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Transcript

Buyer Contingency Removals explained: The Insider’s Guide to Sealing Your Santa Clarita Home Purchase in 2025 · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good day everybody.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today is the 19th of August 2025.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you're doing fantastic.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about the real estate update.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at what's happening in the local market.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I'm going to continue my video series.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: We are right to that point where we've gone through the entire process from a real estate buyer selecting a real estate agent, getting their best deal, what questions to ask, how to put that together.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Also, then the lender that you need to use to borrow money, whether it's best to go to a mainline bank, a credit union, or a mortgage broker, and then also how you can guarantee that you're not going to be paying too much for those services, but still getting complete value.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that goes with everything.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times cheap doesn't work, especially when you're talking about a million-dollar transaction.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: But you can get people that do a very good job and will still give you all the benefits without, you know, of course, paying through your teeth.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's all going to come down to value at the end of the day, but I covered all of that.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Then how do you uh search for real estate?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: What's the best way to find the house?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And depending on the market, it's going to depend on how far you dial up that particular searching price on the top end of it, and it could go beyond where you happen to be qualified for.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that would only exist in the case of properties that are overpriced.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: How does that determine what's the best way to look at that variable?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you're going to approach those properties, how can you do it without being offensive to the real estate seller?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So then we took it from there and finally we started looking at a property.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: We found something in the videos, we found something that we really, really liked.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: The buyers wanted to move forward with it.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of due diligence can we do up front all the way to the point of writing the offer so we don't get surprised, at least as much as we can try to help?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's going to be something else I covered.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, how do you construct that offer?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: How do you put it together to be able to compete with other people that are trying to blow you out with regard to price?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I only say that because price is the low-hanging fruit.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Price is easy.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can always attack price.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: But there are other things to put in your offer to make it more palatable to the seller so that when they see it, even if somebody might be higher, they might say, well, you know what?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: This makes more sense to us to work with these people or this particular offer.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it does happen.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So then after that point, after that offer is constructed, what does that response look like?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: What can you expect?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going to get a counter offer?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are you competing with other offers and you'll know that going in?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And also have other offers come in while you've been going back and forth with the seller, trying to change up your strategy, having them respond to you in counter-offer form.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the number didn't look good to you, so then you respond back to them, asking for them to shave off more money.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And while that's happening, another buyer sees the property, gets excited, go in, writes the offer, and the seller accepts theirs.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it happens.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So understand those time frames.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I cover that as well.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: After you win, what's that next step?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want to do before you start paying for services?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Services meaning home inspection and appraisal and pest control inspection.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: These are things that you're going to be paying out of pocket for.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's that look like?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: What should you expect to be doing?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: The very first step, and I cover this in detail in the video, you got to go talk to the neighbors.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Go talk to all the neighbors.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Go door knock.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody that has some kind of influence or could have potential influence over your property.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody that shares a boundary.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Then, addition, you'll want to go to the people across the street as well.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you basically have your agent introduce you, and then you'll find out who's who pretty in pretty short order.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to that, it gives you an idea to get a feel for the type of people that you're going to be spending a lot of time living around.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's super important.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So after that, then the next thing, of course, we covered inspections, we covered the appraisal, we covered what to expect with regard to that.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then we recover, we cover the different phases of appraisal, if in fact they come back over value, at value, or less than value, how to strategize and take care of those.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then after, of course, that point, you're looking to potentially maybe ask for a request for repairs.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do you put that together without looking like you're trying to be greedy or trying to take advantage?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's important to be able to sell that over to the seller just so you can keep faith with everybody.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: But in addition, the things that you should be asking for are the things more than likely that you had no idea existed in the property because, as first part of our process, once that house is identified, of course, you do as much investigation that you can do prior to even writing that offer so you completely know as much as possible.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of reports out there, a lot of different things that are generated, a lot of things that your agent's going to have access to via title and other different entities that you can look at and make different assumptions about that particular property, and then moving through local law enforcement, doing that kind of research as well.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then also on the property itself, as I talked about, looking at the roof, the grade, the particular condition of the systems of the residence.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, as we move through, what does that request for repair look like?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Should you ask for money?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Should you ask for credit?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Should you ask for the seller to actually take it upon themselves to do it?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you are going to ask the seller, how should that be written?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's the best way to construct that verbiage so you know that the seller's going to be hiring people that are capable and not their cousin Jethro that took a Home Depot class 23 years ago?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: So that's very important as well.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that's done, what could the seller respond?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Could they come back and say, forget it, we're not doing anything?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do they have to do anything?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: What's required by health and safety and the local regulations out there?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Covered all of that.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, that brings us into that being solved.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, you're going to be removing as a buyer, depending on contract, depending on whether you did or didn't at this point.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: But more than likely, that's kind of the time to remove contingencies.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: What happens after that point?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to today's video.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So there you are.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: You have accepted whatever terms you and the seller have agreed upon with regard to any kind of request for repairs.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you didn't request anything to be looked at.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you didn't request any repairs.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: But now you're going to be removing contingencies.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be kind of a passive thing.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Once the day came after that point, if you hadn't canceled escrow, your deposit became the property of the seller.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's an active process.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's something that you sign.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's a document that states you're removing all of your contingencies, and a contingency is basically a right.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: You have the right to have a certain amount of time to do your inspections.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: You have the right to have a certain amount of time to have the appraisal completed.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: You have a right to do other things.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Once you get to the date in contract, and that's what a contract does, it establishes time frame.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: You will then be asked, not by your agent typically, but by the agent representing the seller to remove your contingencies.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're not able to, for whatever reason, that should be communicated to the other side.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's the loan contingency that needs to be removed, and maybe your lender doesn't have everything they need to assure that you're going to be able to get a loan on the property.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of that due diligence should have been done up to that point, but it could be that something's lagging, somebody got sick, somebody isn't doing their job, or somebody just needs additional verification from you in some kind of form as the real estate buyer, and then you haven't been able to get them those documents.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you missed the email, maybe everybody communicates over email, nobody picks up the phone anymore, which is a mess.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: But again, maybe you missed it, and that's what needs to be attended to before the process can move forward, and you can get the green light from your lender.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things, real estate 101, that I've learned many, many years ago, is whenever you're going to remove your contingencies, especially when it comes to the loan, you want to make sure that your lender blesses that.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Don't take it upon yourself, and agents typically don't take it upon themselves just to wave off the loan contingency because the lender verbally said it was okay.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I always want my lender to provide some kind of proof in writing, or the buyer's lender or whomever the buyer's working with to be able to come back and say, yes, they can remove their loan contingency.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're good.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I need that in writing.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then the buyer can thereby remove that contingency because once all contingencies are removed, part of that is if the buyer cancels after that point, they're going to not be able to get their deposit refunded back to them.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Deposit now in this particular market could be as much as 3% or more.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So in a million-dollar property, you're looking at$30,000.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's huge.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if the buyer has removed all of their contingencies, discovers something, can't get a loan or whatever, it's a problem.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's something to definitely watch out for.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: But 99% of these deals work out and the buyer removes their contingencies.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: These are just some nuances that I pay attention to because when you're real estate brand new, a lot of times you don't pay attention to this stuff, and it gets you into trouble and your clients as well.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that's the most important part of that process is the contingency removal.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Once you look at it and you still want to move forward, and that's what I tell my clients, do you still want the house?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Is it still something you want to buy?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen anything, any other issues that are going to stop you from wanting to buy the house?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because now you have to sign this document that was given to me by the seller's agent.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you sign it, your deposit's going to become their property if you happen to cancel after that point.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we have that real conversation, and then of course, in most circumstances, the buyers will move on.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: If there's some kind of a delay, that delay is super important to be communicated to the other side because what ends up happening if nothing's going on on the buyer's end of it, they're not responding and the agent goes dark, which happens more often than it should because they're embarrassed or their buyer might have changed their mind and they know they've dragged on escrow for three or four weeks, and now there's an issue.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: The seller will then issue a notice to perform to the buyer, and then they have a certain amount of time to either perform or get booted out of escrow.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that documents, so don't be offended, sometimes it's just part of a listing agent's process.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I send that out, not to be offensive to the other side, but we have to keep the time frame unless there was a request for some kind of an extension because of some reason.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then those are typically granted because playing hardball has its place, typically not when the buyer is still trying to get something done or something approved, because we don't want the buyer to be screwed any more than we want the home seller to be screwed.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so tomorrow we will talk about what happens when the property gets ready to close, how that works, how does funding work, how does recording work, what are these little pesky issues that come up with regard to lenders' last minute requests to certain things the buyers need to produce, and we will see that tomorrow.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right, everybody, I hope you have a fantastic week.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with honor.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is Tuesday, and we will see you tomorrow the next video.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to see all of these videos, go to Santa Clarita Openhouses.com forward slash blog, and you'll see them all right there, plus other videos and real estate news and other news about AI and fat torching that I put there as well at Santa Clarita Openhouses.com.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for watching.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's Connor with honor.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: We will see you in the next one.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.