Comments for Pickett Street

Comment on SOLD: Daylight Rambler by Pickett Street Properties Team

Pickett Street Properties Team — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:54:27 +0000

Thank you for letting us know. We have gone through our other listing sites to remedy this. It should show the correct numbers within the week.

Comment on SOLD: Daylight Rambler by anon

anon — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 01:33:14 +0000

This home’s listing in some places (zillow.com, kw.com) lacks the bed and bath info.

Comment on Under the table offers on short sales by Pickett Street Properties Team

Pickett Street Properties Team — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 02:03:08 +0000

Jillayne – we were not the listing agents in this case. Our buyer’s agent wrote on a short sale listing represented by another agent. Jillian wrote it for X. Listing agent countered at X – $5,000 with $5,000 outside of escrow to benefit sellers directly. Make more sense? I mean less sense?

Comment on Under the table offers on short sales by Jillayne Schlicke

Jillayne Schlicke — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 01:40:57 +0000

Whoa. Interesting. What was the benefit for the buyer/selling broker to write the offer this way?

The buyer is still paying the same amount of money for the home, it was just $5k on the side to the seller??

Buyer’s motivation was……?
Or was this coming from the Realtor representing the buyer?

Comment on SOLD: Adorable Lowell Craftsman by Pickett Street Properties Team

Pickett Street Properties Team — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 03:37:35 +0000

3,485 square feet, or 0.08 acre.

Comment on SOLD: Adorable Lowell Craftsman by elisabeth

elisabeth — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 03:24:50 +0000

Cute cottage. How large is the lot?

Comment on Torn three ways: my thoughts on third-party short sale negotiators… by William Gassett, JR

William Gassett, JR — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:43:00 +0000

Hi Jesse, I appreciate your article. I like how you tried to look at it from all angles. I have been a buyer’s agent for two buyers on properties with a negotiation fee charged to them. Neither buyer had any issue with this because they knew going into the sale they would have to pay the fee. In our area, listing agents put the fee right in the description of the listing. Realistically, my buyers saw the properties online and called me to see the houses.

Once I spoke to the listing agent and she explained the process and I in turn explained it to my buyers, they both went forward. I actually LIKED the firm that negotiated for the sellers so much that I called them after the second closing and asked to work with them. They told me they wouldn’t work with me. Their contract is with the seller, but that I could refer business to them and so far I have and they in turn have referred listings to me.

Here are my thoughts: 1) buyers have to pay fees anyways that are usually seller responsibility such as taxes, septic inspections, fire inspections etc. so why if the seller stipulated something like “if you want to buy my house, you must pay off X” is there a problem? 2) REO lenders selling property do it all the time. You want to buy this house, you must send in a pre approval with X lender. Sellers can make stipulations for the sale and if one stipulation is the buyer must pay a particular fee to buy the property, so long as this was all disclosed, UP FRONT, I don’t see any issues. Agents are so up in arms about things that they really don’t look closely at. If everyone involved is happy, then I have no problem with it. Realistically it’s up to the buyer if they want to put an offer on a property that has a negotiation fee. Not us.

Comment on Torn three ways: my thoughts on third-party short sale negotiators… by Pickett Street Properties Team

Pickett Street Properties Team — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:50:56 +0000

That explanation doesn’t really jive – the bank doesn’t set the price on a short sale unless it’s HAFA approved, and even then I don’t see them approving a property for $150,000 AND $75,000 in the 120 days that the sellers would have to market the property with HAFA. The reality is that the $3,500 is simply a third-party negotiator fee, and you already know how I feel about that based on the article above. You don’t have much of a choice (sadly) if you want the house. The only way third-party negotiators go away is if listing agents quit relying on them and educate themselves on the short sale process, and listing agents probably won’t do that until buyers say that they won’t offer on homes with a third-party fee.

If this is the home you want, either agree to pay the fee or write it into your initial offer that you won’t pay the fee (or that you’ll only pay a portion of the fee). This will go over like a lead balloon, but crazier things have happened.

Comment on Torn three ways: my thoughts on third-party short sale negotiators… by cdjrth1

cdjrth1 — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:17:57 +0000

Dear Jesse,

I am in the process of submitting an offer for a short sale purchase. The house is listed for $74,900 and I am shooting my offer at $75,000. My agent says there is a third party negotiator fee, probaly around $3,500. She says this is because they have done all of the hard work getting the bank to lower the listing sale price from $150,000 to $75,000. The current owners are getting a divorce and cannot afford payments anymore. I don’t know much about short sales. Does this sound right to you?

Comment on Torn three ways: my thoughts on third-party short sale negotiators… by Jillayne Schlicke

Jillayne Schlicke — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:22:36 +0000

Jeannie,

IMO screening would be the job of the listing broker. An attorney would answer LEGAL questions for his/her fee.

The WA State Bar Association offers free legal aid to people in financial distress facing foreclosure. The home seller will have to fill out paperwork to make sure they qualify but this is a bona fide option for some. wsba.org