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March 7, 2007
Aguayo & Huebener - bidding process
Has anyone been asked to make a blind "best & final" without any info on coop financials??
A&H claims that info would be provided to our lawyer post accepted offer. They are also pushing very hard for a specific mortgage broker - this is very suspect to me. We have an up-front broker that we trust but A&H are almost insisting on their recommended broker saying the seller would feel uncomfortable with anyone else! (Of course, they deny any self-interest in the transaction.)
A&H was discussed last week regarding the Carroll St apartment listed at $799 - rumor being that it generated a bidding war - is this the realty company's modus operandi - are they reputable?
Comments
they advertise on this site, they must be reputable
Posted by: ふくうぃま at March 7, 2007 9:53 AM
A couple of points. A&H tends to list properties rather cheaply, which stimulates interest and so they have bidding wars. I think they handle the bidding reputably - I was in one (lost) a few years ago. I think they like Norman Calvo from Universal Mortgage. I am not sure who they wanted you to use. I can tell you that there are crazy mortgage brokers out there who will provide letters stating that xyz client will be able to get x$ financing when they are marginal or only qualify for the most unattractive terms, so that may be where that is coming from. Norman Calvo has it down and is a very reputable guy and doesn't overstretch the facts. He could give you a pre-qualification and you are not forced to use him for the financing. You could use your own broker. (I got a mortgage and refinancing with Norman). It sounds pretty wierd to me though this business of not seeing the coop financials. I don't understand that. Why is that? Ask them. Get an answer from the owner of A&H if you are not satisfied with what you hear from the broker. Do they want to create a frenzy before the facts are available? How could you possibly know what you are bidding on. That's the part I think is pretty screwy. You are not buying the apartment in a coop situation, you are buying shares in a corporation which owns the building and you HAVE to know what is going on with the finances. Good luck.
Posted by: donatella at March 7, 2007 10:17 AM
I had a different experience with respect to obtaining building financials; I don't think I saw any building financials prior to making an offer. That came later (maybe even after the contract was signed, I can't quite recall), as part of the due diligence process (which is extensive but different than that involved in buying a house). In any event, satisfactory due diligence is one of the contingencies you usually contract for.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2007 10:28 AM
I have been through a negotiation process with A&H recently and I can't say they are above what seems to me juvenile tactics.... like coming back and saying there is another party that is also interested in the unit, but since you made the first bid, we'll let you have it at the price where the negotiations stand right now. I told them that as much as I like the place, I will have to walk away... sure enough they come back a little while later.
The whole thing about the mortgage broker I think is only to get the mortgae pre-approval letter. Once that formatlity is complete, I think you can chose your mortgage company independently. Verify this with them or your lawyer, if you get that far into this.
Posted by: Jay at March 7, 2007 10:41 AM
At the Washington I was told by the A&H broker that we would have to get preapproved separately by their recommended mortgage broker (who if I recall was someone's mother-in-law) but that we were free to not use them for the mortgage. Still, a bit annoying.
Posted by: Ms. Brooklyn at March 7, 2007 11:21 AM
We had a bad experience with A&H when we were looking at co-ops a while back. They had a couple of listings and the agent we were dealing with refused to show us one of them since she said she thought it was "out of your price range", despite the fact we had a pre-approval letter for far more than the price of the apartment we wanted to see. We finally got her to show us the place, made a bid on it, and she called us back to tell us the price was now $10k higher. When I told her that was incorrect and that I was looking at A&H's website and the apartment was listed there for the lower price, she said "no it isn't." Duh. We couldn't walk away from her fast enough-- if she was playing games like this so early in the process, who knows how much worse it might have gotten once we had a contract. Interestingly, she was very forthcoming with the financials, so that was no problem. I personally would not sign a contract w/out first viewing a building's financials, unless the contract contains contingencies, as stated by the posters above. Also, I would never do business with A&H again. They seemed pretty unscrupulous to me.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2007 11:24 AM
we offered first on our condo, then saw the financials. An offer letter isn't binding. What is the big deal? If the financial's suck, pull your offer.
Posted by: sf at March 7, 2007 11:28 AM
In 2003 we looked at a Clinton Hill co-op that was exclusively listed with A&H. We asked about financials and were told we couldn't see them until we made an offer. The broker didn't want to tell us much; she wanted us to provide all our info before she would provide any.
We made an offer, and then were told that someone had offered more than the asking price, and we had two days to beat that offer. We got such a bad feeling from the broker's behavior that we declined.
She called back the next day to say that better offer had fallen through and we still had a chance. Too late; we had already bid on a different place. It was a great apartment, and with a different broker, we might have bought it.
Posted by: Jennie at March 7, 2007 12:22 PM
Bought a co-op many years ago. Didn't see the financials BUT most definitely got the basics in writing before entering into the offer process. Else I don't see how you could do the math -
Size of reserve fund, any recent assessments, any future assesments scheduled, whether everyone's current on maint. and if there's any large projects in the pipeline. Broker and seller were happy to provide. . . . but this was years ago when buyers still had to be courted ;-)
Posted by: John at March 7, 2007 12:36 PM
Some real estate agents get kick backs from mortgage brokers--I would stay out of this situation. They'll end up teaming up to try to squeeze as much money out of you as possible. There's no reason the seller should care who your mortgage broker is!
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2007 10:27 PM
A&H just handled the sale of my house and did a great job. They conducted the bidding in conjunction with my lawyer and it worked out fine.
All offers have contingencies. In this case, you make your offer contingent on seeing the financials and approving them. I've bought one coop and one condo and never saw the financials until after I made my bid and had it accepted. Otherwise they have to provide financials to perhaps a dozen people and it can be messy.
As for the mortgage broker, what's the problem using theirs to get a letter. You are under no obligation to use that broker for your mortgage
Posted by: Anonymous at March 8, 2007 9:54 AM
I thnk it's a very big deal being told to use a specific motgage broker by a seller's agent.
A less-than-ethical mortgage broker is in a position to share any amount of financial background on folks submitting offers with the real estate broker - potentially gauging their ability (and therefore sometimes, willingness) to increase offers.
Not in a million years would I agree to this. I don't know if it's illegal, but it's obviously unethical.
Posted by: John at March 8, 2007 10:59 AM
We also used Norman Calvo for both a coop morgage and then later a home equity. He was recommended by another realtor. We were not the easiest to get a morgage for (freelance). He was professional and conservative. He was extremely helpful and we got a great rate at the time. Just because they are used to working together, or more likely, he has gotten a number of morgages in the building and knows what they require, does not mean he is shady.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 8, 2007 11:38 AM
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