Since there are numerous foreclosures and short sales on the market, would it be feasible/legal to place offers on multiple properties at one time?

If you plan to go through with the purchase of every property you put an offer in on, then this is a perfectly accepted practice. However, if you only intend to purchase one property, then the answer gets a little more “gray area”.

There is nothing illegal about placing offers in on multiple properties at one time and I have done it in the past with clients, but only under extreme scenarios. Typically, it is best to put one in at a time as placing offers on multiple properties at once with the intent of only buying one, could present potential issues such as:

1. Multiple offers being accepted at the same time:If you place more than one offer and two or more get accepted at the same time, it is possible that you could effectively be under contract for two different properties at the same time. There are contingencies that can be added to the sales provisions that would make it fairly easy to get out of a contract, but you do not want to be under contract with two different properties at the same time unless you are using it as a strategy to lock the property up in a fast-moving area. Doing this definitely needs to be discussed with your REALTOR® so there is no doubt what you are doing and apprpriate measures can be taken to minimize the risk of your earnest money.
2. Asset Manager blocking: If both properties happen to be foreclosures, managed by the same servicing company (Wells Fargo for instance, not necessarily the same listing agent), and you are accepted on both properties but find issues with both and do not end up closing on either, you could actually be blacklisted from putting in offers to other assets (foreclosures) by that company.

There are other inherent dangers in using a practice of putting in offers in on multiple properties, but these are probably the biggest issues. If you are pressed for time on your house-hunt, you could use better strategies. Work with me to find homes you love. We will put in the first offer and if we are unable to make a successful deal, we can have a list of 2nd and 3rd choices. Then, we just move down the line. I can either write the offers and email them to you (you print, sign, and email/fax back). This is the most efficient way of doing things and assures that you do not run into any “sticky” situations.

See all listings currently for sale in south MS here. Search and see listings from Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Woolmarket, Gulfport, Long Beach, Pass Christian, Saucier, Bay St. Louis, Diamondhead & Waveland including unbelievably priced waterfront new construction. It’s easy to view listings and get information on the real estate market of south MS here on this site.

I realize that before you want to start talking to a real estate broker about buying or selling your home, you want more information and I am glad to provide it. If you are looking for specific information and are unable to find it on my site, please contact me so I can add it!

As a full time broker with an IT background, I know how difficult it can be to find quality information on the real estate market and how very generic most real estate sites are. Rest assured that I will constantly strive to maintain quality information on the Mississippi Coast and make it easy for you to get that information whether you are buying a home or selling a home.

Check out the buyer’s homepage to get great information on homes for sale and techniques to searching & negotiating for the property that fits your lifestyle. Learn how to protect yourself and save time by working smarter instead of harder. This is the all access site for all your real estate needs. See all listing for sale in south MS and contact me for information on unlisted homes for sale from Ocean Springs to Bay St. Louis and north to Wiggins. Join the just listed program to be notified of new listings in real time as they hit the market! Getting information the quickest can mean the difference between getting a great deal on your perfect home.

Here you’ll find full access to homes for sale enabling you to have the best opportunity to get the perfect home for you and your family. See all listings for sale, pick your favorites, get behind the scenes market data for negotiating strength through our research, and get the best house at the best price and terms. I am here to serve you.

Contact me for help locating hard to find unlisted homes and properties for sale or to set up a showing on the home of your choice!

Everyone knows that preparation and information are the keys to success in almost anything. Buying a home is no exception. Aside from getting mentally ready for purchasing a new home, it is important that you are using the services of someone who knows what they are doing. You would not go to court without a lawyer and you would not have a surgery without a doctor. My intent is not to compare my profession to either of these but to show that I breath real estate day in and out and have helped hundreds of people buy and sell homes on the Mississippi Coast.

Information

Information is easy for the most part. I have compiled much information and put it into one spot – here on my blog. While this is an ongoing project, you know that you can readily get the information you need to make semi-informed decisions. It is no substitute for speaking with me personally when you are ready to buy a home, but it a great start so kudos to you for finding me

Preparation

Like a good boy scout or girl scout, you have to be prepared. When you are ready to start your search for your new home, it is imperative that you speak to me so that we can (together) figure out where you want to be, and what price range you are comfortable with. Getting a lender involved at this stage is critical. A mortgage professional will run your credit and debt to income to tell you what you can qualify for and roughly what your payment will be. Then, they can give us a prequalification letter, or better yet a pre-approval, so that when we find your perfect home, we will be in a stronger position to negotiate. When you put in an offer on a home, the stronger you are on paper, the more likely the seller will make concessions.

Benefits of using a Buyer’s Agent (me)

1. I am very familiar with the market. Aside from running basic numbers on an area, I am very active in the market and can tell you areas that are likely to appreciate (or depreciate) in value. The last thing you want to do is buy a home and have the value depreciate rapidly because there is a new, low-income rental area being built down the road.
2. I will represent your interests. As your buyer’s agent, I will do my best to get you the best price and terms on a home. Sellers have their agents representing their interests – shouldn’t you have the same? As a buyer’s agent, I work on a fee that is predetermined through the listing agent. In occasions such as dealing with For Sale By Owner homes, I can negotiate my fee directly to the seller so you do not have to pay me, and still I represent you. I save my buyer clients a lot of money and a lot of headaches.
3. A good buyer’s agent will have the contacts to help you through the buying process. A good lender, appraisers, inspectors, etc. By using referrals from me, it will ensure a more streamlined process and help you close on time.
4. My experience will help guide you through unexpected issues. All transactions are different and each have their own unique issues. Having someone like myself that has the experience and ability to help you make decisions based on that experience is probably reason enough.

Buying a home is a great investment in your future when done correctly. Do it wrong and it could be a nightmare. Choosing the right agent is imperative in the amount you pay and the headaches you deal with. You will make us both happy if you contact me when you are ready to buy your next home.

It doesn’t matter what branch of the service you are in, no one looks forward to moving to an area they know nothing about, looking for a home in subdivisions they know nothing about, and having to pick up your entire life and move it. The good news is that, coming from a military family I know how you feel. I know what it feels like to move to a new area and have to put trust in people that know very little about your needs and your desires and this is why I have dedicated a lot of my time to helping military families make a smoother transition to the Mississippi Coast.

Here on the MS Coast, we love all of our service members.  It does not matter if you are transferring to Gulfport NCBC or Keesler Air Force Base – I have helped numerous military families at both installations that have received a PCS here.

The important thing to consider for military families is the likelihood that you will be moving again in a few years. This makes many servicemen and women nervous about buying, ultimately leading to renting less of a home for more money because they are unsure of their ability to sell or rent out when they leave. As a real estate broker who spends a lot of time in the real estate investment arena, I am able to help you look at any property as a potential investment and help you determine whether it would be a good short term investment. In other words, will you make your money out of it if you PCS across the country (or globe) in a few years.

It is important that you look at all potential homes as an investment in your immediate future. Talking to someone who understands the unique needs of our military personnel and listens to your desires, makes all the difference in the home-buying process. Contact me when you receive orders and let me help you buy (or sell) your home on the MS Coast.

You have been driving around, looking at homes, calling every agent you see a sign for, finally write an offer on a house and you get to the agency disclosure and find out that the agent you have been friendly with for the past week – the one that knows every intimate detail of your financing, and the one that KNOWS you are willing to pay top-dollar for that new house – is not your agent!

The above scenario happens a LOT in our industry and while agency laws vary from state to state, the major gist of all of them is that the agent with the listing represents the seller first and foremost. Sure, you may run into a dual agency or implied agency relationship with a Realtor® that you deal with, but it is important to get the details of your representation up front as it could save you thousands of dollars and a lot of headaches.

There are many types of agency relationships but we are going to focus only on the ones that are relevant to Mississippi since that is the target audience for this post. There are Ultimately 4 different ways you can be represented in a real estate transaction in Mississippi, as a Seller’s Agent, Buyer’s Agent, in a Dual Agency, or as a Customer.

Seller’s Agent:
A seller’s agent represents the best interest of the seller only and it is his duty to procure the best price and terms for the seller. A seller’s agent owes the seller, and only the seller, the fiduciary responsibilities of loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, disclosure, full accounting and duty to use skill, care and diligence. To the buyer in a transaction, the seller’s agent must exercise a duty of honesty and fair dealing as well as disclosure of all known facts to the buyer or buyer’s agent which materially affect the value of a property which are not known to, or readily observable by the parties in the transaction.

Buyer’s Agent:
A buyer’s agent represents the best interest and terms of the buyer only. The duties of a buyer’s agent are the same fiduciary responsibilities of loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, disclosure, full accounting, and the duty to use skill, care and diligence. The buyer’s agent still owes the seller a duty of fair dealing.

Dual Agent:
Dual agency relationships must be fully disclosed to all parties in the transaction. While all agency relationships should be fully disclosed, dual agency is kind of like an attorney representing the husband and wife in a divorce case. Each party has differing wants, but the dual agent walks a fine line between the two.
A dual agent should never represent the interest of one party to the extent it would create a detriment to the other.

Customer:
A customer in a real estate transaction basically has no representation and the agent can only ask you what you want in the terms without giving advice. The duties of fair dealing must still be there but ultimately their duties and responsibilities lie elsewhere. A customer is basically “representing himself”.

Implied Agency and Agency Disclosure:
Disclosure of agency relationship should be made at the “first substantive meeting”, basically meaning as soon as anything relative to pricing, financing, or ability to purchase is discussed. Typically, a working with a real estate broker form is presented the first time you meet. Many agents do not do this out of fear of presenting paperwork to someone the first time they meet. If your agent does not provide this to you – ASK FOR IT. It is your right to get this form and knowledge of how you will be represented in any potential purchase.

Implied agency is a way of creating an agency relationship without actually meaning to. If a real estate agent asks you personal questions about your financing or ability to purchase, and you give them the information, they may have created an implied agency. There are many other ways of creating an implied agency. A general rule of thumb – if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck – it must be?…. Yep, an Agency Relationship!

What all this means to you!!
Some basic scenarios here for each agency relationship.

If you are looking to a buy a house and you contacted the listing agent directly. They most likely will want you to be a customer. At this point, any information you give them may be used against you. If you told them you LOVED the house and are willing to pay top dollar, they will tell the seller that and any offer less than the asking price would be a moot point and very likely to be countered.

If you are looking to buy the same house, but you have someone like ME representing you, I would make sure that you knew to be careful about saying anything to the seller or seller’s agent that may hurt your negotiating position. This means that the low offer you originally sent is much more likely of getting accepted. I am great at negotiating contracts and have saved my clients hundreds of thousands of dollars cumulatively.

Closing costs are another aspect that many agents miss in a transaction or intentionally try to push to the buyer. As your buyer’s agent – we would attempt to negotiate those closing costs for you saving you as much money at closing as possible so more of your money goes towards the house and not the fees!

Using the same transaction, a dual agent, the agent technically is not supposed to say anything to either party about the other. In a perfect world, a true dual agent is about as good as having the buyer and seller in the same room, letting them hash out the details and then just fill in the contract. This is not a perfect world though and most agents will typically play “Mr. Nice guy” on both sides just so he can get the deal done and collect his fee. Now this is not always bad, as the outcome may be the same as putting buyer and seller in the same room, but ultimately, the agent is representing only one person’s interest in this scenario – his own.

As a customer in the same transaction:
A buyer customer will pay the highest price for the house with the least favorable terms.
A seller customer will get the least for their house with the least favorable terms.

My Practices:
Typically, I try to be as fair as possible to all parties in a transaction. I do not like dealing with dual agency situations because I realize that is very difficult for me to do my job as effectively as possible in this case. I have occasionally created an implied agency relationship and had to do a dual agency. This typically happens when I start working with a buyer and then I get a listing that meets their needs.

Typically I will work as a buyer’s agent for my buyers and a seller’s agent for my sellers. I obviously have to be fair and honest in my dealings but I am also VERY proficient at negotiating contracts and getting the best price and terms for my clients.

If you are looking for an agent to represent you, as a buyer or seller, please contact me. Even as a buyer’s agent, I typically (over 99% of the time) get my commission paid by the seller of the property.

When you start the home-buying process, it is most likely you will start looking online at homes, maybe drive through neighborhoods you like, or even pick up a magazine with home listings in it. It is important that when you get a little more serious in the process that you contact an agent that is NOT represented by the seller.

If you call on a home in a magazine, or off a sign on a property, you are typically calling directly to the agent of the seller and that agent’s job is to get you to buy the house at the best terms for the seller. many buyers, especially first time buyers get into this position and often pay more for the house, lose the ability to get vital inspections, and may potentially lose money without getting the house because of unknown issues that may arise. This is why it is imperative that you have an agent that is working for you. Nine times out of ten, this costs you no extra money because commission to your buyer’s agent is typically already arranged through broker reciprocity (an agreement from a listing broker to pay a buyer’s agent when they bring a buyer).

Having a buyers agent will help you increase your negotiating strength by getting you in a strong bargaining position which includes getting qualified through a lender, providing comparable data that may show a home is worth less than what the seller is asking, and market knowledge. A good buyer’s agent will also assist in writing a strong offer which gives you ample security and contingencies that protect your interests and gives you the ability to get needed inspections.

It simply makes no sense to put yourself at risk by going directly to the agent of the seller when you could be using the services of a qualified buyer’s agent, generally at no cost to you, and get a much better bargaining position. I work with buyers every day and look forward to assisting you in your next home purchase. Contact me to get started and feel free to browse listings from hundreds of others agents right here on my site. Also, check out my Buyer’s Page to give you more insights on buying a new home.