Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, real estate broker in the great state of Florida. And with me, the co-host of the Matthew Mania podcast, the Secret of our Success
Staci Garcia:
Real Estate Finder.
Matthew Maschler:
What’d I say? Matthew Mane podcast, Uhhuh <affirmative>. Okay. And with me, the co-host of Real Estate Finder podcast. The secret of our, you know what it is? I was thinking about the Matthew Mania podcast I was thinking about, we’re gonna talk about the next show on the next. Yeah. But, uh, alright, so now keep, keep recording. We’re good. <laugh> Real Estate Finder podcast, the co-host of the Real Estate Finder podcast, Stacy Garcia. Hi, Stacy. How are you? I’m good. I’m right. All right. We have a lot of things to talk about. We do. Um, last week when I was here, uh, we talked about, uh, some of Stacy’s new listings and some of Jill’s new listings. Um, Jill has the Coconut Creek house, uh, under contract. We’re very, very happy with that. Um, it was interesting, the a, it was a full price offer, um, where the buyer asked for a $5,000 credit, uh, to turn the loft into a fourth bedroom.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, which we did advertise, uh, that we would, uh, that the seller would provide a $5,000 credit to turn the loft into a, uh, fourth bedroom. And so we advertise that. So, one thing that you have to remember as a buyer’s agent, if you advertise something, if, if, if, if the commission in the mls and a bonus in the mls, that doesn’t have to be in the contract because that’s between agents. But as far as the seller and the buyer, anything that’s advertised in the mls, if it’s not in the contract, the contract prevails. So if the house says it’s 4 99 fully furnished, and the offer comes in at 4 99 and there’s no mention of furniture, then there’s no mention of furniture. The buyer doesn’t get the furniture and they say, I thought it was fully furnished. It’s like, well, the buyer, you wrote the contract. Right. You could have put the furniture in. You didn’t.
Staci Garcia:
What about if someone writes as per shown on the photos and the MLS on this date,
Matthew Maschler:
Do they say furnished as shown, or,
Staci Garcia:
I don’t know. Sometimes they write like, uh, as shown in the photos on the certain date in
Matthew Maschler:
The mls. It’s, it’s ambiguous. Huh? I would say it’s ambiguous because, well, because you have to look at the personal property and there’s, there would be a list of personal property. Right. And if it’s furniture is not checked off, then furniture’s not checked off. It’s the condition of the house, I don’t think, as shown in the MLS binds anyone to anything really. Um, a lot of people like to put in magic words. Yeah. In the contract that are not legally binding. Um, you’d have to say furnished as shown in the mls Oh, okay. On certain day. Or, um, landscaping as shown. Right. Obviously, people don’t rip up the landscaping, but, um, but if there’s something, if you’re the buyer and there’s something important to you, Uhhuh, <affirmative>, spell it out in the offer. Right? So this buyer did, they put down $5,000, um, uh, to enclose the loft, and then they put in, uh, $2,500, uh, for the seller to pay, uh, the buyer’s costs and credits.
Now, the seller said, why should I have to pay for the buyer’s costs? And I said, don’t think of it that way. Just think of it as an offer. Right. That’s $2,500 less than ask, that’s actually pretty good. Or $7,500 less than this. Right. And we knew there was room there, right? There was room in the asking price. Um, so, so the buyer could have just made a lesser offer. Right. So, um, and that satisfied my seller, uh, but if the seller said, why would they do that? Uh, I’m, I wanted to answer the question, so I’m gonna answer it here. Okay. Why would a buyer make a offer and then ask for X number of dollars back from the seller? And there’s two reasons that I could think of. There may be more. Reason. Number one is it makes the offer look better. Okay.
Just appearances. Um, you got a full price offer, multiple price minus 7,500 mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, um, so it looked better. They got to say it’s full price, even though it wasn’t. Uh, but there’s a second reason. And that reason has to do with the bank. If you make an offer of four 50 and the bank wants to loans you, I’m assuming the house appraises, the bank loans you against four 50, you’re gonna borrow, let’s say you borrow 80%, put 20% down, uh, that’s $90,000 down, and the bank will loan you the $360,000 difference. But instead of making an offer of four 50, if you make an offer of 4 42 5, then the bank will only loan you $88,000. And, um, and this way, and, and you end up having to, um, come up with more money. Right. Right. This way, the 80% of that $7,500 is financed by the bank. Right. So you bought the house for 4 42, you’re putting $88,000 down, borrowing the rest. I think it’s a smart move. So it is, it is a smart move. Um, I, I don’t think it’s illegal or bank fraud, especially at that, at those numbers. If it’s completely artificial, then, then, uh, then I think the bank, uh, is, is put in a bad spot, but $2,500 to the buyer’s closing costs, it’s normal. And that’s why you name it as the buyer’s closing costs. Right. You, you, you can’t just say it’s for nothing. Right. So, um, did
Staci Garcia:
It start as a four bedroom and they made it a loft?
Matthew Maschler:
So, interestingly enough, um, it was, um, it was sold to the buyers as a four bedroom Oh. To the seller as a four bedroom. And when we went to list it, um, the seller said it was a four bedroom, and we, we listed it as a four bedroom. And the first time I showed it, and one of the things I like to do when I’m in houses, I count bedrooms. Yeah. Uh, that’s an older debate that Stacey and I have, because sometimes we have different definitions of bedrooms mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but, um, but that’s, but that’s why we count bedrooms. So I go in and I’m like, there’s only three bedrooms and the exact same house, the same model up the street, um, where they closed the loft to make it a bedroom. Uh, got a good comp. Right. So a three bedroom versus a four bedroom, the four bedroom is worth more money.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, the, the craziest coincidences while this was happening, uh, we got a notice from, uh, the, the, uh, regional, uh, multiple listing service and the Our Real Estate Realtors Association, uh, that they actually formed a task force to define the bedroom. Oh, really? Yeah. And, and I got a video on what makes a bedroom and a bedroom. And, and, and this wasn’t new information to me, so it needed a, a door Right. Or, or a place where a door can reasonably be installed. Um, so a lot of people who list, uh, dens or offices, that’s bedrooms mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, that don’t have doors, it’s can still be a bedroom cuz you can reasonably put in a door. So it needs a door, Uhhuh, <affirmative>, um, it needs a second, uh, form of entrance or exit. Right. Like for an emergency. So like a window uhhuh, obviously in Florida, all our windows, like in New York, windows open and down.
Right. You can open up a window, yell out of it. In Florida, all these windows they don’t open. So I don’t see how a window is a second form of entrance, but I guess if there’s a fire and you have a hammer, yes. You can get out of, uh, out of the room with a second entrance and it needs a closet. Right. So it needs a, so those, those three things, if it has those three things, it’s a bedroom. Now, the video was confusing to me because later on it said, therefore a den or an office would not be considered a bedroom. And I’m like, well, what if den or an office had a window in the closet? Right. I don’t understand. Because what the example of something that was a bedroom was a den. Right? Right. The den that had the window in the closet, but it didn’t have a door.
It had a place where a door reasonably could be installed that was a bedroom, and then they said a den, or if it wouldn’t be a bedroom. I’m like, well, why not? Um, if it, it, it was just, it was too dismissive to just say the den or, or the office isn’t, or the loft isn’t a bedroom. Right. It is a bedroom if it had the closet and the second entrance. So, um, so that’s the legal definition of bedroom, and that’s the definition that the reals association is enforcing. So let’s say you have something that doesn’t qualify as a bedroom, let’s say like the loft, Uhhuh, <affirmative>, um, um, what you can st according to this ruling, and I think it’s fair, you can still call it a bedroom, if included in the purchase price seller is willing to do the work to re to make it into Oh, a bedroom. Okay. So that was good. I liked that ruling that that footnote, uh, but it confused me because in the definition it said a door or a place where a door reasonably would be, could be installed is legally bedroom. So if there’s a place where a door could reasonably be installed, the cell doesn’t have to do the work. So, but if it’s, if, if there’s a lot of work, if the door can’t reasonably be installed, you can still call it a bedroom if the seller’s willing to do, to do the work to
Staci Garcia:
Comply. Let me ask a question that came up with me, um, multiple times when I was at two open houses over the weekend, last weekend mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, the question was, if you have to walk through the bedroom to get to that room, is it still a bedroom?
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So the, so now we’re gonna talk about the, so we’re talking about the legal definition in the state of Florida and the rules of our association. Our association is a private club, the rules of our association and how you listed in the multiple listing service, um, if it has a door, a second entrance and a closet, it’s a bedroom.
Staci Garcia:
So yes. You have to walk through the room it’ss.
Matthew Maschler:
Fine. Well, well, well describe for me. I, I can’t, okay, so I don’t
Staci Garcia:
Know what you’re saying. So the house in Parkland mm-hmm. <affirmative> has a master, uh, primary owner’s wing uhhuh, if you will. So you walk to the wing and on that side of the house, there’s an office with a full bathroom
Matthew Maschler:
Inside the master?
Staci Garcia:
No, it’s right outside the
Matthew Maschler:
Master. Outside the master. There’s an office in a full bathroom. So
Staci Garcia:
That I count that as one bedroom.
Matthew Maschler:
The o the office? Yeah. Did it have a, did it have a window?
Staci Garcia:
Multiple windows and closet. Okay.
Matthew Maschler:
And
Staci Garcia:
So that’s a bedroom. Yeah. And then you turn Right and there’s a double door for the owner’s suite. And it’s, um, first it’s their bedroom. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Then you work walk further in, farther further. And then on the right there’s, um, a small room that would be a nursery with sliding glass doors.
Matthew Maschler:
So it has the entrance, that’s
Staci Garcia:
It. And a closet. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So that’s a b a bedroom.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. It had a door mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, it had a door, um, a closet. Yep. And the secondary entrance. Yep. So it’s a bedroom. Okay. So
Staci Garcia:
Then you keep
Matthew Maschler:
On walking. I’m gonna, I’m gonna ask compliance if, if there’s Okay. A bedroom and a bedroom.
Staci Garcia:
Okay. So that’s one. And then when
Matthew Maschler:
You, so my, in my master bedroom, we have what, what we call it could be a nursery, but it’s a, it’s Wendy’s office. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it has a door and a closet and a window. So theoretically that could be a bedroom. Right. Depending on that, um, definition. All right, you keep talking. I’m gonna look up the,
Staci Garcia:
Uh, okay. So then, and you walk further farther. I never know if it’s further farther, then you walk more. And then, um, there’s another double door entry, and it’s their closet. It’s as big as a master normal owner suite. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it’s actually humongous, but it’s a closet. It has two windows, and inside that room there is no closet cuz it is the closet. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> technically. But if you added a closet, it would be a huge bedroom.
Matthew Maschler:
So an interior closet with, with a window. Two
Staci Garcia:
Windows.
Matthew Maschler:
An interior closet with a window. Um, could that be a bedroom? Yep. Maybe.
Staci Garcia:
So that was the question because I wrote that it’s a six bedroom, four bathroom uhhuh.
Matthew Maschler:
Um, but three of the six bedrooms are in the master. Well,
Staci Garcia:
One of them, the, the nursery was the one that we were counting the office outside the, um, the room. I counted also as a bedroom. Um, and then the mat, the owner suite is a bedroom. But people were asking, where did you get the, the optional seventh room? And I’m like, the closet for the owner’s suite is as big as the room. It’s humongous. And um, if you added a closet into it, it would be a bedroom. So, but then they said, well, you have to walk through the bedroom to get to that, and you have to walk through the bedroom to get to the other one too. I’m like, technically you could walk out back and go into the sliding glass door. You wouldn’t have to, or you could walk through the cabana bathroom. You don’t necessarily walk through the, the, the owner’s suite. But that question came up multiple times and I was like, I’m not really sure if you have to walk through one room to get to the, another room if it’s not considered a room. Because it doesn’t have its own, its own entrance separate from the bedroom, a bedroom and a bedroom.
Matthew Maschler:
A bedroom and a bedroom. So that’s part of the, um, the debate Stacy and I have because, um, for me there’s an additional requirement for a bedroom
Staci Garcia:
To have a bathroom right next to it.
Matthew Maschler:
Not right next to it. A a a reasonable space away. A reasonable amount of privacy. Not just for a powder room, but also for a shower. Right. So certainly if you have to go into somebody else’s room to go to the bathroom or to take a shower, it doesn’t work as a bedroom. Right. But, uh, no, you’re saying Right. But we don’t always agree on that.
Staci Garcia:
No, I don’t agree with you because Redden had a bedroom that was, he had to come into my room and
Matthew Maschler:
Then to use the bathroom. And then in my house, I have my home office, just like you described, is right outside my master bedroom. But if you have to go to the, use a toilet, um, you have to either go into the master mm-hmm. <affirmative> or to the powder room that’s in the dining room. So you have to cross through the living room Right into the dining room to use the toilet. But if you wanted to take a shower, then you had to go into another bedroom. I had, cuz I didn’t, I have a cabana bath, but it’s only a a half bathroom I the dream house. Right. If I had a, you know, it’s, it’s funny, you know, I love my house and people think that, but, but I, I always tell people they, you have to settle even in, even before this market where people had to settle. Right. Like my house wasn’t everything I wanted, the cabana bathroom needed a shower because if you have people in the pool Yeah. They have to be able to take a shower. Right. They have to rinse off. Um, and I don’t have that in
Staci Garcia:
My house. Do you have an outdoor shower?
Matthew Maschler:
No. I could put, I could put one in there if I want, or a, but I do, I have a hose.
Staci Garcia:
Well, same thing. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh> just hold it up high. Right. So I don’t, so it’s not exactly what I want, but it’s perfectly fine. It’s 18 years I haven’t used the pool. Right, right. So, um, so yeah. So if, if someone was living in my office, they’d have to use one of the two patterns or go into somebody else’s room. No one room set up as a game room pool, table room. But it’s a bedroom. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and you’d have to go into that room to use the shower and, you know, it’s fine if you’re on vacation or coming for the weekend, but if someone’s gonna live in that room, okay. Like that’s not Okay. So when someone’s looking for a five bedroom house, if one of the rooms just doesn’t have that, I can’t rightfully call it an advertiser bedroom because I like to underpromise and over-deliver. I know.
Right. I don’t want someone to come in and say, oh, the looking for a five bedroom house and saying, well this doesn’t work for me. I really needed five bedrooms. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they’re looking for a four bedroom house. Oh, plus the loft, plus the theater, plus the game room. Yes. Right. I I I I like that. And this is a, a very old listing of mine. Uh, actually my, my father’s house in Boca West, um, he had a beautiful office, um, which did have access to the bathroom cuz there was, uh, the residence wing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there was two bedrooms that shared a bathroom right outside the office. Had a bath, could reasonably go inside it, you know, it wasn’t full privacy. You’d come outta the office and if someone was standing there, you wouldn’t wanna be naked. But, um, but it was close enough to the bathroom that, that could work.
I, I was fine with that. Um, but it didn’t have doors and it wasn’t set up like a bedroom. Didn’t have closets. It had shelves. It was a beautiful, huge office. Right. But it wasn’t set up as a bedroom. And then the other bedroom was in the back. It was a cabana mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it didn’t have a bathroom. I used to have to stay in that when I used to visit my dad in the Yeah. And, uh, there was no bathroom back there. There was no bathroom. So I had to go and go acro to the other side of the pool and then off the kitchen there was the cabana bath. Right. And I would, so I called it an in-house instead of an outhouse. <laugh>. I had to go that way. I, I’d have to come in so that, so that’s what happened. I had to go in the house, I’d go, I’d have to leave my room and then go pass the pool and then go into the house.
Um, so what happened is, and then that was only a powder room. If I wanted the full bathroom, I had to go through the kitchen near the garage. There was a full bathroom. That’s so funny cuz my aunt’s house in Boko West exactly the same thing. Yeah. And it was a large house. Right. A large house in the mahogany ben subdivision. But it was advertised as a five bedroom because it had, they included that because it had the master and it had the two bedrooms in the residence wing. Um, but the fourth bedroom was the office, the fifth bedroom was the cabana. And uh, and it was listed for months and everyone was disappointed mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, it, it wa it wasn’t my listing. I was, uh, new to Florida. It was part of why I got my, it was part of why I got my license.
Right. Um, between selling that house. I, I didn’t get the listing of the house my father bought in St. Andrews. Um, but between selling that house and finding a house for myself, and I didn’t like my father’s, uh, agent. Agent, um, uh, I gotta find out what he’s doing, <laugh>, see if he’s still around for life. Um, and I can’t name him now that I said I didn’t like him. Yeah. Yeah. He, he was perfectly fine. I’m not gonna say I didn’t like him. I liked him a lot as a person. Yeah. Um, I just knew I could do a better job than him. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, shout out to Ed Marks from Marks and Spencer Realty, <laugh>, whatever he’s doing. I don’t, I don’t think he’s listening. If you’re listening, come gimme a call. Let’s go out and you can join Signature <laugh>. And, uh, and I’m sure you’re awesome. Anyway. Um, but yeah, so, um, that was why I got my, one of the reasons I got my license. So, but he couldn’t market it as a five bedroom and marketing as a three bedroom for a big house. It just didn’t seem right. Is it was right. It was the right moved. I
Staci Garcia:
Do see a lot where you say, where houses are renovated mm-hmm. <affirmative> and they’re like 4,000 square feet under air and there are three bedrooms or two bedrooms mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And you know that of course there must be other bedrooms in there that they made. Those are the rooms. Right. They made other stuff into offices and so forth. But it’ll say, um, three bedroom, beautiful renovated with an office and a game room and a theater and you know, and then you’re like,
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, this house in Mahany Bend, besides the gorgeous office had a wonderful theater mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it was like step down Right. To, you know, it was an old house from the seventies. Right. Yeah. But it was a step down sunken theater room round with all the couches and stuff. An amazing theater room. And that’s why my father liked it. Yeah. But it was three bedrooms plus the office, plus the theater, plus the cabana, which he’d always set up as a gym. It had gym mats and um, and had a mirrored wall with a ballet bar. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So office theater and gym. So three, it’s one of the things when I, uh, when I go to the big houses Right. Sometimes it’s, it’s well thought out of, I always think of like, how could I, how would I live here? Yeah. Especially the big mansions in Stone Creek. And then sometimes you just see the house and it’s just a regular house where every room is just bigger. Right. You know, it’s just the same, same four bedroom house, but huge living room, huge family room, huge kitchen, and all huge bedrooms. And it’s like, what’s the point? Mm-hmm. But, but some houses, you know, can be done.
Staci Garcia:
Actually, when I’m sitting at an open house, I do think, I imagine myself living there. Mm-hmm. And how would it be? Yeah. Like who would be, where would everything be? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and because you spend hours just sitting there, if no one’s there, no one can visit. And what would I like about this house? What’s my favorite thing? You know, and what would I change if I was gonna change something? So I do that all the time in my head.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Yeah. I that, that’s what I do. Especially the mansions and the big houses. I always try to think of what living there’s like, and a lot of times it doesn’t work.
Staci Garcia:
Right. The one in St. Andrews where, um, there was the two, the big spiral staircase and then there was a staircase on the side, you know Yeah. With one owner’s suite off by itself, remember? And people were saying, well, and then the, the wing Yeah. Is a three twoo or a three three in just the wing of children’s wing. That house, no matter how I pictured it in my head and then, and then a, a guest house in the back, it was also a three two, it’s such a big house and it’s so beautiful. But none of it worked for me. No matter how I figured it out. I was like, no, I would never see my kids. Ever.
Matthew Maschler:
And then, you know, it’s called and that’s, that’s a victim of obsolescence. Yeah. It’s just, you know, when it was built and decorated and in its heyday, it was an amazing house and it just, you know, styles change and moods change and needs change. And it just became, uh, functionally obsolete. It’s true. Um, so yeah. So that my dad’s house in mahogany bend, counting rooms, defining rooms. Um, and then, you know, it was just hysterical going into this house in Coconut Creek and, and it being, uh, it being shorter. We, we were, people were showing it and it was a shorter room.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. So he had to change it all together.
Matthew Maschler:
So, so then, and it was right around the time right at the same time we got the definition. So then we did, uh, we just, we we, we, we, we put in the $5,000 offer credit to uh, make the third bedroom the loft into a fourth bedroom. That’s, so it worked, which I’m, which, which worked, got the full price offer. Presumably the buyer’s not gonna do it really. Right. They’re just gonna pocket up the $5,000. Smart. That’s what I would do. Yeah. Um, and, uh, and move along. So that’s the definition of bedroom. Did you get out all your questions about the definition of
Staci Garcia:
Bedroom? I did. Well, except for the fact that the question of do if you will have to walk through a bedroom to get to a bedroom is still a bedroom.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. So legally and according to our association, yes. Practically from a marketing standpoint, I don’t think I would market it that way because it wouldn’t satisfy the needs and expectations of a customer.
Staci Garcia:
Right. Some of the people that came in were trying to figure out how to make it a kid’s room somewhere mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but it was too close to the actual primary suite because it was in it. Right. So they were trying to figure out how either they needed to rework the whole house altogether or they could do something with the way it worked. You know what I mean? Uhhuh, <affirmative> probably just accept the fact that they were gonna put one of their kids closer to their, or they have a baby. And it actually worked out well. You know, if you have a baby, you’re fine to have them really close, but a teenager you don’t want right next to your room. So depending on the age of the kids, I think, uh, I got a lot of offers and I think it was, um, it was either a person that wants to flip a house or a person that wants to live in the house.
Then there’s a huge difference cuz they can, the person that’s flipping doesn’t care where the rooms are. Right. Right. Or they wanna move where the rooms are because they can do the construction and all of that, but a person that’s gonna live in it has to make due or they’re gonna do the own their work. So they have to stick to their budget. So a lot of the offers, uh, if I talked about the offers, all the offers that came in were around the same range except for one finance offer that came in really high. And then I was wondering what’s the best thing to do? We were in a, a cash offer, Cassius King mm-hmm. <affirmative> situation for years. Right. We’ve just come sort of out of it where people are starting to accept financed offers and the financed offer was over $200,000 more than the top cash offer.
Uhhuh <affirmative>. So I had, uh, I think I had three or four cash offers and then one offer with financing. And my concern was, um, it was a 90% jumbo loan. Oh, wow. So they were only putting down a very little amount. It was like thousand dollars on a million too. You know what I mean? It was really small. And then I was like, this can’t possibly be Right. Uhhuh, <affirmative>, I mean, they’re, they’re run, they’re not putting any money down. They’re not risking anything. So I, I like took it upon myself to call the mortgage person that they were dealing with and he explained the whole loan to me. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And he vouched for the people. And I felt better Right. Knowing that, but I also felt that, oh, there was an additional month added to the, um, closing date. It wasn’t gonna close for another 20 or 30 days after the cash ones would close.
So, uh, when I presented it to the seller, I said, here’s all the offers for cash offers. They’re all around the same range. And if you add $250,000, here’s your finance offer. But we have to wait another month to close and we have to go through an inspection mm-hmm. <affirmative> an appraisal and, um, insurance and everything to make sure the bank, uh, approves of the whole situation before they give the money. And it’s, and I said, and, and it’s financed 90%. So there’s no, there’s no really room to, if it fit appraised low. And I already said to the buyers, we’re not making up for any difference here. You know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we’re not, if it appraises low, we’re not giving you money and saying, or you have to come out of pocket. Right. And they said they would, but still, how do you know that that will actually happen? So now two months would go by before the transaction actually closed. And my clients would be taking the risk of taking their house off the market. And then it potentially, if it didn’t work, coming back to market in two months as the season’s closing, you know? Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
Taking off the market for two months is, is too
Staci Garcia:
Long. Yeah. So, um, then they, uh, my my seller said, can we, can we take a backup offer of one of the cash offers? And uh, I said, of course, but if you want peace of mind, you would take a cash offer and let’s counter and raise some cash offers higher mm-hmm. <affirmative> if possible. And then you would still be in charge of the transaction. You wouldn’t be at the mercy of a bank telling you how much your house is worth. Cuz there was no contingency for appraisal for any of the cash offers, and there was no credit’s gonna be issued for anything wrong that they found in an inspection. So really you’re, once you sign the, um, any offer for cash, you’re good to go. Pretty much. So a seller has the, uh, what’s the word they have the, the worry, let’s put it on the side as worry.
They’re like worry because they say, well, I don’t wanna come back to market in two months. I don’t wanna think about this house for an extra month. I don’t wanna pay the carrying costs. And I don’t wanna think what happens if the air conditioner blows or something goes wrong during the time where they saw it. Now they’re gonna buy it. Right. Because it has to still do a walkthrough and be the same as it is right now mm-hmm. <affirmative> and carrying this house along is a worry. So the worry to them is huge because they thought, well, um, I would love peace of mind. How much is peace of mind worth every single day that you don’t have it? And they valued their peace of mind so much that they said we’d rather just take a cash offer. Right. So this, that we countered on a cash offer.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So when I look at a cash offer versus a financing offer mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and I make sure I look at all the terms, right. The initial deposit and the inspections, usually there’s gonna be an inspection either way. Um, so if it’s a seven day inspection, but let’s say a 30 day, um, mortgage contingency, right. That’s that risk that that the extra 23, uh, 23 days that, um, if the mortgage isn’t good, um, you look at the mortgage pre-approval, you speak to the mortgage broker mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you get a sense of if these people’s, if they’re ducks are in a row, uh, and assuming you get a good feeling. Right. Um, when you, now I’m comparing the cash offer to the financed offer. Um, I will say my experience, most of the time the financing off financing does go through assuming that all the ducks are in a row when you speak to the mortgage broker and you get a good feeling.
Um, so then it’s a question of do you take less money to not have that mortgage contingency? Right Now what what happens is sometimes you make a cash offer and the buyer still gets a mortgage, then the seller gets mad. Right. I took less money and you’re still getting a mortgage. But it really has nothing to do with the seller. Right. Because the buyer still basically is what he’s saying with the cash offer is that they’re on the hook, uh, regardless of if they get a mortgage or not, they can’t cancel for lack of getting a mortgage. Um, so, uh, so yeah. So sometimes sellers, uh, find out, I, I do like to disclose that the, you know, buyer intends to get a mortgage but does not have the right to cancel. Right. Um, and uh, for me, you know, if I’m presented with the two offers, I’ll tend to take the money mm-hmm. <affirmative> meaning take the higher offer, um, if it’s the same, right. If it’s the same amount of money Sure. Burn the hand. Um, but if it’s more money and I think 3%, 4%, um, makes it even Right. Right. If, uh, if the cash offer is 5% over the, um, higher than the finance offer, then I can go either way. Right. Three or 4% is even 5%. So if it’s a $500,000 house and uh, $500,000 offer versus five, um, 25 mm-hmm.
Staci Garcia:
<affirmative>,
Matthew Maschler:
Um, I’ll tend to take the, take the take the $25,000. 20,000 thousand dollars is a lot of money,
Staci Garcia:
Assuming that the, um, closing time is the same,
Matthew Maschler:
Assuming the closing time and everything else is e is is equal. Right. Similar, I
Staci Garcia:
Think they went, what broke this one was the extra time. The extra time. The extra time is worth a lot of money. It
Matthew Maschler:
Is, it is. But I’d rather, I’d take the risk of those 23 days. Right. Um, to get the $25,000, um, on a $500,000 house. If I, if everything else looked the same and I, and I had a, and I had a good feeling, um, so, you know, 5,000, 10,000 maybe save the cash offer. Right. 25,000 on a half a million dollar house, I’m gonna take the money. So that’s how I tend to look at it. Um, um, obviously any any other difference or factor you factor into it, if that financed offer increases your holding period another month mm-hmm. <affirmative> and it might cost you $8,000 to carry the house for that month, then that extra $25,000 isn’t 25,000. It’s only 17. 17 or you know, right.
Staci Garcia:
Thousand. Yeah. It takes, it comes down. I just think that the, well my seller is, um, up there in age mm-hmm. <affirmative> and every day that goes by is worth a lot of money to. Yeah, sure. So the worry is also accounted as how much is it gonna cost you in your daily routine to worry that this house is still out there and you don’t have the money in the bank. You know? Um, so that aspect is, so we said, we looked at our cash offers and said, let’s try to counter one of them and see who’s gonna come up as close as possible to one of the fi the offer. And my way is instead of officially countering, I kind of just feel out the, the offers and ask straight up, you think that your buyer will come up to this number and if they will, I’ll count, I’ll, I’ll write to the counter and if not, then we’ll talk, because I have four other offers. It puts the pressure on them to say yes or no. Right. You like your offers written and your counters written. I kind of like to feel people out before I write the whole thing. And my, my seller said, Hey, how about we counter everybody? And I said, we can’t counter everybody cause if they all accept, then we have four different people buying the house.
Matthew Maschler:
Right, right,
Staci Garcia:
Right. But it’s not like a, he said, why don’t you give them a buy it now price. Like if it was eBay, Uhhuh <affirmative> Right. Buy it now for, uh, 1,000,050.
Matthew Maschler:
But you don’t still only wanna do one at a time.
Staci Garcia:
Right. Exactly. I said, I, I can’t. Cuz if they all say yes, then we’re all, then he goes, then you, then you raise the number. I’m like, you can’t do that because they’ll all show up for the dance and they’re all there. Right. And then you can’t say, well now I wanna change the number. So, um, we put a number out there and I, I asked and some people right away were like, no, we’re not paying anymore. You know, a lot of work needs to be done. This is what it’s worth. And so right away I can just, um, count them out in the, in the race. But the people that were, and the funny thing is, I don’t know if you feel this way, but I always get a feeling for who’s gonna buy the house. Like it’s a contest in my mind and I pick who I think’s gonna actually get it before it even happens.
I’m like, these are the people, these are the people when they walk in, they right away start measuring and, and trying to figure out how their furniture’s gonna fit. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And they, they fall in love with it or they talk about it and they, so the, this one family showed up Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then asked to come back on Monday. And then I, I knew it. I was like, they were there every single day. Um, they’re the people that ended up in contract right now. And I I, I like said right away before we received the yes or the no, I’m like, I really think it’s gonna be these people because they, they have been camping out Uhhuh <affirmative> at my open house, you know, just basically getting a feel for what it’s like to live there. They’ve been there for hours mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but so now we’re in the inspection period and I have contractors and inspectors and every single day something going on at the house and with another day left. So I, I don’t know what the answer’s gonna be. I’m gonna say if you have all your contractors and your inspection and your inspecting done and all this stuff is still going on, that they’re committed to buy it. Um, which is awesome cuz they’re the people I chose in my mind that were gonna be the buyers. Right. And not partial to them or anything. I’m just guessing that they’re the ones that are gonna like, it’s like a contest and they’re gonna win. Um,
Matthew Maschler:
Because you got five offers on that Parkland house, right? Yeah,
Staci Garcia:
I did. Yeah. And I always say, and they weren’t, they didn’t, they were the last offer to come in. I give the first offer, uh, the benefit of they were really in love. They put the offer in right away. It was a Saturday and some people don’t work on the weekends. I do. So I’ll, I’d be a person that wrote an offer and handed in right away and mm-hmm. <affirmative> and just showing we’re really serious. We’re writing an offer today. You know, we saw it, we’re writing an offer now we want it. Um, the people who I thought were gonna buy it didn’t put an offer in right away. Wow. And so I was kind of surprised, but I spoke to their agent many times and I’m like, are you gonna write an offer? And she was like, I’m not sure yet. I’m like, you’re kind of sitting on this for a long time
Matthew Maschler:
Because of what we went through in 21 and 22. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I start like thinking about my offer before first showing
Staci Garcia:
<laugh>. Yeah, exactly.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Like I, I showed a house on Saturday. Yeah. Um, and, uh, and I, so I CC’d Brian mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I texted Brian in the office and uh, and I texted the mortgage person and I said, Hey, I’m showing this house to clients such and such on on Saturday. Um, let’s just get ready. Uh, if he likes it, can I get a pre-approval? Right. Um, for X number of dollars. Cause that’s gonna be the first offer. Yeah. And then, uh, and I said to Brian, I go, all right here, here, here, here are the terms. Um, so if he likes it, um,
Staci Garcia:
Get the offer ready.
Matthew Maschler:
I wanna get the offer ready. Um, didn’t work, wasn’t, uh, the house isn’t gonna work for that particular
Staci Garcia:
Client that I don’t mind doing. I’ll tell you something I don’t mind doing, getting an offer ready before we go see it because I think it’ll be the house and they’ll buy it. Cause I feel like it’ll pay off at one point. I will be the person that submits the offer first and they won’t even mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there have been people that have said, you know what, I’m not even gonna have my open house. I’m not even gonna bother. I got a good offer. We’re done. You know what I mean? Um, that wasn’t the case for the, a couple years
Matthew Maschler:
In my mind. I was gonna sell ’em, sell ’em the house. It was just too small. You know why? Hmm. It was a three, two, right? Where one of the bedrooms right when you first came in, um, uh, had had doors, uh, opened up to the kitchen. Uh, but the, um, the other bedroom was on the other side of the house. And so there wasn’t a, a bathroom and Oh, person had two kids. They were, I’m like, okay, well someone, someone’s gonna live in this room <laugh>, they’re gonna have to go into the other room.
Staci Garcia:
It violates your bedroom room. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
They, they, they had to walk, they’d have to walk through the house, through the kitchen past the front door. Not a big house, but past the front door. Yeah. Past the kitchen and into the other room to go to the bathroom. So it works for, you know, when, uh, and this customer, the, they have a kid going to college. Yeah. So, you know, the downsizing worked, but they’re gonna have to wait for the other kid, the the younger kid to go to college too. Yeah. But it was, uh, you know, it was four 50 for a three two on Lions and Clint Moore. So it looked, it looked too good to be true.
Staci Garcia:
Right. Oh
Matthew Maschler:
Wow. And it was. Yep. And it was,
Staci Garcia:
Well there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of, um, houses. It’s the strangest thing. Parkland is only eight miles, nine miles from my house. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it seems like it’s so far away, but it’s not so far away. So, um, the price point there for a house is a million dollars. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> just straight up $1 million for a six four. If the six four was here, it’s $4 million.
Matthew Maschler:
There was a house in ADE that just closed at 1,000,008 mm-hmm. <affirmative>, four bedroom, 4,000 square feet. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and uh, you know, 1,000,008 and, uh, gorgeous. Yeah. But never saw one eight Coade. Yeah. Well, 9 28 2800 square feet. Four, four and a half. Wow. I I actually already emailed it to
Staci Garcia:
You. Oh, okay. I’ll check it out. <laugh> <laugh>. So, um, the other house is in there. This is the biggest house. And in the best spot, if you improve the house, you really can’t over, you could over improve it accidentally and you don’t wanna do that. So, but it’s such a, it’s such a, it, it really needs to be improved, but you don’t wanna overdo it. So it’s very, um, attractive to people that were trying to flip it. I couldn’t tell you how many people were standing there trying to figure out how to improve the house, but not over improve it because it won’t get the money back when you try to, if, if you need to un unload it. And it’s so strange cuz that house is amazing. And here it would not have, no one would have that problem. It, you could improve it up to $10 million basically, depending on where it’s sitting.
You in Boca. Um, if it was sitting east near the water, it’s a 10 million house. If it was sitting in central Boca, it’d be a 4 million house. It’s just amazing that over there, for some reason, they’re stuck at a million mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, and they’re awesome. And they have a half acre things that you would want here that we don’t have space. Um, they have, but the price point is just, it’s, it’s good and bad. It makes it more affordable for people that can afford a million dollars for their, for that, that the people that were financing, it was their first house. If you’re financing 90% down on your first house and you’re buying a million dollar house, that’s pretty insane for me to even, uh, think about. I’d rather not finance it and have less house. But, um, I can, I can understand that it’s a great house and you know, you’re gonna spend a million too to be in that spot.
But once you drive around over there, you realize why people live there. It’s just so green and spacious and there’s land and there’s horses, you know? Right. And you’re like, oh, okay, well this didn’t make sense now, but still, you’d think that the value of the house price would be much higher and then maybe it will go up eventually. But it seems like it’s stuck over there at the million dollar range. And I think a lot of people that were there were trying to flip it and for some reason it just won’t go up the price. You can never get the money back here. People are still flipping and, um, I’m not sure what’s left, if there’s anything left to flip, but people are still flipping here and trying to make money. And, um, you know, every day I’m looking at the houses on the hot sheet or the houses in the foreclosures and trying to find something, a good investment <laugh>. So, um, anyway. Well, I’ll find out what’s gonna happen. Cause I don’t know, we’re still in the inspection period. I have one day left.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. All right. So I think, uh, that’s gonna be, can you believe that there’s agents in my office that don’t listen to our podcast?
Staci Garcia:
No. Yes. Yeah. Maybe not sure. Such good information. I do have people ask me the questions that we’ve covered, really? And then I say, I, we did a whole podcast about it and I send them the, the episode Uhhuh <affirmative> and then they say, oh my God, you guys have a podcast. Yeah. And I’m
Matthew Maschler:
Like, are they agent? Are they signature real estate under edge? Yeah. It’s crazy. I’ll answer their question. They’ll, they’ll, they’ll, someone will call me, call me or text me a question and I’ll answer for a half an hour on the show. But, um, yeah.
Staci Garcia:
Anyway, but I, I do love, I do wanna shout out, I do love the people that tell me I listened to your podcast and I I’m so happy that I did cuz it actually helped me.
Matthew Maschler:
Random people tell me. It’s, it’s such a, such a great feeling. And as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, I have a second podcast, the Matthew Mania podcast. <laugh>, we don’t talk so much about real estate, so, um, but we’re gonna call it, we’re gonna call it here. Uh, thank you for joining us at the Real Estate Finder podcast. We have sta Stacy’s two listings. Parkland is sold. Boca is still available.
Staci Garcia:
Yep. It’s a 5, 3, 5 1 5, 2 and a half Really. But it’s really a five three. And also I’m gonna have a, a, a listing coming up next week, but I’m can’t, I’m not gonna tell you about it until we, until next week. Tell me in Boca it’s gonna be a Yeah. In Boca it’s gonna be a four bedroom plus an office, um,
Matthew Maschler:
Gated community
Staci Garcia:
In Estancia West.
Matthew Maschler:
Estancia West
Staci Garcia:
Furnished Estancia, Uhhuh <affirmative> with a pool and Beautiful. How much? 1 8 75.
Matthew Maschler:
Ooh.
Staci Garcia:
Yep.
Matthew Maschler:
All right, let’s go
Staci Garcia:
<laugh>. So
Matthew Maschler:
Speaking of, speaking of that, someone, someone reached out to me on WhatsApp last week, I never called them back.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. Um, so yeah, it’s coming soon. I’m gonna do the photos this week and, uh, we’ll talk about it next week cuz I think the open house is gonna be after next week’s episode all and it’s gonna be awesome. All
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So thank you for joining us Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew ler.
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The future looks bright and the storms pass by the skys dog. Blue. When it’s almost that time, light shows cameras flash when I pass living in the moment, forget about the past. They saved the best for last. Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp terms. Gotta keep pace while hands on the clock. Hot stakes. Five star real estate. I run a show. You can tell the boss center place electricity, energy. I, I’m always on time. Even if I’m late, I dreams come true. Living my life the same. You success in my got a real clear view. If you dunno the time, I’ll give you a clue.
Speaker 4:
You know what, you know what you know what you know, what you know, what you know is you know what song, you know what song. You know what time. It’s, you know what song. Know what song. You know what time it is.
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You know what time it, you know, time it. You know what time. You know what time it you time. It’s, you know what time It’s Matthew Mania. The time it says Yeah. Got him shook, scared. Can’t look. We’re not afraid of the big bad walk. First comes the.
