Accepting an Offer

We’ve Listed Our Home with Pam and Bill Fisher…..

When an offer comes…..  WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

After the listing appointment, much of our communication will be by telephone and/or e-mail.  We will visit your home frequently to replenish flyers and color brochures and to pick up Realtor cards.

When an agent writes an offer for a client, the agent will call us.  We will in turn call you immediately and forward you the offer if it has been emailed to us.  We will set a time with you to review the offer.  If you are out of town and we cannot meet with you in person, or we are not immediately available to meet with you, we can discuss the offer with you over the telephone when you have a copy in front of you to review.

We will go over the terms of the offer with you in detail – and if we have recommendations for you to consider (and we usually do) we will mention them to you.  It is always worth countering the offer if it is low or the terms are not acceptable.  We have seen buyers come up considerably in price from the first very low offer.  The terms of the offer can be equally or more important even than the price offered.

Often the first offer that comes to us is the best one.  It will probably need to be amended in one way or another, but it should not be lightly dismissed as the first of a number of anticipated offers which may or may not be received.  Generally, if an offer is received early in the listing period it will be higher than one written after the home has been on the market for longer.  For this reason, we do not normally recommend a wide spread between expected sale price and asking price, in order to price the property as competitively as possible, thus encouraging serious buyers.

Once an offer is accepted, we will take care of all contingency and escrow details.  Our first concern is to ensure that the buyer is qualified and credit worthy, and we will talk with the buyer’s lender personally.  If there is no pre-approval letter, we will ask for one to be provided.  The buyer will be expected to complete a loan application promptly if this has not yet been done.  You will receive escrow instructions within a few days of execution of the contract, after we have checked the documentation for accuracy, and we will discuss any questions you have with you.  You also should check the escrow papers carefully for such things as misspelled names, etc.

We will maintain frequent contact with you throughout the escrow period.  There is no formal “closing” in Southern California, so you will not have to present yourselves in person on the day the home becomes your buyer’s property.  In most cases, once the offer and addendums, disclosure statements and the escrow instructions are signed, your signature will not be required on any further documentation.  We will let you know as soon as the buyer’s loan has funded, and then again once the home has recorded in the buyer’s name.

Either Pam or Bill will usually be available should you call for assistance, but if we are both temporarily unavailable we will return your call promptly – or as soon as possible should we be with clients.  We check our messages often, so please do leave a message and a phone number on our direct line, 858-748-9077.