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Just Sold in San Jose for $1,850,000

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For this home I sold for $1,850,000 in San Jose, I was the agent for the buyers. They were referred to me by another couple that have bought and sold homes with me in the past. In fact, they know a few of my clients I have worked with over the years.

The market is quite hot and competitive for the areas they wanted to buy a home. We were facing fierce competition with multiple offers and bids going over the budget. Inventory is just so low!

This home came on the market and it was an odd situation. The seller inherited this home, as her mother had passed recently, and she wanted to get the home sold ASAP. The seller’s agent listed the home, and then went out of town for the weekend the very next day. There was no staging, no inspections, it was very hard to reach the listing agent, and the seller apparently wanted to get into contract right away and not wait for an offer date.  This combination were what gave us an edge and an “in”. The typical process is to stage, get inspections, hold an open house weekend, and set an offer date.

When I did connect with the agent via text while she was out of town, she was basically telling me to send an offer, and once she got back in town, the seller was going to review whatever was in hand and make a decision. And, the seller was not going to get inspections, so the buyer would need to do their own, which is unusual.

Once the listing agent got back to town, many agents were reaching out to her, but she was truly just going with the first come, first serve approach, and not setting an offer date. There were still multiple offers and fairly fierce competition, but not at the level it would have been if there was staging, inspections, a listing agent that was more reachable, and an offer deadline.

Our fiercest competition was another offer from a buyer’s agent who was apparently aggressive to the point that it was actually offensive to the seller’s agent. Apparently, that agent was so rude and obnoxious, and borderline unethical, that the seller’s agent did not want to work with her. Luckily, the seller’s agent liked me and my approach, and ended up helping me lock in the home for my clients. Based on the written offers, the home could have easily gone to the over aggressive agent, but being pleasant and professional can go along way in getting an offer accepted.

I am convinced that if the seller’s agent would have been in town, staged the home, had inspection reports, and an offer deadline, that this home would have sold quite a bit higher in price and there would have been a higher level of competition with more offers. I truly believe we really lucked out and got a good price for the current market.

The transaction itself was very smooth and seamless, except for the loan process with BofA. One buyer is self employed and BofA makes the process so incredibly frustrating with self employed buyers. I know this from personal experience. It is tough, because if you are a customer of BofA, they seem fairly unbeatable by other banks/lenders in regard to interest rates/fees. But, you really work hard for that lower rate.

Amazingly, the inspections went better than anticipated. There were some components of the home that were actually new/newer that we found out through the inspector. Since the owner had passed away, we didn’t have knowledge of the home itself until we had the inspections performed. And, there were no major issues with the home. Overall, it was lovingly cared for and well maintained for many years.

Just Sold for $1,850,000!

Just Sold for $1,850,000!

 

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Just Sold in San Jose for $1,999,900…

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For this home I sold in San Jose for $1,999,900 I was the agent for the buyers, who were referred to me by their brother, who I also sold a home to a few years ago. The home search was a journey. The market very hot and there were homes we competed for that had up to 45 offers! Insanity!

For this home, it’s located on a busy street, so the competition was much less fierce. The home itself is big and beautiful, really the only downside being on a very busy road. Even the competition for this home was fierce, we were neck and neck with another offer that was apparently the exact same offer, and apparently, the only difference was that we put in a 21 day closing, rather than a 30 day closing. I was told by the listing agent that was the only real difference between us and the competition and they chose our offer.

One thing I want to point out is the sales price, because this may be helpful for other buyers and sellers in the city of San Jose. San Jose has a luxury city transfer tax called Measure E. For homes sold over $2m, there is an addtional transfer tax added that the buyer and seller typically split 50/50. For $2m-$5m the additional tax is $7.50/1000. So, it’s not chump change. The balance of using sales price and this luxury tax calculation is only going to be a benefit when the sales price is very close to $2m for the numbers to be beneficial to sell under $2m, otherwise, it won’t even matter. So, there are some strategies that will work when the price is close to $2m to take advantage of maybe using some terms and such to avoid this luxury tax and still net out the same or better.

First and foremost, trying to close a transaction that needs a loan in 21 days is typically going to be a stressfest because frankly, even if the lender says it can be done, it’s very hard to get a deal closed with a loan in less than 30 days. Yes, it can be done, but it’s going to be a bumpy ride in most cases. And, this case was a roller coaster ride to the finish with the loan.

When you are buying a house, leave your money alone! It’s best not to move money around. Every single move to/from accounts needs to be tracked, explained, etc. And, that goes for within the US and also internationally, if you have money in banks and such outside of the US. Banks track every single penny and you have to explain every single transaction. And, for anyone that moves around money, that can turn into a logistical nightmare.

Also, a loan preapproval that is “underwriter preapproved” can be really essential in these strange times with banks being pretty picky in our current environment, where the ‘standards’ are not so ‘standard’. In this case, the underwriter decided not to use bonus income, which was quite a shocker, and can impact the loan amount.

The loan part of this transaction was quite stressful and it was just one thing after another with the underwriter overseeing this file, but at the end of the day, we got it done and now the buyers own this beautiful home!

Just Sold in San Jose for $1,999,900!

Just Sold in San Jose for $1,999,900!

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Just Sold in San Jose for $3,350,000…

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For this home I sold in San Jose for $3,350,000, I was the agent for the buyers, who I also worked with back in 2010 when they bought their first home! They were looking to buy a bigger home.

There were multiple offers on this home and it was HIGHLY competitive. In fact, we were NOT the highest offer, but lucky for me, I know this agent and she worked with me to get this home for my buyers. Coincidentally, the seller of this home was a buyer for my listing back in 2016 and used this same agent as their buyer’s agent at the time, who they now used for their listing agent for this home.

Apparently, and I don’t even remember this situation, but back when I had my listing in 2016, this buyer/agent competed for my listing that had over 20 offers at the time! And, this agent was apparently grateful to get the home for her buyers back then…and then consequently wanted to return the favor to me this round in 2023 for my buyers.

What are the chances? The exact same buyer/agent that bought my listing back in 2016, now has a home to sell (not the same home) in 2023 and I have a buyer for it. Crazy!

Praise God, my buyers got this home with the help of the listing agent…and likely the sellers…in that the listing agent told her clients that they owed me one for the home they bought back in 2016.

The transaction itself was smooth overall. The main hiccup was mainly loan related surprises. I had mentioned to the buyers that when a loan is over $2m there is typically 2 appraisals. But, when we locked in the home, the loan officer didn’t mention it, and apparently didn’t even know the home would need 2 appraisals, but it did! Mainly, no one likes surprises mid transaction. Luckily, both appraisals were fine, but it just adds another layer of stress when 2 are needed.

And, a few other quirkly items with the loan, like asking for irrelevant info that was clearly not needed or even applicable, having to deal with things that were just a waste of time. And, a couple last minute items that should have been addressed weeks in advance. But, we got through it and were able to close on time.

Just Sold in San Jose for $3,350,000

Just Sold in San Jose for $3,350,000

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Just Sold in San Jose for $1,610,000…

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For this home I just sold in San Jose for $1,610,000, I was the agent for the seller. This was our 2nd transacton together, in that he also bought this home with me 10+ years ago!

This was such a crazy one! As many know, pretty much every home sells after the first weekend with mulitple offers and high levels of competition, which of course, we anticpated as well. It’s a great home, great neighborhood, great floor plan, desirable schools, great zip code, has a pool which is super popular these days, and just checks all the boxes, basically.

After the first weekend, I received a number of calls, interest, etc, but no offers! Agents saying they were writing, etc, etc, but then 1 by 1, they just bailed and/or went MIA. My only explanation was that maybe buyers felt the competition would be too fierce, and then there ended up being none at all after the weekend.

So, the next week comes along…mind you, this would have been a major shoe in for any buyer to NOT compete…and all of the sudden, I get 3 offers all at once! And, the competition ended up being super fierce between those 3 parties, all of which fighting to the death for this home. 2 buyers of which had seen the home the weekend before when we ended up with no offers! Any of which if they would have written an offer ANY sooner, could have bought this home for a LOWER price since there was no one competing. How crazy is that???

Of course, the seller was happy, in that we were both just blown away after the first weekend wondering where everyone went…but then we ended up with the level of competition we expected to get after the first weekend and also the price we hoped for, so thank God, it worked out so well.

It was such a hard decision for the seller because all 3 offers were so close in price and terms, and it was just so hard to choose, going back and forth, and then just getting that last highest and best offer in, and the seller just made the call. Luckily, it all worked out for the seller and the price he wanted to achieve.

The transaction itself was very smooth and seamless, the buyer waived ALL contingencies, loan, appraisal and inspections, and at that point, the buyers were very relieved to be the ‘chosen one’ after such fierce unexpected competition.

Just Sold in San Jose for $1,610,000

Just Sold in San Jose for $1,610,000

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