Category Archives: San Jose

Just Sold in San Jose for $2,250,000

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For this home I sold in San Jose for $2,250,000, I was the agent for the buyers. I actually sold them a townhome 22 years ago! The way the listing agent set up for offers was a bit chaotic, because he posted on MLS that there was an offer date, but the seller was open to preemptive offers. Frankly, that just makes for confusion. As a buyer’s agent, it makes for a situation in which it is hard to guide buyers. Typically, the sellers do wait for the offer date so that they can receive all of the offers possible, rather than accepting an offer in advance, and then wondering if they could have received a better offer if they had waited. But, some sellers do take a preemptive offer quickly if they think it is the best they will receive. It’s a dice roll.

In these situations, if the seller will take the preemptive offer, then great, we will write an offer and try to get it accepted before the offer date. If the seller decides to wait for the offer date, then I feel it puts my buyers at a disadvantage to make an offer that the seller just holds and does not accept. Plus, it makes for concern that the offer will be ‘shopped’ and then our offer not as competitive on the offer date. Of course, we can modify our offer on the offer date, but it’s best not to submit a preemptive offer that the seller won’t even work with until the offer date.

So, from Day 1, I kept in touch with the listing agent, just to make sure the home did not sell from under our feet. We did not want to submit a preemptive offer if the seller was not going to actually accept it. The listing agent did get 2 offers within the first couple of days being listed, but the seller seemed to be holding off on decision making, so I just kept in touch with the listing agent to make sure we didn’t lost it before we even were able to make an offer.

Days passed and then the seller did decide to just wait for the offer date, so that is when we submitted our offer. At that point, there were 5 offers on offer day. We were NOT the highest offer, but our price and terms were solid and I had kept in touch very closely with the listing agent. The buyers wrote a wonderful letter to the seller. The seller told the listing agent that it did make a difference. And, the sellers wanted the home to go to a family that would love and care for the home as they did. So, in combination with our offer being solid in price and terms, and also the letter that touched the seller, and that I was keeping in good communication with the listing agent, they came back to us rather than just taking the highest offer in hand. I believe we ended up matching the highest offer, or at least was VERY close, because the seller decided to work with us.

A few quirky things that happened in our transaction that I want to bring up that may help others…

Home insurance has been interesting, to say the least. So, I tell my buyers to get the home insurance set up right away to ensure they can get home insurance and at a decent rate and such. Buyers may need time to shop around, so home insurance is something to jump on quickly. And, some big names have left CA, at least for now, so there are less choices.

In this case, a situation came up that I have never had an issue with in the past. It may be just a one off, but nonetheless, I will bring it up in case it can help someone in the future. The buyers are putting the home in a Living Trust, very common, home insurance and lenders to this all the time. We thought everything was in order, but closer to closing time, there was a discrepancy for the home insurance and lender in regard to the name on title. They needed to match, and one was the Living Trust name and one was the owner’s names. And, that became an 11th hour situation that could have so easily been avoided if it was noticed earlier in the transaction. Key point…if you are putting the home in a Living Trust when you close, make sure you tell the insurance agent upfront and ensure that the names match for the insurance and the title. If worked out upfront, it won’t become an 11th hour matter.

Also, in CA at least, there is a lending law that requires the buyer to wait 3 days after they receive the Closing Disclosure (CD). This time period can NOT be waived. It is supposed to give the buyers a chance to review the documents and have ‘proper’ time to review and let things sink in. Frankly, the 3 days are a pain in most cases and more-so upset buyers and all the other parties to the transaction, because most of the time, we are all in a rush to close, and it can be very frustrating to have to wait for the required 3 days. In an 11th hour rush situation, make sure to sign the CD ASAP because that could also cause a delay in closing. In this case, the buyers signed it after the cut off time for the day, and then was not able to sign the day they were supposed to sign and had to wait until the following day. I thought it was signed, and found out after the fact. I will definitely follow up on these 11th hour rushes to ensure the CD truly gets signed in time for the cut off.

Another situation that actually ended up causing a 1 business day delay, to take us through the weekend in this case, so essentially 3 days, is that the listing agent is local, but for some reason used a San Diego title office. I have no idea why. So, it was impossible to do a same day signing, funding and recording, because the office was too far away to provide the original documents the same day. We have a MILLION local title offices. Frankly, too many! So, it just seems a bit silly to choose a title company that far away, when we already have too many to choose from locally.

My final thought I want to bring up is to sellers and listing agents. Sellers and listing agents, please give ALL of the proper information at closing. It is NO fun for buyers when we have to chase down sellers for information we should have received at closing. In this case, we were told there was a physical key to the front door smart lock, which in fact, the seller didn’t have one. We found this out after closing. We didn’t have the proper master codes, instructions, etc for changing codes.  On closing day, it was a bit of a mess, trying to chase down keys, information, instructions to change smart lock codes, that needed a master code in order to change, devices that open the locks so that they can be changed, etc. I asked for this information a week in advance and again on closing morning. I was informed that everything we needed would be there, but it was not. So, then the texting back and forth began…for days…And, some of the information the seller just didn’t have at all, which would have been nice to know before closing. Basically, not having all of the keys and information a buyer needs for their new home puts a damper in the excitement on closing day.

The good news is that this home is absolutely beautiful and has amazing views! It has many awesome features that makes this home truly unique and special. A wonderful entertaining home for sure. I’m certain that many wonderful memories will be made there.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3450-Valley-Vista-Dr-San-Jose-CA-95148/51074830_zpid/

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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 $675,000…

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For this condo I sold in San Jose for $675,000, I was the agent for the sellers. I sold this condo to the sellers as their buyer’s agent back in 2007! And, I believe this is the 5th time working with these clients over the years!

Where do I start??? This listing was a doozy!!! Ahhh, so much to say, but I’ll try to keep it to the highlights.

Craziness happened even before the condo was listed. When my clients first reached out about selling this condo, the market was questionable at best for sellers. It was a hard call whether they should even list it for sale or just keep it as a rental until the market was more predictable.

We were going back and forth on if it was even the right time to list it. Another condo came up for sale in the community, the exact model and was getting little to no activity. So, we had a discussion that we surely did not want to compete with another condo just like theirs in this market and if they weren’t getting activity, there’s no logical reason we would do any better. So, we were on the road to not listing at all.

Then one day, the listing agent of that condo said she has a better than normal weekend and had 2 offers at once, and actually was able to get OVER the listed price. Come to find out, 1 offer was over the list price due to the competition, but the other offer was under the list price.

So, they took the over list price offer of course. And, that meant there was an actual buyer interested in this model! So, I went back to these clients to let them know the developments. And, that buyer was interested in the condo, so we thought we had an easy buyer!

Well, turns out, not so easy…The buyer was a VA buyer, and did make an offer, but I personally know that a there are certain things that need to be in order for a VA loan, so I advised my clients that we should not accept the offer until we know the VA will give a loan in this community.

I asked the agent to talk to the lender and make sure the VA would approve this community and that it would be a solid deal.

In the meantime, we decided to list the condo on MLS, knowing we had this buyer who wanted to buy the condo and then to see if there was anyone else out there in case this didn’t pan out.

The open house weekend was extremely slow, basically no real buyers even showed up, so we were very hopeful for the VA buyer. Come to find out, the VA has a requirement that the community is at least 50% owner occupied. And, this community falls short by literally 2 units!

The pending unit was going to be owner occupied, and then this VA buyer was going to be a owner occupant which would bring it up to 50%, but that’s only if the VA would accept this buyer to make it 50% AND we would have to wait for the pending sale to close.

Well, the VA buyer’s agent went MIA, just pretty much stopped communicating, which I thought was a bit rude, but also tells me that they didn’t want to move forward.

So, back to square one. At that point, we were getting just random showings, buyer’s agent calling with questions, and a few saying they thought they would be sending an offer, but then nothing would come of it. And, we did get a low ball offer that we countered, and then they changed their mind and nothing came of that offer.

And, then it went to just basically no showings at all. And, nothing was really happening.

So, once the listing was about to expire, and the sellers didn’t want to lower the price to see if that would spark interest, it seemed to just be a sign to take it off the market and rent it out again.

The listing expired, and within 1-2 days, a buyer’s agent calls me asking about it! He said his buyers had been looking for some time, were very interested, and my thoughts were…Where have you been the last 60 days??? Apparently, they were looking in a lower priced budget, but not finding anything, so were looking a bit higher in price for more options.

I had literally just removed the staging and was about to grab my lockboxes. I let the agent know he was welcome to show it, but the staging was gone, they could check the MLS photos and tour, but physically, it was empty.

He showed it, they loved it, and they made an offer. We negotiated a bit and then came to an agreement.

The transaction itself was a HUGE headache at multiple levels, it seemed nothing went smoothly. The buyer’s agent put in various contingency removal dates, rather than just have all contingencies removed on a date, or maybe 2 dates, but there were like 5 different dates! Who does that??

The buyers wanted updated HOA info since we didn’t have a most recent copy because we were taking it off the market. So, we had the bulk of the HOA docs, but not the last couple months in which we didn’t think we would even sell the place. The HOA was HORRIBLE in getting us the updated docs, so that took FOREVER and many calls, emails, texts, etc.

And, that caused delays in contingency removals not only for HOA, but also the loan.

Once we received all of the HOA docs, the buyers asked for a ridiculous credit because they claimed that the HOA was not financially strong. The HOA gets everything needed done, all is in order, the seller said they are always maintaining the community and it looks great. The sellers are not responsible for the health of the HOA financials, so the answer was a hard “no” for the seller to credit the buyer due to the HOA!

Also, the buyers had a home inspection, which is perfectly fine, but they were SUPER picky about nothing items. I understand if something reasonable comes up, but if it’s just small little maintenance items, not cool! And, they asked for a crazy credit for these little items. The sellers gave a generous credit, just to show they cared and proceed in good faith, but surely not what they asked for, and frankly, they should have never asked.

Also, I was chasing the buyer’s agent to remove their contingencies. None were removed on time, and since there were too many, I was reaching out for every single one, on multiple occasions to get me the contingency removals, or extensions, or whatever applied.

One of the sellers was out of the country, so he had to sign his final docs at the American Consulate. And, the other seller was mostly in the area but travels frequently. So, with all this extra paperwork floating around due to the contingencies and such, it was a lot for myself and my clients to have to sign more than usual paperwork and keep this contract together.

I worked on this listing even well before it was listed. And, then worked on the transaction pretty much every single day until the closing day. It was just one frustration after another. It’s in my top ‘worst transaction experiences ever’ category. The sellers were troupers going through this whole experience from pre-listing, listing, and then this crazy transaction.

But, in the end, we got it done! Praise God!

Just sold in San Jose for $675,000

Just sold in San Jose for $675,000

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Just Sold in San Jose for $1,200,000!

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For this home I sold in San Jose for $1,200,000, I was the agent for the seller. I have sold a number of homes with this family and this sale was dear to me because it was a client that I worked with many years ago who passed away (the reason for the sale). The family members wanted me to be the realtor and even said my client who passed would have wanted me to be the realtor. So endearing and heartwarming! I just love this family! This home was owned almost 50 years by the original owners!

The timing for putting a home on the market was questionable at best, in that the interest rates went up and the market had drastically slowed down. And, it was at the cusp of not quite knowing exactly what buyers would be willing to pay in the market coupled with the higher interest rates. We priced the home where I felt the home would sell fast in this unpredictable market and we did quite well! It was important to the seller that the home sold quickly…so…no pressure at all…LOL.

Given the uncertainty of the market, we didn’t post an offer due date, only asked to get through the open house weekend for exposure purposes. It was pretty incredible in that we had a good open house weekend, with lots of positive feedback, but no offers. Then Tuesday came along, and lots of calls, emails, etc but no offers. Wednesday came along and out of nowhere we had 3 offers! Competition! And, the home sold for OVER the list price with the buyer waiving ALL contingencies. Go figure! Basically, if any of the 3 buyers would have made their offer on Monday or even Tuesday, they would have been able to get the home for a lower price, but….yay for the seller!

The transaction itself was very smooth and seamless. And, we were able to sell and get this done quickly for the seller.

Just Sold in San Jose for $1,200,000

Just Sold in San Jose for $1,200,000

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Just Sold in San Jose for $2,025,000…

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For this home I sold for $2,025,000 in San Jose, I was the agent for the buyers. This is my 3rd transaction with the buyers so we go way back! There were 3 offers on this home. One offer was actualy under the listed price, so that buyer was pretty much eliminated immediately. However, the other 2 buyers were in fierce competition to get this home, 1 of which was us.

My clients had been looking for a long time to find ‘the one’ and for them, this was ‘the one’. Apparently, the other buyers felt pretty much the same. And, apparently, both offers were quite similar in price, terms, and strength of finances. By the grace of God, I know the listing agent and we also go way back and worked together on a transaction many moons ago. So, he worked with me to make it happen for my buyers and swung it our direction. Yay!

The transaction itself was smooth overall and all went well. There was some frustration with the lender that was a bit annoying, especially since the lender was out of state. But, the buyers muddled through dealings with the lender to get it done.

After the many, many months of searching, the buyers are in their what can be ‘forever’ home.

Just Sold in San Jose for $2,025,000!

Just Sold in San Jose for $2,025,000!

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Just Sold in San Jose for $1,025,000

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For this condo I just sold in San Jose for $1,025,000, I was the agent for the seller, who was referred to me by one of my clients.

Pricing was a bit tough in that there are very few units with this floor plan and none have sold for a few years. It’s a beautiful unit, it has 2 bedrooms and a huge loft. So, I was going back and forth with advertising as a 3 bedroom vs. a 2 bedroom, just wanting to make sure everyone would know there was that huge loft with a big closet, and someone could use that room as a bedroom, office, etc. I wanted to ensure no potential buyer missed that feature.

Since there was not a recent sale, it was hard to know how much ‘value’ buyers would give the loft as opposed to having a true 3rd bedroom. But, pricing a bit low, just ensures we will get the price that the market will cap out.

We had a huge turn out, lots of people through the open house weekend. Buyers loved the place itself. I thought for sure there would be a good number of offers. The only negative feedback pertained to the stairs to get to the unit. This is a “2nd” floor unit, but you actually climb 3 sets of stairs to get to it because the first floor is the garage level, and then there are 2 more sections of stairs that lead to this unit. Some buyers literally came to the door a bit out of breath, and about 90% of buyers through were in their 20’s and 30’s.

Come to find out, the number of stairs ended up being a deal breaker for more buyers than I anticipated, but we still did very well, we got OVER the listed price, the buyer waived ALL contingencies and the transaction itself was very smooth. The buyers used a program called Landed. The program is designed for essential workers, so any essential workers out there, you may want to look into it, buyers that are teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, etc.

Just Sold in San Jose for $1.025,000

Just Sold in San Jose for $1,025,000

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Just Sold in San Jose (Willow Glen) for $2,150,000…

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For this home I just sold in the Willow Glen area of San Jose for $2,150,000, I was the agent for the sellers, who bought this home with me as their buyer’s agent only 3 years ago, and decided to move out of the area.

The prepping of the home was the intense part, in that once I got the call to sell, the sellers wanted to move pretty quickly. I had to jump through some hoops and do a lot of begging and pleading to get some pretty booked up photgraphers and stagers on board. But, we made it happen.

We received multiple offers for this home and it went for well over the listed price and the buyer waived ALL contingencies. Overall, it was a very smooth and seamless transaction, not much to report, which is the best kind of sale!

Just Sold in San Jose for $2,150,000

Just Sold in San Jose for $2,150,000

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Just Sold in San Jose for $982,000…

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For this townhome I just sold in San Jose for $982,000, I was the agent for the sellers. They actually bought this townhome with me about 3 years ago as their buyer’s agent, and recently had the opportunity to buy their parent’s home who moved to Arizona. Lucky!

We received a very strong offer after the open house weekend and the sellers jumped on it. The buyers were really excited about this home and came in over the listed price and waived ALL contingencies. The transaction itself was super smooth and seamless. Such a wonderful transaction there’s actually not much to say. haha. The best kind!

Just Sold in San Jose for $982,000!

Just Sold in San Jose for $982,000!

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