Recently four offers were made on a home in Oakland, CA. Three of the offers were presented directly to the sellers and their agent by the buyers’ agents. The fourth offer was simply faxed to the listing agent. This buyer’s agent wasn’t available to represent her client’s best interests. She didn’t even bother to speak to the listing agent before faxing the offer. As you might expect, the faxed offer was rejected.

Agree on an approach with your agent

How an offer is presented to a seller can do a lot to affect the outcome. Sellers usually feel more comfortable accepting an offer if they are confident that the buyers are qualified to perform and eager to close the transaction. If the buyer’s agent presents the buyer’s offer in person, the seller has the opportunity to gather information that could influence a positive decision. A faxed presentation, on the other hand, is far less personal. At the least, the buyer’s agent should stand by for a conference-call presentation.

Make sure before your offer is presented that you find out how your agent intends to handle the presentation. Your best bet is for your agent to present your offer to the sellers in person. This may not be possible if the sellers have told their agent that they don’t want to be present. In this case, ask your agent to make arrangements to present your offer directly to the listing agent. At least this gives your agent the opportunity to present your case and to make sure that there are no questions left unanswered.

Know what the sellers want

Sellers who don’t want to hear offers personally should make sure that their agent is available to meet with buyers’ agents to review offers. This is not only a professional courtesy—since the buyers and their agents have put time and effort into their endeavors—but it enables the listing agent to better screen the offers for the sellers.

Even though it’s preferable to have in-person presentations, sometimes the listing agent prefers that offers be dropped off at the listing office in a sealed envelope. If you find that this is the case, ask your agent to prepare a summary to accompany your offer. This summary should tell the seller something about you and it should highlight the positive aspects of your offer.

Having offers dropped off in sealed envelopes can also do the seller a disservice, particularly if multiple offers come in. One way the listing agent can keep track of how many interested buyers there are is by letting buyers’ agents know in advance that offers will be presented in person. This forces buyers’ agents to make an appointment with the listing agent to present an offer. The listing agent is then able to keep everyone who’s interested informed about how many offers are anticipated. This helps buyers strategize and can actually get a better price for the seller. When offers are simply dropped off in a sealed envelope, the listing agent often doesn’t know how many offers to expect.

The closing: No matter how your offer is presented, you can improve your chances by including a copy of a preapproval letter, or at least a prequalification letter. Also, if there’s a seller disclosure package available, you’ll have more clout with the seller if your agent can say that you’ve read and received this before you make your offer.

Some buyers, particularly in multiple-offer presentations, write a letter to the seller to personalize their offer. This can also have a positive impact on the seller. However, the most sincere letter will carry little weight if you’re not financially qualified, or if your price is too low.Dian Hymer

Somebody say yes, already!

I have a line on two houses, but no answers. Meanwhile, I have explained my rehab-y existence to community leaders and mortgage bankers. I have pitched my home-ownership/personal finance expertise to every publication I can think of, from giveaway weeklies to big-shot magazines. If real estate execs float into my general vicinity, I explain to them that I’m happy to write their Web sites.

I have moused so much my arm hurts. If you’re going to the Inman News Real Estate Connect conference in New York next week, I’ve probably pitched you.

And you should say yes, already, because the waiting is driving me crazy.

There’s a myth that salespeople take rejection well. I don’t think that’s true; I certainly don’t think they enjoy it. It’s more like salespeople see rejection as a natural part of their day, and get over it rather than getting buried by it. Similarly, when you’re a reporter, people hang up the phone in your ear a lot, and you pick up the phone again anyway. You have to.

But when you’re on your own dime, there’s an extra impatience factor that’s tough to get around. I have freelance work booked for late January, but I can’t move it forward to today. Today, I am simply rearranging the paper clips on the coffee table and starving to death.

Some of the trouble is that this isn’t what I imagined I’d be doing at this stage of the game. I had thought lead generation would be easier by now. My partners nixed the idea of “we buy houses” signs, which is one way my competitors bring in business. And I’d thought that my partners would introduce me around in a way that they haven’t, or can’t, or won’t. So I’m in unfamiliar territory, still learning the names of the streets, and I have to figure out a way to meet every cop and clerk in town. My mom ran for elected office several times, so I’m a second-generation glad-hander, but it’s still tough to call someone totally out of the blue, totally cold.

At least telemarketers make six bucks an hour.

The other half of the trouble is that I don’t quite fit the model of a new real estate agent. Baby agents are told to start mining their “sphere of influence” – their neighbors, their cousins, the dry-cleaner on the corner. But I started a business because I believed in a market and a demographic that I’m not part of – and sometimes I feel very, very far from home.

The third half of the problem (this is what it feels like, honestly) is that nobody will quite say “no” to me. What I get instead are clients who overcommit and then retract – like the Wall Street guys who wanted me to work on their Web site, told me their budget was $2,000 a month, and then balked the day I billed them $750. That $1,250 a month of my time I thought was booked has to be resold, and that means – you got it – more pitching.

I have taken to calling my husband during the day simply to leave him activity reports: “I called Jeanine’s cousin the real estate lawyer,” or even “I’m going to the gym.” These updates are not for his benefit but for mine: Since I don’t have achievements, I feel like I’m not really here – like a vampire character that can’t see his reflection in a mirror. At least if I call out what I’m doing, it feels real – someone else can see me.

Maybe a breakthrough is just around the corner. Maybe 20 calls will turn into a column and a seminar and the purchase of a rehab-able house. But it better happen soon, because I feel like I’m vanishing. Alison Rogers

Encompass Realty®, www.encompassrealty.com, Encompass Realty & Investments LLC, Arizona real estate

Pending home sales, a leading indicator for the housing sector, slowed for the third consecutive month and demonstrates that a market transition is firmly in place, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* based on contracts signed in November, slipped 2.5 percent to a reading of 120.6 from 123.7 in October, and is 2.5 percent lower than November 2004.

The index is derived from pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed; pending home sales typically are finalized within one or two months of signing.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said the index remains at a high level. “Although pending home sales are trending down from a record in August, the index remains well above a mark that is considered to be historically strong,” he said. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be examined, and was the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales.

“We are clearly experiencing a market transition, moving from a prolonged boom to a more balanced period of sustainable sales,” Lereah said. “In other words, home sales have been peaking for the last five years and we will land on a high plateau in 2006 – a market that will be healthy for both buyers and sellers. Investment fundamentals for housing remain solid, preserving generally favorable affordability conditions while offering solid returns as well as a place to live.”

Regionally, the PHSI in the Midwest rose 3.4 percent in November to 116.0 but was 3.7 percent lower than November 2004. In the South, the index declined 1.9 percent to 132.8 in November but was 1.8 percent above a year ago. The index in the West fell 5.1 percent to 127.7 in November, and was 4.6 percent lower than a year ago. The index in the Northeast was down 8.3 percent to a level of 93.3, and was 8.0 below November 2004.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

* The Pending Home Sales Index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing-home sales. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity from 2001 through 2004 closely parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months.

Existing-home sales for December will be released January 25; the next Pending Home Sales Index will be on February 1. NAR

Encompass Realty is a Register Trademark of Manuel Caballero, Broker of Encompass Realty & Investments LLC

Any questions please contact Manuel at 480.990.0823

www.encompassrealty.com