Not to step on any Agents feet however my suggestion if you truly do want this house. You need to write your best offer you are willing to go with, then sit down face-to-face with the seller. Most Listing Agents do not want this because they have less control while the buyer is sitting there. What this will allow you to do is go through line item at a time with the Seller and you can hash it out right then and there instead of going back and forth with your Agent and theirs.

I have personally sat down face-to-face as well as have done 3-way conversations for my clients in the past, whatever makes the deal work and so you are completely sure everyone is comfortable moving forward and then there will be no cold feet once someone says yes because it can all be fixed right then and there.

In the event this property is located in Southern California I would be grateful to have the opportunity to represent you with the purchase if have not currently authorized another Real Estate Consultant to represent you exclusively.

God Bless,


Tim Taggett
Serving with Honesty and Integrity!
San Diego: (760) 481-3152
Riverside: (951) 240-5645

The sellers it seem believe they UNDERVALUED there property in there minds.

You cannot overpay for a property no matter how much you love it. The property still has to appraise for the purchase price or the lender will not give you the loan to purchase.If you did not have an appraisal contingency in there you would be stuck making up the difference. Example the contract price is 200,000 and the appariasal is at 195k now you would be required to bring 5k to closing in your own funds to make up the difference.

If you still want the house buy it but with the appraisal contingency.

no legal advice

Something else you might want to consider doing is to have your Real Estate Agent prepare a report showing all the closed sales in the area to establish a more realistic value in the "mind's-eye" of the seller. This might help if they are thinking that they listed too low on the previous listing ...

ALSO, prepare a letter to the sellers with your family picture to be presented to the sellers if you are not allowed to attend the presentation of the offer in person.

Or use one of those ultra portable camcorders and shoot a 2 minute video of yourselves speaking from your heart about how much you love the house. Email it to your Real Estate Agent and ask him to take his laptop to the listing and play your video for the sellers ... or email it to the sellers so they can access it while the agent is there.

In today's market it is REAL PEOPLE we are dealing with and sometimes the personal touch is the key to a successful negotiation.

I am a Mortgage Broker in Southern California and I always paint the personal picture of by borrowers for the underwriter to read before they start to reveiw the loan file for approval. It sets the stage with the proper perspective ...

Good Luck - Jane Whitten, Windsor Capital Mortgage
http://www.janewhitten.com