Many potential home buyers putting forward desperate and dangerous offers: Sotheby’s
Posted April 12, 2016 5:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Home buyers in Metro Vancouver are so desperate to make offers, one local brokerage is worried about would-be owners putting in their bids without conditions.
Polly Cordwell is managing broker of the Sotheby’s International Realty Canada offices in the region and says taking that risky road is common right now, given the market. She is so concerned, she’s created a form and sent it to all the company’s agents in the province. That form is for clients to sign, acknowledging the risks.
“It just outlines the risk, so that in having a client sign off, we’re getting them to look at this form prior to writing their offer, understanding the risks associated with it.”
Cordwell says it’s then the client’s choice whether or not they want to move forward.
She recommends getting legal advice before entering into a subject-free offer. Cordwell adds a lot of people wrongly assume with pre-approval for financing, they won’t have any problems.
“If there are any issues with a property, a bank can still decline that financing. Also, if the bank feels it doesn’t appraise for the value that the person has offered, again, they could decline that financing.”
That’s just one possible issue. She says there is potential for legal troubles if the market takes a slight downturn.
“Because then a seller might not be able to resell their property. In that case, lawsuits will start to happen.”
Cordwell says she’s seeing people making a number of offers at once because they keep losing out.
