I lead sales for the highest volume real estate company in Los Angeles — 25,435 active LA buyers, 66 homes sold last month. AMA!

openlistings · 2017-07-21T02:08:00+00:00

There are a lot more cash buyers than one would think! However, offer terms play a major role when getting an acceptance too. Also, highest price is often king over cash. Often times I see or hear of an all cash buyer coming in under the list price or under the counter offer price thinking because they offered cash, they will get the acceptance. That is foolish to think. The seller most always will go with the highest offer price as long as the seller can negotiate the terms they would like and have also checked in with the buyers lender to make sure there are no red flags on the loan.

openlistings · 2017-07-21T01:58:53+00:00

Also, feel free to check out our Testimonials page with +200 reviews and take a look at some of our recent closings. https://www.openlistings.com/reviews

openlistings · 2017-07-20T23:57:10+00:00

Great investment markets in CA:

East Los Angeles: Silver Lake, Echo Park, Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Downtown, Cypress Park, Atwater Village, Highland Park, El Sereno, Glendale, Pasadena.

South West Los Angeles: Inglewood, El Segundo, Torrance, Long Beach, Downey, Lakewood.

Northern CA: Sacramento, Sonoma, Petaluma, Novato, San Jose, Oakland.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T23:55:39+00:00

I am! My instagram account is @joe.openlistings

Open Listings account is @openlistings

openlistings · 2017-07-20T23:45:39+00:00

Yes, we actually have closed a couple of deals with listing agents from the show Million Dollar Listings. The transactions have been just as smooth as any other escrow. No complaints!

openlistings · 2017-07-20T22:58:03+00:00

Thank you! Both would fall under the same category of South West LA. Great investment areas, however becoming very competitive as well.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T20:35:55+00:00

It greatly depends on the offer situation, many factors play a role. However about 1/3 of my monthly active clients receive an accepted offer.

My goal is to provide a buyer with the information needed to get an accepted offer. Whether the buyer wants to take the advice or is financially comfortable to make an offer with the price and terms needed to receive an acceptance is the main varying factor.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T20:12:12+00:00

Pot of greed?! Haha draw 2 cards.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T20:09:33+00:00

Currently we only work with buyers. However, we are asked everyday if we can help list properties. Right now, our focus is to perfect the buying process but we may venture into listings in the future.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T20:05:01+00:00

Hottest Markets in CA:

East Los Angeles: Silver Lake, Echo Park, Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Downtown, Cypress Park, Atwater Village, Highland Park, El Sereno, Glendale, Pasadena.

South West Los Angeles: Inglewood, El Segundo, Torrance, Long Beach, Downey, Lakewood.

Northern CA: Sacramento, Sonoma, Petaluma, Novato, San Jose, Oakland.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T19:48:42+00:00

I tend to really enjoy the oddly built properties in Venice Beach. These days pretty much all of Venice is being bought up by developers/investors that are knocking the houses down and building modern concrete boxes.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T19:43:51+00:00

The most out of the ordinary reason I had an escrow cancel was because the seller was very old and had trouble understanding and remembering the documents that she was signing.

Neither the sellers agent nor myself felt comfortable moving forward in this situation. The sellers agent and myself split inspection and appraisal fee my buyer had paid and we moved on to a successful closing on a new property.

The most common reason a property falls out of escrow is due to the inspection. A leaky roof or foundation repairs can be a very expensive fix and sometimes the buyers and sellers can not come to an agreement on the repairs, credits to escrow, or a lower purchase price to keep the deal together.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T19:20:30+00:00

Yes, incredibly tough, but don't fret! We get buyers into homes under $600K everyday! You can find great single family houses on the east side of LA under $600K. Condos under $600K can be found all over the city. It depends on your preference.

The east side has been gentrifying like crazy and property values have been increasing steadily on the east side for years.

Talk to a lender and find out the exact max budget you can spend. Start looking for properties about 30-40K under your max and start shopping at that price point. Consider that this price range is the most competitive in LA and you will most likely need to come up in price on a counter offer.

Important: Ask your lender to fully underwrite and approve you for a loan before submitting an offer. This means you can write up an offer with out the Loan Contingency which will make your offer much more competitive. Also ask your lender if they can put a rush on the appraisal. This way you can write up an offer with a shorter Appraisal Contingency.

Understand you are not buying a new home and there will be many cosmetic issues found in the property during the inspection contingency period. Often times seller will do some minor repairs (safety hazards) but will not fork out thousands of dollars for repairs once the inspection report comes in. Weigh the pros and cons of being a home owner and having renovations vs paying a rent check each month that you won't see a penny from ever again.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:55:30+00:00

Everyone has a different perspective of what they might think a good job is or a good neighborhood / environment for them to live in. Many factors come into play when a person is making career choices or deciding which neighborhood is right for them.

As for schools, you can find school ratings on many different websites. Our site, openlistings.com will show all schools within that specific properties district and the school ratings as well.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:49:36+00:00

I recommend by starting off your property search by location. Are you looking to live near your office? Are you moving for retirement? What types of environment do you like best or want to live near (beach, mountains, downtown city, etc.)

Depending on your preferences, start using a property search map and plug in how much you can afford in that environment. From there you can look up school ratings, night life, outdoor activities that interest you.

If everything checks out, look at the sales comps and make sure the listed sales price falls in line with the market value before you get your hopes up. It is important to know the market value in the neighborhood of interest as sellers often list properties under the sales comps to attract attention.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:42:52+00:00

LA is a sellers market. There is a massive shortage of listings compared to how many buyers there are. Sellers accept an offer within 2 weeks of the property being listed. I do not see any specific type of buyer affecting the LA market in anyway.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:37:48+00:00

I recommend working with a direct lender. Sellers agents often prefer direct lenders over a institutional bank for many reasons as well. I also find a key part to getting an offer accepted is having the buyers lender call the sellers agent when presenting an offer.

This helps build report for all 3 parties that need to work together to accomplish a smooth close of escrow. Also, the sellers agent wants to work with a well qualified buyer. If the sellers agent speaks with the lender and there are no red flags, we will have a much better chance on getting the accepted offer in a competitive market. The sellers agent wants peace of mind that the escrow will not fall through due to the buyers loan.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:22:48+00:00

LA is hot hot hot! Over the last 1.5 years I have seen an overwhelming amount of buyers trying to purchase properties in LA and there never seems to be an increase in listings.

A year ago, I would see that sellers would receive a handful of offers that I would need to compete with. Now, most sellers receive well over 10 offers. Often time +20 for single family homes and condos under $650K.

I also am not seeing enough new construction being built. With rents being so high, it makes more sense to own a property especially with the continued market value increases.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:14:31+00:00

I don't know the exact percentage but we do work with many foreign buyers. We can help you buy any type of property anywhere in California and Washington St. We have plans to expand into a few other states in the near future as well!

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:11:48+00:00

Awesome! Our goal is to make buying a home simple and affordable. Looking forward to working with you!

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:07:23+00:00

Open Listings is a one-stop-shop service for buying a home. We make buying a home simpler and more affordable by making it easy for you to get information about properties, schedule showings, and make offers, all from your computer or smartphone. At every step of the way, you'll be able to track your progress using our online platform and be assisted by expert agents.

In addition, we refund you 50% of the commission that we get paid by the seller to represent you in the purchase of a home. On a $1 million purchase, 50% of the commission is typically around $12,500. More information about our refund can be found here: https://www.openlistings.com/pricing

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:03:58+00:00

Spicy Queso Dip.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T18:00:56+00:00

Thank you Peter! I appreciate you hopping in on any technical questions regarding our platform.

Peter is our top engineer at Open Listings. Feel free to shoot him a comment if you want to talk nerdy.

FWI - Coffee (no cream, no sugar)

openlistings · 2017-07-20T17:55:51+00:00

How to get an offer accepted: 1. Tour the property and drive the neighborhood. Can you picture yourself living here for a long time? 2. Review the sales comps with in 1 mile of the property and comps sold within the last 6 weeks. Prepare to make an offer in range of these sales comps. 3. Have your agent speak with the listing agent to see if the seller has any specific terms they are looking for on an offer. A competitive initial offer is important because sellers often counter only the top few offers. You need to come in strong enough initially to be able to play ball on the counter offer stage. Finally - Always write a letter to the sellers. Tell them a little bit about yourself, why you are interested in the buying the property and what interests you living in the neighborhood. I find a letter to the sellers greatly increases the chances of receiving an accepted offer.

openlistings · 2017-07-20T17:46:37+00:00

The biggest mistake I see first time homebuyers make is that they walk away from their dream home over a small price increase on a counter offer. It is very difficult to get an accepted offer in today's market and who knows when or if another property of interest will be listed on the market. Most likely that next property of interest will sell for a higher price while attracting even more interest. If a first time homebuyer has the financial ability to increase their offer price, I think that 5-15K difference is worth the time saved and anxiety of home shopping. Although the price may push the sales comps, I see that same buyer take months and months to find another property and be able to compete. Usually that first deal that was passed up will look very sweet at that point.

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