We sent email to the real estate agent last night that we wanted to make an offer on the condo. Got no reply. That seemed odd as agents usually jump on emails like that. Later in the day we texted her. Turns out that the IT company that looks after their website and email decided to do maintenance and take everything down for a few days – but neglected to tell anyone.
Before we could make an offer, we needed to know what the right value was at which to make an offer. Down here, there is no database of closed sale transactions to review. Fortunately, our agent has been keeping track of sales in her office for years. So she had a sales history she could send us. The listing price was originally $850,000 but had recently been lowered to $800,000 as it had been sitting for a year. We decided to offer $750,000.
We made the offer contingent upon: review of the HOA financials, review of the insurance, and an inspection.
Assuming the offer was accepted, we would need $75,000 in escrow as a deposit, and eventually the remainder in cash. In theory you can get a loan down here but at outrageous interest rates – think 12% to 15%. Highway robbery. So no way are we going after a loan. The way fees work, the seller pays the agents their commission out of their proceeds, and the buyer pays pretty much the remainder – the closing agent fees, taxes, etc. In our deal we expect these fees to be about $34,000.
And now we wait… and wait… and wait…