my good friend Kyle Epting, with Arlington Law Group.

They are located here in Arlington.  If you every need any legal services especially Wills, Trusts and Estate planning, you should give him a call

Office: 1739 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington, Virginia 22209
Phone: 703-842-3025

www.arlingtonlawgroup.com

Contact me

Norm  [at] callnorm [dot] com     703-587-0945

I can help you:

- Search the Arlington Virginia Homes for Sale

– Receive listings of homes for sale as soon as they hit the market

– Determine your home’s value

– Search for homes, condos, and townhomes for sale by metro stop

- Arlington VA condos for Sale  -  Clarendon Condos for sale

-Relocating to Arlington, VA

Here is a great description from a lender friend

Pre-Qualified Vs. Pre-Approved:

“What’s the difference?”

Whether you are a realtor or homebuyer you are going to run into these terms and you need to know the difference because it can save you plenty of time, money and gray hair down the road. The purpose of either one is to determine if a buyer can qualify for a loan and if so for how much; before they go out shopping for a home. In this constantly changing market it is unwise to assume one will qualify for a loan. It is imperative to see where a buyer stands financially to best determine the next course of action for all parties involved.

Pre-Qualified

A Pre-Qual is really just an educated guess by a loan officer of what the client may qualify for based on information given verbally. Typically no application is taken and no income/asset documents are reviewed. This is “window shopping” so to speak and provides a “rough” idea as to the buying potential of a client.

Pre-Approved

Now we’re cooking with gas! A Pre-Approval is a much more in-depth determination of a client’s ability to buy and takes a little more time to complete. Once a client decides on a lender they will be required to complete a full loan application (1003) so the lender can also pull a credit report. The credit report will allow the lender to determine what programs the client qualifies for. These days FHA requires at least a 620 and Conventional requires a 680 or better. From there the client needs to pro-vide their last 2 years of W2’s, last 30 days’ worth of pay stubs and last 2 months of bank statements. If the client is self-employed/1099 then they need to provide the last 2 years of full tax returns (1040s) with all schedules. The last 60 days of bank statements/assets must be provided as well. This is the minimum required for a pre-approval letter.

These documents will allow the lender to determine if the client meets the minimum credit/income criteria for any given loan program as well as qualifying income. The qualifying I income will determine how much house the client qualifies for. At this point the lender will determine how much money the buyer needs for down payment and closing costs. Finally, the lender can provide a Pre-Approval/commitment letter reflecting in either a loan amount or sales price a buyer has been Pre-Approved for as well as a down payment required.

So that’s the basic difference. A Pre-Approval means a lender has taken the time to review documentation that will support a final approval so long as certain conditions are met. A lender has spent time to figure out what those certain conditions are and made them clear to the client. A Pre-Qual just barely scratches the surface.

Food for thought

The Pre-Approval process is the most crucial part of the loan process. Why? Over 65% of loans turned down were for reasons that could have been addressed during the Pre-Approval process. An experienced lender will have a detailed checklist to go over before issuing a pre-approval letter for a client to avoid obvious pitfalls before they are ready to shop for a home. The point is to diffuse any bombs before they go off.

For more details, please contact me at your convenience.

Elliott R. Oliva |Mortgage Banker|nmls#353884

Envoy Mortgage|202.681.1636| eoliva@envoymortgage.com

Contact me

Norm  [at] callnorm [dot] com     703-587-0945

I can help you:

- Search the Arlington Virginia Homes for Sale
– Receive listings of homes for sale as soon as they hit the market
– Determine your home’s value
– Search for homes, condos, and townhomes for sale by metro stop

Forbes online just posted that Falls Church City is America’s richest county

Here is what they said

If you want to get a sense of what an economic powerhouse Washington has become in recent years, look no further than the Virginia suburb of Falls Church City.

Boasting a strong school system and positioned about six miles from the nation’s capital, Falls Church has for years enticed rich families, making it the nation’s richest county with median annual household income of $113,313.

“It indicates that the City of Falls Church is located in a healthy economic area in the national capital region,” says Wyatt Shields, city manager for Falls Church. “We are proud of the fact that we take advantage of the city’s healthy economic area to attract people to live here.”

Our area is wonderful and there are so many positives.  Are you looking to buy sell or maybe both?

for Falls Church city homes for sale

contact me    Norm  [at] callnorm [dot] com     703-587-0945

I can help you:

- Search Falls Church city Virginia Homes for Sale
– Receive listings of homes for sale as soon as they hit the market
– Determine your home’s value
– Search for homes, condos, and townhomes for sale by metro stop

Economy and the housing market

I heard on the news this morning that the economy was bad and that the housing market was worse.  The reporter was trying to invoke fear in all of us.  He cited categories such as unemployment rate and housing supply but not specific numbers and mentioned nothing about the fact that your region may be different.  AND our region is.

The unemployment rate in Arlington is about 3.2%, compare that with the national rate of 9.1%

The housing supply in Arlington  down 13.3% over this time last year

The average sold price is only down -2.58% year over year and that is a county wide number, some areas have gone up in value.

We are very blessed to live here and the truth about real estate and economic news is local.  Want the inside scoop for your neighborhood?  Contact me

Norm  [at] callnorm [dot] com     703-587-0945

I can help you:

- Search the Arlington Virginia Homes for Sale
– Receive listings of homes for sale as soon as they hit the market
– Determine your home’s value
– Search for homes, condos, and townhomes for sale by metro stop

Interesting article in the Examiner.

Home prices in the Washington area climbed during the first three months of the year, the only area in the country to post an average increase during the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the rest of the nation’s major markets continued their decline as prices regressed to late 2009 levels on average, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released Tuesday.

The region’s continued recovery in the face of a national double dip is largely because Washington got a head start in recovering from the recession, said John McClain, deputy director of the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis.

Arlington and Falls Church city, as neighbors,  share many things in common.  Like Arlington, Falls Church city is a popular for its close in location, well managed government, parks, close to metro, and school options.

Below is a sample of listings currently for sale.  This list of Falls Church City homes is updated daily.

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 78. See more 22046 zip code real estate.
(all data current as of 5/19/2012)

1. $599,900 : 115 Greenway Blvd W, Falls Church
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,677 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,250 sqft
2. $950,000 : 605 West St, Falls Church
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,360 sq ft

   Lot size: 9,779 sqft
3. $1,295,000 : 2355 Dunbar Ln, Falls Church
   
   5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Lot size: 7,260 sqft
4. $599,900 : 520 Spring St S, Falls Church
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Lot size: 11,744 sqft
5. $589,000 : 7507 Fairwood Ln, Falls Church
   
   3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Lot size: 10,560 sqft

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

contact me    Norm  [at] callnorm [dot] com     703-587-0945

I can help you:

- Search Falls Church city Virginia Homes for Sale
– Receive listings of homes for sale as soon as they hit the market
– Determine your home’s value
– Search for homes, condos, and townhomes for sale by metro stop

22046