When the Inspection is Really the First Showing
If it hadn’t just happened to my own client, I would have thought it was something straight out of Florida or Southern California, circa 2005 — not Minnesota in 2013.
Namely, without so much as viewing my client’s home, an apparently “big bucks,” out-of-state corporate Buyer showed up with an offer (via email, last night).
“Not So Fast . . .”
The catch(es)?
There are actually two:
One. The corporate Buyer made a lowball offer (surprise, surprise).
Two. The offer stipulates that no earnest money is due until three days after the Inspection Contingency has run — which is a longer-than-usual 10 days.
Apparently, what’s going on is that one (or more) very well-financed hedge funds are gobbling up single family homes nationally to add to their rental portfolios.
Their m.o. is to offer low, come up a little (or not), then decide if they really want the property after inspecting it (the Realtor scuttlebutt is that something like half the deals cancel at the inspection stage).
