There is more to an offer than just the price and financing. Other terms may have swayed the sellers. Perhaps you were requesting inspections, and the other buyer was willing to waive them. Maybe their closing date was more favorable to the seller. Or it may have just been the fact that in today's lending climate the fact that the other buyer had a larger down payment made the seller more comfortable and was worth them leaving $5,000 on the table.

Regarding, your offer not being presented. In the Central Susquehanna Valley it is standard procedure to give buyers a Reply to Multiple Offers form. This is a document that the Seller signs that has all the offers that were submitted on it and notes which one was accepted. This way you know that your offer was at least presented. The Selling agent should provide one to each buyer that made an offer. If it hasnt been provided you should have your agent request one from the Seller.

Technically all real estate sold in PA is "AS-IS". However the Standard Agreement of Sale used by all Realtors in PA gives the buyer the right to conduct some due dilligence in the form of inspections, and negotiate any repairs with the seller. The seller then has the right not to make the repairs. If they don't make the repairs the buyer has the right to terminate the agreement. If you are involved in a land sales contract. I am assuming that anttorney drafted it and it is not the standard form. In which case you need to consult the language in the contract.

Regarding the tenants. Leases are considered real property in PA and transfer with the real esate meaning that they must be honored. The tenants cannot be evicted without cause.

With all that said. The best advice I can give you not knowing all the facts is to contact an attorney and have them review the contract.

On the homepage move your cursor over "Rentals". A menu will drop down. In the menu click on "Download Rental Application". That will then take you to the Download Rental Application page. You can then click on "Click here to download Rental Application (PDF). The pdf of the rental application will then open up.

Generally items like the real estate taxes, insurance and any common area fees are kept separate from the rent itself.

This sounds like a very complicated matter. The first step I would take would be to read over the agreement of sale you had signed to purchase the home. Who is listed as the "seller" on that contract? That is who you purchased the home from. Also, deeds, are public records stored in the local courhouse. If you wanted to see what the seller paid for the home you would easily have access to that information. It does seem however that you feel you were taken advantage of, and that some wrongdoing occurred. My advice is to consult with an attorney. He will be able to tell you if you were harmed and what damages you can receive.

When an agent represents a buyer they have a certain obligation to keep their client's personal information confidential. However, when submitting an offer the buyer's agent does need to prove that their client is credit worthy and pre-approved for an amount sufficient to purchase the home they are making an offer on. This is typically done with a pre-approval letter from a the buyer's mortgage lender.

As a seller's agent I would not present an offer to my clients without an accompanying pre-approval letter. A seller is not going to want to take their home off the market without being certain that the buyer making an offer is a ready, willing an able buyer. The key work being able.

Real Estate markets are very localized. It's very difficult to determine what is happening in Illinois from here in the Susquehanna Valley. Has your agent been touching base with the agents that showed your home and getting feedback from their buyers as to why they didn't make an offer? Buyer feedback is a great way to shed light on why your home is not sellilng. The other thing you should do is to have your agent update his market analysis of your home. He should use new comparables to see if your home has lost value. And, when all else fails lower the price. We are entering the busy season for homebuyers so hopefully you will be getting renewed activity and a buyer for your home soon.

Most residential mortgages have what's called a Due on Sale Clause in them. This clause allows the mortgagor to call the not due and force repayment of the debt if the property is transfered. So it is unlikely that you will be able to transfer ownership without being forced to pay the entire amount of the mortgage. The best advice I can give in this situation is to consult an attorney and get his interpretation on the mortgage and what you legally can due.

In PA the home inspection is paid for by the buyer. So therefore the buyer may choose which home inspector they would like to use.

That is a very good question, and one that we as REALTORS are often asked. Unfortunately there is no simple answer for it. The data shows that very few remodeling projects will actually recoupe the sellers 100% of the money they invested. The best pojects to improve the value of your home are residing the home, and modestly updating a bathroom. Zillow.com has a nice page devoted to this question.

http://www.zillow.com/howto/ValueOfHomeImprovements.htm

However, if the location of your home is as prime as you say, and the other homes in the neighborhood are superior to yours you may find it worth your while to make some of the imporovements you mention. The best way to tell what projects will pay the highest dividends it to have an agent come over and give you an opinion of value of your home in it's current condition, and in the improved condition. This knowledge will allow you to make an informed decision on what improvements to make prior to selling.

That's a very good question. Drafting an offer is often tricky. You don't want to overpay for a home, but you also don't want to insult the seller to the point that they will not negotiate with you. The first step is to find the true value of the home. Are you working with a Buyer's Agent? If so that agent should do a Market Analysis for you. This will establish value and aid you in putting your offer together. If the agent you are working with is the listing agent you should ask that agent to refer you to another agent that will represent your interests alone. Technically the listing agent is working for the seller and trying to get them the highest price for the home.

With that said, if the Market Analysis supprorts the value of the home at list price then the offer you mentioned a reasonable offer and should be accepted. If the Market Analysis doesn't justify the price then you should start lower.

I hope this helps, and thanks for writing.

This is a very good question. Often times issues arise after closing and need to be addressed. As Realtors, we are not licensed, or permitted to practice law. My first piece of advice is to consult an attorney.

With that said however, The Pennsylvania Association of Realtors (PAR) Agreement of Sale gives the Buyer the opportunity to have the home inspected prior to closing. Which you did. It also states that once those inspections are completed and you agree to move forward with the sale you agree to accept the property as-is and release the seller from any liability with regards to the condition of the property. Unless of course you are able to prove that the Seller had knowledge of a problem then attempted to cover it up. But that may be difficult to prove.

It seems to me that the liablity here should lie with the inspector. All home inspectors in PA are licensed and insured for errors and omissions. I would have another repair person come out to give you a second opinion. If the outcome is the same as the first I recommend you seek the advice of an attorney and go after the inspector.

As far as getting out from under the mortgage. There is no way that is possible other than to stop making your payments and be foreclosed on. But, that is never a good option. As I stated the path to pursue is to try and go after the inspector and have him pay for the repairs.

Real estate agents are not going to be as familiar with a property as the seller. If you received a Seller's Property Disclosure and either the listing agent or the selling agent knew of a problem not listed by the seller, they should have added it to the form. It is generally required that they do so. However, they may not have known - and they cannot disclose problems they don't know about or that were concealed by the seller.

In addition, there are several safeguards that should help you determine if there was water damage or not - termite inspections often point out areas of wood rot caused by water damage. All Realtors should recommend that a buyer order his own professional home inspection, and if there was roof damage an appraiser sometimes can point that out in the appraisal (though it is not their job to perform a full inspection). Also the buyer’s insurance agent should be able to see if any claims were ever filed on the property in the past.

Although a garage is attached to the home, it is not considered part of the home's square footage. That is because only finished, livable space is considered in the square footage calculation.

Calculating the square footage of a home is not as easy as it sounds. Neither real estate agents nor homeowners should attempt the calculation (at least not if you want a reliable figure). Rarely are houses perfectly square, which is one reason for the difficulty. Appraisers map out the house on a piece of graph paper, calculate all the edges, come up with "mini-areas" for each rectangle - then add them all together.

Plus, there are other intricate rules. If there has been an addition to the house and the owner did not receive a building permit, then that section of the house may not be allowable as part of the square footage. The same with attic and basement conversions, lofts, and so on.

It is best to rely on a licensed appraiser to recalculate the square footage of a house. Also in Central Pennsylvania it is customary for the tax assessment office in the courthouse to have the square footage listed in order to calculate the real estate taxes on the property.

When a home's square footage is advertised, the figure usually comes from previous sales, perhaps as far back as the builder or from the data on record in the courthouse. Homeowners and real estate agents don't usually recalculate the square footage.

A bank doesn't require you to get a home inspection in order to obtain a mortgage. If there are obvious major problems that affect value the appraiser may note it in the appraisal report. However, their job is not to inspect the home, just to determine value.

Although the bank doesn't require a home inspection, if your purchase contract mentions a termite report, the lender will require that to be performed before you close.

A termite report lists more than pest infestations. It also mentions obvious structural defects, such as wood rot, etc. These are classified into two groups - category 1 and 2. All items in category 1 must be repaired prior to closing. However, the lender does not stipulate who must pay for those repairs.

Your closing costs should be approximately $6500 or so (depending on what type loan you get, how many points, etc.). The 2/1 buy down (assuming it is an annual buy down) will cost the seller about $4000 additionally. By paying for these costs, if you offer a price of $134,000, the seller is netting the same as he would if he accepted an offer of $123,500 and paid no costs.

If you think the house is worth less that $123,500, then make a lower offer. If you think it is worth more than $123,500, then you would be getting a deal with your Realtor's suggestion.

The most important thing to remember is that your Realtor's job is to provide advice. Your job is to decide what to offer based on that advice.

Although you can always offer whatever you would like I’d say yes, $95,000 is generally too low to offer for a home priced at $114,000.

It's like buying a car. You want to negotiate with the salesman a little, but there is more room to haggle on a more expensive car than if you were buying the least expensive car.

Sellers usually mark up the price a little because they realize most buyers aren't going to make a full price offer (though in different markets you can get offers ABOVE the listing price). In your example above, you were offering almost 15% below the listing price. They don't mark it up that
much, just a few percent, generally 5-7% above what they are willing to accept.

Before you make an offer, have your Realtor to go over the comparable sales of other similar homes in the same neighborhood. That is the same data the seller looked at when he priced his house. Make a certain allowance for whether houses are selling briskly or slowly, and make an offer based on that data.

A lot depends on why you are buying the house. Are you buying it mostly as a home or mostly as an investment? There is a difference.

For the most part, upgrades are high-profit items for builders. They aren't designed to enhance the value of the house, but make you happier with the house you do buy.

If you are looking at your home as an investment, then you buy from the smaller to medium size lots in the tract and spend only a minimal amount on upgrades. If you are looking at your purchase as a home, then you select upgrades that will enhance your quality of living.

One rule of thumb is to always upgrade the carpet and padding.

If your goal is to buy a home for its resale value and the one you are thinking of buying in the Borough of Selinsgrove is at the upper end of values for in-town Selinsgrove, then it may not be the wisest choice. If it is similar or lower in price to the others, then there should be no problem, because pricing should be considered in relation to the local neighborhood and not compared to homes in other neighborhoods (for the most part)

Plus, is it a neighborhood on the decline, or is it a neighborhood that is improving? It could turn out to be a very good deal as long as you don't "overpay" because of the recent improvements.

Remember that you also buy a home for its value to you as a "home," and that is something else you should consider. Which neighborhood would you AND your family feel most comfortable in?

If you have to ask this question, you probably should have a real estate professional represent you.

The seller pays the real estate fee, not the buyer, and real estate fees are already set in the listing contract. It doesn't cost you anything extra to have your own agent represent you because the seller is already paying for it. By advertising the listing in the MLS the seller’s agent is inviting other agents to sell his listing and offering to split his fee for doing so.

If you don't have your own agent, the seller's agent may offer to represent both you and the seller as a "dual agent" or just represent the seller. This means the agent either has divided loyalties or is working for the seller, and not you.

In this situation, since there is only one agent to be paid, sometimes you can get a reduction in price by getting the agent to accept a lower fee from the seller. However, you have to realize that you are interfering in what is essentially an agreement between the agent and the seller -- and something that has already been negotiated and agreed upon.

In the end you may be better off having an agent represent you, as they may be able to negotiate a lower price than you would on your own. They will also help guide you safely through the transaction, avoiding any pitfalls that may cost you money. The role of the buyer’s agent is to help you negotiate the lowest price and most favorable terms for you.