This one did not take long to go under contract as it was priced to sell. I had it built in 2oo3 by Charter Construction, and it was a great rental from the get go. I never had any problems renting it in the nine years of owning it. It’s also held up well with minimal maintenance required. It is bitter-sweet because I kind of hate to let it go.
Duplex For Sale – 2627 O’Shaughnessy
I recently listed this duplex, which is conveniently located in Hellgate Meadows, just behind Four Paws & Home Depot, close to Reserve. This listing is owned by me (a licensed real estate agent in the state of Montana). It has been a great, low maintenance, rental the past eight years. For more details click on the “showcase listing” tab. If you want to see one of the units while it is still vacant, please me call soon while it’s easy to show, because it usually rents pretty quickly. 406.360.7835.
433 Plymouth Reduced to 270K
Just reduced 433 Plymouth to $270,000. I’m planning on doing an open house Wednesday evening 5-7PM. Please come check it out. This is house house been well maintained and has many nice upgrades including: updated wiring, blown in insulation, newer furnace, remodeled shower & kitchen, new windows, ceiling fans and in-ground sprinkler system. At this price, this neighborhood… come on now! This has got to be looking pretty enticing to those wanting to live in the slant street area.
Townhome vs Condo
What’s the difference between a townhome (townhouse) and a condominium? The way I usually keep it straight is that townhomes tend to be fee simple ownership, meaning the owner has a legal right to the home, the land it sits on, the air space above it and, in many cases, a small yard area around it. With a condo, you own the unit but not the land. Both usually have HOA dues to pay for common ground maintenance and both usually have a shared wall with another unit/home. HOA covenants vary widely from development to development. It is very important to ask how much dues are and what they cover. Even with townhomes, where you typically own the land, you still have to abide by restrictions detailed in the HOA covenants. Just because you own that little piece of land, doesn’t automatically mean you can put a trampoline on it; nor can you modify the home’s exterior without HOA approval.
LENDING TIGHT ROPE
A couple lenders came to our Portico office today to give us a heads up on what’s going down in the lending world. Well… this is all you need to know — Be fully prepared for closing delays. An onslaught of recent lender regulations has mortgage lenders struggling to meet closing deadlines. They are walking a tight rope these days. To save yourself a ton of anxiety just anticipate the lending aspect of a deal to have its snags. Then, if everything ends up running smoothly and you close on time, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
OPEN HOUSE SUN 1-3PM
9625 Cedar Ridge Rd
I’ll be hosting an open house for KD this Sunday (7/24/11), 1:00-3:00PM up O’Brien Creek. Great barn-shaped home, nestled in the woods behind Blue Mountain, sitting on some nice acreage. It’s a beautiful spot, private yet only 15 minutes from Missoula. I love the deck at this place; come sit on it with me this Sunday. I’ll do my best to sign you in off of O’Brien Creek Road.
- 3 bed, 1 bath
- 2,016 sq ft
- Built 1980
- 11.64 acres
- MLS 20114489
Asking $329,900
433 Plymouth
433 Plymouth just went up on the market today (6/13). Please check out some of the pictures under my “Showcase Listing” tab.
This is a charming home in a desirable neighborhood, within walking distance to Cafe Dolce, the University, and Downtown. There is beautiful landscaping in the private fenced yard and stately street trees along the boulevard. This three bedroom house offers a recently remodeled kitchen and bath, updated wiring, insulation and windows. The yard includes a raised vegetable garden bed and is equipped with an automated sprinkler system.
It’s tough to find Slant Street listings these days, so this is a bit of nugget!
CAN I KNOW WHAT SOMEONE ELSE IS OFFERING ON THE SAME PROPERTY?
The short answer is NO. The seller is not legally obligated to disclose other offers, let alone amounts. The selling agent is bound to his client’s wishes (within the state’s legal parameters).
From the NAR® Standard of Practice in the Code of Ethics guide – “REALTORS®, in response to inquiries from buyers or cooperating brokers shall, with the sellers’ approval, divulge the existence of offers on the property.”
The existence of multiple offers must be disclosed when a buyer or broker asks if there are other offers AND if the sellers agrees to disclose that another offer exists. There must be an inquiry and the seller has to be willing to disclose it. It will frustrate other agents if they are not told that there are existing offers on the table. However, in most cases, this isn’t going to happen because the majority of sellers invite the competition. It is usually to the sellers advantage to allow their agent to disclose if other legitimate offers exist .
THE HOME SALE CONTINGENCY
Most every buy/sell agreement has written contingencies in them, with the most popular being – inspection, financing and appraisal (> offering price). If any one of the contingencies are not met, the deal can be a bust.
Another very popular contingency these days is a “home sale contingency” which is an agreement that the buyer will purchase the home when he sells his house. A lot of this stems from the buyers inability to obtain enough of a loan or a loan at all, to purchase the seller’s house, without selling his own home. It’s also very possible the buyer can’t afford and/or prefers not to carry another mortgage.
Some sellers get a little bummed out about this type of contingency for the obvious reason of – who knows when and if this buyer is ever going to be able to sell his house? So why then would a seller accept a home sale contingency offer at all? Primarily because it can be better than having no sale agreement at all.
So how does it work? Typically a seller can set the terms of the contingency to give her a little more freedom. Usually a time period is set for the buyer to get his home under contract – let’s say 90 days. If within ninety days he doesn’t have his house under contract, the seller has the option of offering an extension or letting the contingency expiration void the sale agreement. Almost always attached to a home sale contingency is a “release”. In my dealings, I will use a 72 hour release – meaning if a better offer is made by another buyer (while the original buyer is still trying to sell his house), the original buyer has just 72 hours to come up with the funds to purchase the house, otherwise the seller is released from the sale agreement. Pretty tough on the buyer, right? Well, the release is there to protect the seller so that one buyer doesn’t hold her house hostage from the rest of the market until he sells his house. The buyer has an out if he changes his mind. I’ve seen instances where the buyer just let’s the contingency expire and doesn’t request an extension.
So… if you’re the seller and the market is slow, accepting a home contingency sale is not that bad of a deal. You have a buyer on the hook and, at the same time you can still accept another offer, giving the home contingency buyer just X amount of hours to come up with the financing. One downside might be, buyers could skip over a contingency sale looking for a house free and clear of anything pending. It is the job of the buyer agent to explain to them that they might not be out of the game on that house.
Couple lessons here: Buyers, don’t be discouraged from pursuing a house you want because it is under contract with a home sale contingency. Sellers, in a slow market, don’t shy away from a contingency sale because you are in the driver’s seat.
