Can a buyer write an offer contigent on the sale of another home?  Is this customary or rare?

In the State of Missouri we actually have an addendum you can check that states the contract is contingent on the sale of a home or the closing of a home already under contract.  The contingent sale on a home can be subject to a 24, 48 or 72 hours kickout where another buyer writes and offer and the first buyer must decide in that time frame to let the home go or waive the contingency.

I realize that this doesn't make for an extremely strong contract, but it is something we are seeing more and more of and I certainly advise my buyers to do if they have a home to sale and can't afford two payments.  I have a seller looking in FL and has already lost 5-10,000 in earnest money because he says in Florida they can't have this contingency.

I'm just wondering if he is misinformed.

Any insight or information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

April Ferrao

Re/Max Boone Realty

Licensed in the State of Missouri         

I've been thinking about this all night and I guess it has woken me up and I can't sleep.  Tommorrow morning I close on a deal to help a man restart his life. 

A couple of months ago I was contacted by this man who told me he had $20,000 and wanted to buy a house.  I thought "Great, this will be hard and will probably go nowhere"  This man rents a room out of house, shares a phone with others, has no car, no computer and has to call me at appointed times.  So every few days he would call to see if I had found anything.

Unfortunately, there are some out there who would not have helped this man either because of his price, time involved, or income potential.

Finally in March a property came up.  We went to see it.  The best thing about the house is the roof does not leak.  He can move right in.  I could actually see past the condition of the home and see what he could turn it into.  The paint on the outside of the home is pealing off, some boards need to be replaced.  The plaster is cracking off the walls in some areas of the home, the wood floor is broken in some areas and the carpet is glued to the floor, worn bare in some places and it smells.

But we are both are very excited for him to get into this home.  He has been buying little things here and there every couple of weeks to outfit his home, he has plans to clean up the yard, plant some flowers, get the paint off the house and repaint and then get to work on the inside.  It will be a long process as he is on a fixed income but over time he knows and I know it will all come together.

I never thought I would be so excited over a $20,000 fixxer upper.  But this is what this business is all about.  Finding the right home for a buyer.  Getting a person into homeownership who is starting his life over and turning his life around is an incredibly rewarding experience. 

It goes to show that you can't prejudge your clients, they may surprise you.  And that sometimes the feeling of helping someone better thier life and start over is more rewarding than anything else! 

I started the week writing an offer on a home that my buyers have been eyeing for months.  It's been on the market for A YEAR!  Who knew apparently several other people have been eyeing it as well and lo and behold another offer came in 'slightly' cleaner than ours.  No counters nothing, Sellers took the other offer.  We wrote or attempted to write 3 more offers this week, either losing them to buyers removing contengecis, not coming together on the deal, or the other one that was the best, and offer being accepted by the seller 5 minutes after we walked out the door.  These offers would have netted me about 8-9,000 in commission.

Today was originally set to show an out of state buyer homes all day in the 300,000 price range (great for our area).  So I was looking forward somewhat to a hectic and tiring weekend of showing property.  He called two weeks ago and said alas his home has not sold and he should just rent.  Hey I've been working via e-mail with this guy for two months so I was determined to continue with my quest.  

I've scoured town looked for an upscale single family rental that he could rent.  There are VERY FEW, I'm thinking MAYBE 6 in the whole town. I was worried about meeting him, he had very specific needs, I was worried that there just was nothing to show him.

I picked him up at his hotel at 9:00 we were done by 1:00 with a beautiful high-end home for his family to rent for the next year!  He was incredible pleasant, and a joyful way to spend my morning.  In the end I'll get about $300 maybe, but what made this worth so much more than that was the happy topping to my weekend, the satisfaction that I was able to assist him and knowing I'd done everything in my power to pull it off for him.

Sometimes the joy and satisfaction of a job well done is PRICELESS! 

Beautiful home located on corner lot with side entry garage. Yard is fully sodded and completely equipped with in-ground sprinkler system. Interior features over 1600+ finished sq feet, 3 bed, 2 bath, gas fireplace in living room, utility room, pull down storage in garage. The eat-in kitchen features an abundance of Mark Hall Fine Cabinets plus stainless steel appliances and a bar.  Please visit my website at www.aprilbringsuhome.com for more pictures.  Shows like a DREAM!

I, like everyone this year, am closely watching my budget, both professionally and personally.  There are many items on our ballot up for Election by the public on the April 8th ballot,  among those are school board members and various wards will be electing many new city council members.  However, the item that is most important to me is the vote on the property tax increase for the public schools operating budget.  

Financial constraints on the operating budget have compelled the school district to ask for a property tax increase.  Basically they need to make up 10 million dollars.  In order to do this they are asking for a property tax increase to raise 5 million for the operating budget in addition they are cutting 5 million from their current operating budget.  That cut will happen even if voters do not pass the property tax increase.  They have tried to cut from areas that will not directly impact the education of our children and I believe they have done a pretty good job at cutting in those areas.

However, if the property tax increase is NOT approved they will be forced to make further cuts which will affect staffing, directly teachers who teach our children, raise classroom sizes, it could affect transportation of students to a magnet school in the city and would likely affect the ability to hire good qualified teachers to our schools, among many many other items.

For a $200,000 home your taxes will increase less than $1.00 per month.  So I urge those who will be voting in this election to vote for the property tax increase so that our school can continue to provide the fine education that has been a cornerstone of our schools.  

You can get complete information on the cuts that WILL be made even it the tax is not approved as well as the complete list of those cuts that will be considered if the tax is not approved at: 

http://www.columbia.k12.mo.us/

If the activity I've seen in the first 10 days of 2008 is any indication I think we are off to a strong year.  I've had multiple showings on listing that I have, I've gotten several internet leads -- One on New Years Day!  I've got several clients tooling around my website saving their favorite listings.  It appears people are looking again and hopefully with interest rates in the low 6 high 5's they will be ready to jump off the fence that found so comfortable sitting on last year. 

I've talked to other agents and they are equally busy showing properties, following up with the internet leads, writing contract, listings, etc.

Good luck to all of you in 2008!   Make it Great!

April Ferrao

Re/Max Boone Realty

Columbia, MO 65203

www.aprilbringsuhome.com

Here is a story about marketing.  I've had a listing for about 11 weeks.  In our market, as many of yours showing most likely slow down between Thanksgiving and New Years.  So for about 1/2 the listing time right?  This home was on the market before.  During the "HEIGHT" of the season, SUMMER. 

I listed it in Oct. and promptly put out flyers, notified our agents, placed in on REALTOR.CO
M, advertised in the REAL ESTATE BOOK, and placed it on multiple local sites and let the agents know about it again. 

I have not had an offer yet, however, I have had multiple showings when the previous agent had 1 during the SUMMER season.  This just goes to show how much marketing does.  You can just place it on MLS and expect the buyers to appear.  The agents need to know about it as well.

By the way for those wondering why it hasn't sold yet, the feedback has been excellent.  It is clean, nicely decorated, shows very very well and is at the top of several lists. 

Moral of the story -- Market your listing EVERYWHERE you can.  You MUST place a sign in the yard and provide flyer.  YOU MUST get it on the internet, EVERYWHERE. Especially if is free!!

I know most that read this won't care too much about Columbia, MO, however, I just had the BEST meal of my life.  I lived in the Chicago area for many year as a newlywed.  My husband and I sampled various places and I must say this is BEST MEAL I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE CC City Broiler on Forum in Columbia, MO.  It was an excellent meal in a quick time frame.  We were in an out in one hour and 15 minutes.  I had the filet which was pheonomenoal!  If you are in Columbia, or from Columbia you must check this out.  The steak I had alone was $32.++ but well worth every penny!  The salad was exceptional and the service was very professional!  Now I know what doctor candidates are taken there for dinner interviews.

Remodeled within last 2 years this walk-out ranch is magnificent! Incredible Kitchen -- custom wood cabinets, tile counters, and tile backsplash. All appliances, washer/dryer convey, Large master suite features walk-in closets plus master bath with stand alone shower, jetted tub and partially tiled walls. Completely fenced backyard, tiered planting garden and large deck are waiting for your Spring enjoyment.  The 3 bed, 2.5 bath home is located in SW at a very affordable price of only $134,900.  April Ferrao - 424-2512

Last week I attended our Board of Realtors Installation and Awards Ceremony.  At this ceremony I also learned from our CEO that Residental homes sales for the Columbia, MO market is only down 150 units as of Dec 7th.  When you think about hard hit they say the market is I just don't feel that 150 units is that significant.  We've had nearly 2500 residental sales this year and a total of over 3200 total properties have sold.  This is actually up 100 properties from last year.

 So the market in Columbia remains stable and the low interest rates in the upper 5% and lower 6% should mean the market will continue to remain stable or likely improve in 2008.