Sorry, It’s not THAT Much a Buyers’ Market
This morning I get an email from one of our people in the field trying to sell a home we have had in our inventory for a while. They wanted to know how to get in contact with former renters to get copies of the utility bills.
Huh? Are you nuts?
They said in the email they had already contacted the current tenant and they weren’t all that happy about their request, so they would need some help there too.
OMG! You have got to be kidding me!
I called the current tenant, and apologized to them for the intrusion and told them emphatically we do not need any copies of their utility bills. I also called the person in the field, and they told me the real estate agent was demanding them on behalf of their buyer. They are concerned about the carbon footprint of the house.
“Fine, give me the name and phone number of the agent and do not bother the current tenant again.”
I hung up and dialed the agents’ cell phone number.
After introducing myself, I informed her we would not be supplying the utility bills. I explained it has always been a rental and even if it was a home I personally lived in the utility bills would be off limits.
Then, they dragged out the old tried and true, “what are you trying to hide? Is that house unfriendly to the environment? Is it an energy hog?”
After taking a few seconds, I calmly explained the utility bills were not going to be provided. They were free to get an inspection, even one to evaluate how green this 45 year old house is, but the bills would not be provided.
“Well, then to protect my buyer, I am going to have to recommend they lower their offering price because of the increased expenses they will incur there,” she whined.
“Uh, yeah, whatever, we won’t accept an offer below our minimum. Wait… you do know there is a tenant there with 11 months left on a lease, right?”
“Yes, and we will be requiring you to deal with that before my buyer takes possession,” was her reply.
“Sorry, but that offer will be rejected outright.”
“But, you will counter”
“Nope, won’t even respond, it will just be allowed to expire.”
“But, you have to respond to it!”
“No we don’t, you can’t write an offer that legally obligates me or my company to respond in any way.”
This is an example of an agent without a clue. They are concerned about the carbon footprint of a 45 year old house? Give me a break! They wanted to use it as a bargaining chip. As for “dealing” with the current tenant, there is no way we would accept an offer requiring us to evict any tenant.
The funny part was her indignity at being told the type of offer she was contemplating would be ignored. Big egos really hate to be ignored.
Of course, the bigger issue is crafting a training path for the person in the field who didn’t put a stop to this before it got to this point.
When I list a home I always ask the seller to gather up the last years worth of utility bills so the buyer can look at them. Why do you view this as unreasonable? Didn’t your agent tell you a buyer might ask for these?
@Kathy Jensen:
That’s fine and if your sellers want to do that I have no problem with it.
My issue isn’t totally with the agent asking for it. I have an issue with my field person not seeing it for what it was, an excuse to submit a low ball offer. The absurdity of someone being concerned about the carbon footprint of a 45 year old house is obvious. When that house was built no one had ever heard of the fake science claiming man was causing global warming. (It is the Sun, or more specifically, SunSpots. Since there are almost none on the Sun right now, we are beginning to experience a reduction in temperatures.)
My other issue with the agent is their arrogance to think every offer they present warrants a response. In fact, now any offer submitted by that agent, unless it is full price with absolutely no contingencies, will be ignored and allowed to expire.
Tim, it sounds like this was an inexperienced agent. I always ask the seller for these for my buyer but I don’t make myself look like an idiot if they don’t want to give them. As you rightly pointed out, the home inspector should be including energy usage metrics in their reports.
Please keep us updated and let us know how when it is sold.
Thankfully I followed the advice from Keith at housingpanic.com and sold my home before it turned into a disaster. I am now a happy renter instead of a f###ed buyer. Good luck selling that house, I hope you and all the other jerks who caused this problem loose everything you own and end up homeless.
@Martin:
Martin, there is no urgency in selling. It is rented and has positive cash flow. It is one we’ve held for some time and considering the political and tax landscape next year it is one of several we are looking to sell this year and take the favorable capital gains tax treatment. If it doesn’t sell (meaning close) by the end of the year, no big deal. We will just continue to hold it and collect the rent.
@Happy Renter:
So, you followed Keith’s advice huh? Well, if it worked for you then good. But, you really should do a little checking into Keith, he is not all that sharp financially.
As to losing everything (And it is lose not loose) not going to happen because I am not a speculator I am an investor. As an investor I have been buying while you housingpanic.com types were selling.
I also notice a little resentment to investors in your post, just who is it you think provides the place you are allowed to rent?
Really now this entire blog from all parties is extremely volitile. from a buyers agent point of view the agents have every right to ask for at least an Idea of utility cost. not as a barganing chip either, but as to educate thier buyer on cost beyond mortgage price. As far as science not being able to prove that man has had a negative impact on the environment including weather and temp. you sound like an oil hungry republican. even they know we as Americans won’t be able to live in this country after the 20 year storm cycle has finished. why do you think we are headed to the middle east. uhh desert uhh climate change utopia turns to waste and desert becomes utopia. You seem to be living in a fantasy world even thinking that sun spots that you don’t seem to believe are on the sun right now when they are always there and moving and changing are actually lowering the world climate. If you are experienced enough to know why an agent wants utility bills you should be intelligent enough to look past what you want to hear into simple logic and what history is true to see what is going on here. Ohh Yeah no matter what anyone has to say about it ( once the snowball gets going downhill it is allready to late ) Hindsight is always 20/20 and usually blind when it comes to MONEY! Buyers agent/ Realtor/ realist / CHRISTIAN without a grudge
@Ruff2-kush-cali:
There are absolutely no sun spots on the Sun right now. But, don’t take my word for it…
Space Weather
Since your are wrong about the sun spot activity, it is very likely you are wrong in your certainty of the cause of climate change.
BTW, since you seem to think we (meaning mankind) can control the temperature of the earth, what do you think the ideal average temperature would be?
Furthermore, the issue isn’t whether they have the right to request copies of the bills. The issue is their blatant ignorance of thinking by not getting them a reduced price is in order.
I see you are an agent, and you may have a different point of view than I do about this but on a house that old, the issue of whether it is energy efficient is moot. It has not been gutted and rebuilt and they know that. We provide a book with details on every repair and renovation a property has experienced. They know exactly what has been done to it since we bought it and improving the efficiency is nowhere in there.
The second example of their ignorance AND lack of professionalism is in expecting we will evict a tenant with a valid lease. It is clearly disclosed it is a RENTAL and being sold as such.
I understand why an agent might ask for the bills and I understand why a seller would refuse. However, in the case of a 45 year old home I don’t see any value in the bills unless the seller is claiming energy improvements were added. Then they would be needed to show the improvements were made and are effective. It looks like the agent was just trying to justify her buyer being a bottom-feeder.