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SoonToBeFT · 12-17-2016, 01:41 PM

Just wanted to thank you all for your useful insights. This has certainly been an interesting eye opener to selling property in sunny Fla!!

In a nutshell, we finally received the agreed upon offer back from them that technically was past the open for acceptance time frame when it landed in our inbox by the following day, but nonetheless we decided OK, we've got a conditional sale.

Home inspection was done on Wednesday last week, nothing came up, but today we received advice they weren't going ahead with the sale. Not surprised by the way they've been throughout the whole process, and hate to admit it, but wife's gut instinct from the beginning was right again. Will trust her in future with these transactions from the getgo! They apparently were arguing in the house about her wanting to do things, he said they'd agreed wouldn't be done and so on = bottom line their realtor said, the husband is done with her after 2 years of looking and they are going to stay in Chicago.

Just wanted to give you the last chapter in this and THANK YOU all for your kindness and input, which have been duly noted for the future. Hopefully one day soon we will get to join you all out on the road full time

minnow · 12-17-2016, 01:58 PM

I don't think anyone following your story is at all surprised at the outcome. I think there are a fair number of people like these "buyers" who just go through the motions as a recreational pursuit. Some people go see a movie on a Saturday afternoon and others like these idiots, like to play with people's emotions.

Dmrad · 12-17-2016, 11:06 PM

We've bought and sold 5 properties in 3 different states. We have always hired a realtor to represent us. A good one is worth their weight in gold. I can't imagine the hassle it would be to try and sell your property with minimal help from a half way hired realtor, with you living in one country and trying to sell your property in another country? 1. If your house is priced correctly it shouldn't sit on the market as long as yours did. 4 of our properties were under contract in 3 weeks or less. One of them got a contract in two weeks, but the deal fell through 3 weeks into the contract time frame, went back on the market, but was under contract again within 2 weeks of going back on the market. 2. It isn't unusual to go back and forth a time or two while trying to hammer out a deal. But yours does seem excessive. 3. Be aware that a deal can fall apart at any time....it's not a done deal until everyone signs on the dotted lines at closing.

ahicks · 12-18-2016, 09:19 AM

I know there are a million variables, but dealing with a realtor who's agreed on a 300. fee may not have been the best plan. To me, that says something about his value, and his competence. I doubt a more competent realtor would have ever agreed to a deal like that.

This guy and his 300. fee may have already cost you several times that fee as somebody else may have had your property closed on by now.

Dave11 · 12-19-2016, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonToBeFT

Just wanted to thank you all for your useful insights. This has certainly been an interesting eye opener to selling property in sunny Fla!!

In a nutshell, we finally received the agreed upon offer back from them that technically was past the open for acceptance time frame when it landed in our inbox by the following day, but nonetheless we decided OK, we've got a conditional sale.

Home inspection was done on Wednesday last week, nothing came up, but today we received advice they weren't going ahead with the sale. Not surprised by the way they've been throughout the whole process, and hate to admit it, but wife's gut instinct from the beginning was right again. Will trust her in future with these transactions from the getgo! They apparently were arguing in the house about her wanting to do things, he said they'd agreed wouldn't be done and so on = bottom line their realtor said, the husband is done with her after 2 years of looking and they are going to stay in Chicago.

Just wanted to give you the last chapter in this and THANK YOU all for your kindness and input, which have been duly noted for the future. Hopefully one day soon we will get to join you all out on the road full time

I live and work in real estate in Fl since 1993. I will offer a couple of observations;

Not sure why you have such a strong feeling that real estate transactions are so unique in Florida. You have a foreign seller, a foreign buyer and a realtor paid $300 only for listing the property on MLS. So, essentially you have something like a for sale by owner with a property in one country, a buyer in another country and the seller in a third country. It would be a miracle if such a situation was not stressful.

A good realtor is well worth their fee, should handle the majority of interaction with the buyer and be competent in the contractual matters. You may be much better off with that type of arrangement. Just to be fair, a bad realtor can be really bad so picking a good one is paramount.

The number of offers and counter offers is up to you. You list the property for sale and when an offer comes in you counter offer which includes price and any conditions you accept and or reject. If your counter offer is the best you will do, you let them know you'll except no less and then they can decide. If they test you again the response is our last offer is the best we can do.

Currently the real estate market is healthy in Fl. Properties that are reasonable with reasonable pricing are selling pretty quickly. Good luck with yours.

Patti Brown · 12-22-2016, 10:54 PM

"Correctly" and "Reasonably" priced are the operative words here. Unfortunately, those are often vastly different from what the sellers want, given their emotional attachment to the property and their perceived value of it given how long they've owned it. Had an appraiser friend who taught me that people too often do not understand that things they do to their home to improve it might make it more "sellable" but do not necessarily add VALUE to it.

What the seller perceives as a "lowball" offer may in fact be a spot on price. Case in point: after DH second parent died, the 4 siblings needed to sell the house (which happened to be in FL). Three of the siblings had real estate experience (two were brokers and the third--DH, and I--had bought and sold literally dozens of investment properties). The one local sibling, a broker, took the listing for no fee. Oldest sibling insisted the waterfront property be listed at $1.4M and not a penny less. DH replied the market would not support that price. Based on what we saw as needing to be done to the property, DH and I estimated the property should realistically sell around $600K. Howls of outrage from other siblings at the very thought. Property sat vacant for a very long time. Eventually an offer came in (from a foreign couple) for $660K. DH said TAKE THE OFFER. Local sibling's DW, also a broker, agreed it was a good offer considering the market. Finally got the others to grudgingly agree. Happy day when the sale closed!

MSgtNobody · 12-26-2016, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomandGloria

What Vince said. We bought a lot in Florida in April at 55 and over RV Resort. Called lot owner, negotiated the price, asked a couple of questions, went to Title Company had lawyer draw up contract, signed with earnest money and seller fedex'd and signed the contract, we closed end of May. The reason we could not close sooner was because Title Company was backed up with closings. I was in Virginia and seller in Houston.

I realize it was not a house, but process is the same. Bought and sold many houses over the years as my former career moved me around the country.

Please don't let these so called buyers continue to waste your time. You may be better off dropping the price and let a realtor list and run with it.
Good luck.

I am thinking of buying a rv lot in florida also. Any thing to watch out for?? Can you get financing for rv lot if needed??? Thanks