Hi All,
I am looking at an investment property that’s approximately 4hours away from where I live. I have done pretty much all I can from here and feel that I need to go and see the property and check out the location first hand (as it’s my first IP purchase).
Now, should I put in an offer before I go, on the condition that I need to inspect the property? Is this a valid condition to request? Does an offer then take the property off the market? Should I include the other conditions at this point aswell, such as subject to building inspection and finance?
Thanks for your input.
Sounds valid. My understanding is that you can put almost anything with an “end date”. I once signed a purchase with the condition of an o/s posting being firmed within 2 weeks – related to finance approval. Posting happened, I bought.[^]
As I understand it, until all contracts are signed, it carries little weight I’m afraid. Even if you sign contracts and the seller does not, you don’t have a sale. Even then some contracts come with a cooling off period. An offer is just that an offer. It is not an acceptance by the seller or even you for that matter. The seller has offered the property up for sale and you have offered to buy it. This does not form a contract. Terms and conditions of purchase must be agreed upon and accepted by both parties by signing contracts of sale. All these extra conditions of purchase, like finance and inspection etc.. would go in the contract of sale, if you wish the sale to be conditional on these aspects being satisfactorily met. Until this happens, nothing is set in stone.
Hi Lizzie
This exact situation happened to me a couple of weeks ago, due to other comittments I just couldn’t get out to see the property 4.5 hours away, however I was pretty sure I was going to buy it based on the numbers.
So I said to the agent how do I get this off the market for 2 weeks, he said you can make an offer and put the inspection into the conditions of sale.
So I made my official offer with these terms, subject to building inspection, purchaser inspecting the property to their satisfaction, solicitor reviewing contract and rental information being made available. The agent ammended the building inspection to include major structural faults, I ammended it back with the advice of my solicitor, the agent also ammended the view property to include a specific date that the property would be viewed and I thought this was fair enough.
The contracts were sent to me to view, I organised a building inspection and picked up the report when I arrived in town after discussing it on the phone with the builder. And signed the contract with the agent in town.
As Steve and Dave say, you can request any terms, it’s up to you how flexible you are prepared to be. I suppose developing a good relationship with an agent helps.
Good luck
Cheers
Leigh KPS: My advice for a property far away is to concider how little problems will be handled because if you are going to have someone els to the handy man repairs for you then allow for this cost. I am luck mine has turned into a Wrap.
Read, learn, grow but most of all just do it.
Thanks for your replies, most helpful.
Do you think that, being my first property, I should attempt to do initial repairs myself? EnjoLady, would you do this or would you hire someone to do it for you, keeping in mind that this is my first property but also that it’s 4 hours drive away?
This is a bit of a general question that will perhaps be difficult to answer if you don’t know anything about the property, but the asking price is $78,500 and I am planning to offer $60,000 to $65,000. Do you think that this is a reasonable thing to offer almost $20,000 below asking price? Will I possibly get laughed at? If so how would/do you best handle that sort of situation? I guess you just know what your max is and stand your ground. After all every offer must be put to the Vendor no matter how unrealistic it might be, right?
Thanks.
Lizzie
EnjoLady, when you made the “official offer” did you put it in a letter? What did you specifically say?
After you made the offer did the Agent then send you the contract, which you reviewed with your solicitor before going to see the property?
Is it a necessary thing to get the solicitor involved at this early stage before even viewing the property? I guess you think it is.
Did you conduct this tooing & froing over the phone with your solicitor or in person?With the building inspection did you simply arrange that over the phone with the Real Estate Agent allowing them access on your behalf? Would there be any point in trying to arrange the building inspection on the same day that you inspect it or do you think in this case it would be better to have the building inspection already done?
Sorry to seem so inquisitive, but being a newbie I have lots of practicle questions that seem to come up.
Thanks heaps.
Lizzie
Lizzie
OK here I go;
Do you think that, being my first property, I should attempt to do initial repairs myself? EnjoLady, would you do this or would you hire someone to do it for you, keeping in mind that this is my first property but also that it’s 4 hours drive away?
The property I just bought is my first positive cashflow investment and is 4.5 hours away, my intention was to handle all repairs and improvements myself (hubby & I) but after travelling there I really didn’t want to be handling little jobs, but would still have done any reno’s. As I mentioned before you need to factor into your numbers if you are going to have someone else do any on going maintenance.
This is a bit of a general question that will perhaps be difficult to answer if you don’t know anything about the property, but the asking price is $78,500 and I am planning to offer $60,000 to $65,000. Do you think that this is a reasonable thing to offer almost $20,000 below asking price? Will I possibly get laughed at? If so how would/do you best handle that sort of situation? I guess you just know what your max is and stand your ground. After all every offer must be put to the Vendor no matter how unrealistic it might be, right?
That is a big reduction in price, is it substantiated(spell check), does your numbers tell you the deal doesn’t work unless it is reduced so far. I don’t beleive you will be laughed at but the agent may ask you to reconsider your offer. I think the best thing to say here in my opinion is find out more about the sale, why they are selling, when was the last offer etc, because a low offer might just be right but more info will help you to determine that.
EnjoLady, when you made the “official offer” did you put it in a letter? What did you specifically say?
I purchased Steve MCNights Buyer Beware (available is the resources section) and it has all electronic versions of the templates he designed. I used the offer template which has spaces for all the info you need to fill in and check boxes for terms and conditions. I was complemented on more than one occassion for the professionalism of my offer.
After you made the offer did the Agent then send you the contract, which you reviewed with your solicitor before going to see the property?
Is it a necessary thing to get the solicitor involved at this early stage before even viewing the property? I guess you think it is.
Did you conduct this tooing & froing over the phone with your solicitor or in person?
I had previously met with my solicitor, so when it came time to buying a house I just sent him the contract gave him a phone call and we talked breifly over the phone about it, and yes I think it is worth involving them asap.
With the building inspection did you simply arrange that over the phone with the Real Estate Agent allowing them access on your behalf? Would there be any point in trying to arrange the building inspection on the same day that you inspect it or do you think in this case it would be better to have the building inspection already done?
With the building inspection I phone a local builder and he contacted the agent for me, actually I also contacted the agent to let him know I was arranging that and gave him teh builders details, just to keep him in the loop. I chose to have the inspection done before I got there so I could talk to the builder on teh phone and discuss anything that I need to pay specific attention to when I got there. I also met with the builder after I had been to the house to pick up the report. I now have a local contact if I ever need work done. You could arrange for the inpection on the day you go there.So I hope that helps.
Cheers
& Good luck
Leigh K[
]Read, learn, grow but most of all just do it.
Hi Lizzie
My thoughts are that a fax machine is an invaluable tool to use in any case but particularly when dealing with people from a distance. Even though my solicitor is fairly handy here to me in Bris, I still find that faxing him the info saves me the drive or whatever to his place.
As for your so called low offer…well if that’s what you think the property is worth then go for it but be prepared to negotiate. Try and find out some info about the vendor or speak with them directly to see if you can help them in some other way as compensation for your low offer. You just never know what’s going to turn up unless you ask, nicely of course.
I think Leigh has made some very useful and helpful suggestions and if I could just add, don’t forget to work towards a win/win outcome for everybody. Remember how Steve emphasizes that you’re dealing with people and they come before the bricks and mortar.
Hope this helps…….
Take care
Dave []Awesome stuff. Thanks guys.
With this particular agent I have found it difficult to get any information about the vendor out of him, ie why they’re selling (mind you I haven’t had any personal contact with him yet). He also said he can’t give me any information on other offers or even how much other properties have sold for in the area.
The property has only been on the market for a couple of weeks so I guess that could explain it a bit.To meet the criteria of the 11sec solution I need to get this property for $65K but you know what, after speaking to others and reading posts I no longer feel bound by this rule. I don’t want to get hung up on it and miss a deal that still could be pretty good. This property does need a repaint and some repairs so I figure maybe I can get it for a little less than the asking price.
I’ll keep soldiering on and learning heaps as I go.
Thanks once again.
Lizzie
Hi Lizzie,
When I put in the offer on one of the places that I am buying, I went in 10K below the asking price(it needed 10K’s worth of work), the vendor refused the offer, saying that he had allowed for that in the price and wanted his full asking price, I paid it because doing the sums it still added up. Don’t miss out on a good deal over pride, but don’t buy at a price where the numbers don’t stack up.
Look at your strategy if it fits buy, if it doesn’t find one that does!
Try and treat the property as a financial transaction nothing more, I know it’s hard, no nearly impossible, but at least if you go into it with that in mind, your more likely to buy with your head than your heart.Good luck,
Scott S“Aim for the stars and you’ll shoot the top of the telegraph pole. Aim for the top of the telegraph pole and you’ll shoot yourself in the foot!”
-anonP.S. I added heaps of terms and conditions as a trade off to paying the full price. They included, 3 month settlement, $500 deposit, rental records to my satisfaction, and acess to renovate before settlement. these were on top of the standard clauses, finance, building and pest etc.
“Aim for the stars and you’ll shoot the top of the telegraph pole. Aim for the top of the telegraph pole and you’ll shoot yourself in the foot!”
-anon
]
]
The topic ‘Can an offer be “subject to my inspection”?’ is closed to new replies.
