I find that few real estate agents talk much about how the home buying decision is based on impulse. It's not just true in California where going to open houses on Sunday is akin to a religious experience for some -- home buying is an emotional experience for many buyers. Where we live is very personal. Our homes are more than four walls and a roof. Home is a place where we build memories, share intimacies and grow up to become the obnoxious people everybody knows and loves.
People buy homes on a whim. Don't believe me? I see it all the time. A husband and wife from Folsom, with their little kid strapped in the back seat, could be driving to the Sacramento Zoo on a Sunday, and spot an Open House sign along the way. One of them says: "Say honey, I love the homes in Land Park, let's stop to look at this one." Next thing you know, bingo, press hard, third copy is yours. They bought a home in Land Park.
But the thing with buying a short sale in Sacramento is too much time passes by. Too much time for buyers to think about their decision, weigh consequences and develop cold feet. In a regular transaction, by the time a buyer regrets the decision, her furniture is all in place, and she's shoveling the contents of a Lean Cuisine into her face and watching Elizabeth Weintraub on House Hunters by the time she discovers, hey, there is no fireplace in this living room!
But in a short sale, she could be waiting 3 months or longer for short sale approval. That waiting period gives her plenty of time to study the home via satellite on Google, watch the values decline in Zillow and play through the virtual tour over and over and over. Suddenly, it occurs to her that she can't afford to buy a home. Or she finds something wrong with the location. Or another home sparks her fancy. Perhaps she falls in love and decides to move to Portland? A lot can change in 3 months.
I almost put a home in Land Park back on the market yesterday. Yup, we had buyer's remorse. These buyers swore up and down, practically on their grandmother's grave, they wanted to buy this home. I've been in this business since the days of Mork & Mindy, so I respond to this kind of earnest enthusiasm with Nano Nano. A bunch of agents called me after this home in Land Park went into escrow -- I encouraged them all to write a backup offer. You never what can happen, I told them.
As a Land Park agent, I have seen stranger things happen. This particular transaction is a short sale, too. Sure enough, yesterday, after 6 weeks, the buyers bailed. Second buyer who was in backup passed as well. So the third buyer in backup slipped right into escrow, and this home never came back on the market.
Don't ever discount the power of being in backup.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
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The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
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Back up offers are a MUST for any Short Sale Seller. You put it perfectly. There is just too much time for a buyer to wait in a Short Sale.
Yes, Chris Ann, there is too much freakin' time between the time a buyer signs the contract and the time the short sale closes. Too much time to ponder the wisdom of a decision. And sometimes that amount of time leads to indecision or confusion. So I don't know which is worse. Impulse or confusion?
Elizabeth, people buy on emotion with their decision, and justify with logic, but with the long time delay with a short sale buyers remorse creeps in stronger than ever.
Good for you Elizabeth, and your sellers! I've had a couple buyers in back up position end up with the house! It amazes me the homeowners who quit letting buyers see the home after they have an offer in to the bank!!!
Hi Gary: Sometimes, I'd argue, logic doesn't justify anything. Logic can be twisted.
Hi DeeDee: The thing about being in backup though is most backup buyers don't stick around, either. LOL.
Glad to hear that you had all those back up offers; it certainly makes things easier. One of my friends has a picture of herself with Mork and Mindy back in the day. We grew up in L.A.; I guess she went to the set. That's funny; I had completly forgotten about that show. I guess it was Robin WIlliams' beginning, but not yours ;-)