Offer to purchase question

PhireSide said:
This, unfortunately. @Toxxyc, do you remember if there was a rat clause in the OTP that you completed?

This allows the seller to continue marketing the property even if they receive your OTP, and they can accept another offer in this timeframe (usually 72 hours). If someone else put an offer in and this clause is in effect, it could be your way out.

Otherwise you could probably talk nicely with the agent and seller and ask if they will accept you pulling out of the deal, however I'm not sure of the legal implications hereof (and I'd of course want to see them shred the document with my own eyes if this were the case).
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IIRC his offer hasn't been accepted yet?
 
My offer has not yet been accepted. I have sent it in a week ago and haven't heard anything back yet (not a yay or a nay).

Thing is, according to the agent there are other offers on the table already, and mine is literally only R10k more than the next one. I believe she also said there's another offer on the table for R90k more than mine, but she said the guy might not get the loan, so I dunno. Think I'm going to call her today and just be open and honest. Like I said, it's not the end of the world, but I'm just cautious here (typical me).

On the other hand as well, there we documents included in the OTP that were never filled in. These included the seller's documents, known issues on the property, the Fixtures and Fittings section was never completed (for both included and excluded items), etc. There is no conveyancer info filled in on the contract, there is no sheet displaying the size of the place, bedrooms, etc. etc. It was all left blank. The entire defects section is blank. Even the section that says there are stuff I must repair when I buy the place - empty.

So I dunno. I'm just starting to get "that feeling".

EDIT: What bothers me most is that the offer is still "valid" for 10 more days (yes, yes, I know), and during those 10 days we can find a million other valid options as well. So I just don't know.

Never am I putting in an offer with this long waiting time. What's the best time to have an offer valid for? 5 days? 3 days?
 
Toxxyc said:
My offer has not yet been accepted. I have sent it in a week ago and haven't heard anything back yet (not a yay or a nay).

Thing is, according to the agent there are other offers on the table already, and mine is literally only R10k more than the next one. I believe she also said there's another offer on the table for R90k more than mine, but she said the guy might not get the loan, so I dunno. Think I'm going to call her today and just be open and honest. Like I said, it's not the end of the world, but I'm just cautious here (typical me).

On the other hand as well, there we documents included in the OTP that were never filled in. These included the seller's documents, known issues on the property, the Fixtures and Fittings section was never completed (for both included and excluded items), etc. There is no conveyancer info filled in on the contract, there is no sheet displaying the size of the place, bedrooms, etc. etc. It was all left blank. The entire defects section is blank. Even the section that says there are stuff I must repair when I buy the place - empty.

So I dunno. I'm just starting to get "that feeling".
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As mentioned a couple of posts ago, refer to the start of this thread. My suggestion however would be to contact the agent and say you want to withdraw your offer. If he says yes, no issue. If he says no, tell him you want to change it to require an answer by 5pm today - an open ended OTP is dangerous.
 
Speedster said:
As mentioned a couple of posts ago, refer to the start of this thread. My suggestion however would be to contact the agent and say you want to withdraw your offer. If he says yes, no issue. If he says no, tell him you want to change it to require an answer by 5pm today - an open ended OTP is dangerous.
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Yeah. When I submitted mine, it closes today at 18:00, the agent then told me that the seller has gone away for a long weekend or something (nice to be retired I guess).

If she comes back and wants to accept, I'll sign a new one, but I didn't want to leave it open-ended for the very reasons discussed.
 
Yeah I'm never falling for that trap again. She said because it's in a deceased estate, they take "2 weeks to accept" and all that. How true is that?
 
Toxxyc said:
My offer has not yet been accepted. I have sent it in a week ago and haven't heard anything back yet (not a yay or a nay).

Thing is, according to the agent there are other offers on the table already, and mine is literally only R10k more than the next one. I believe she also said there's another offer on the table for R90k more than mine, but she said the guy might not get the loan, so I dunno. Think I'm going to call her today and just be open and honest. Like I said, it's not the end of the world, but I'm just cautious here (typical me).

On the other hand as well, there we documents included in the OTP that were never filled in. These included the seller's documents, known issues on the property, the Fixtures and Fittings section was never completed (for both included and excluded items), etc. There is no conveyancer info filled in on the contract, there is no sheet displaying the size of the place, bedrooms, etc. etc. It was all left blank. The entire defects section is blank. Even the section that says there are stuff I must repair when I buy the place - empty.

So I dunno. I'm just starting to get "that feeling".

EDIT: What bothers me most is that the offer is still "valid" for 10 more days (yes, yes, I know), and during those 10 days we can find a million other valid options as well. So I just don't know.

Never am I putting in an offer with this long waiting time. What's the best time to have an offer valid for? 5 days? 3 days?
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Try and call the agent and tell her you would like to withdraw. You have nothing to lose by asking.

We also got 'pressured' into signing an OTP with some clauses blank, because the agent claimed and said that "This property will fly because of the low price, but quickly sign here and here and initial here and I will fill out the rest when I get to the office tomorrow". I doubt that any agent would put their reputation on the line but it still gives me funny vibes when they try and pull crap like this.

No matter what the agent says, never, ever sign a blank document or initial next to blank spaces after having promised by the agent that "they will complete it later". This is such a big issue if they make one little mistake which could cost you a lot of money. I'd also get a funny feeling but perhaps the agent will let you go and go off in search of 'easier' prey.

The waiting time is normally to give the buyer time to secure a 100% approved bond, and this is usually quite a while as it depends on credit checks and how eager your contact person at the bank is. Ours was three weeks, but we got the bond approval in three days. I think two weeks is the norm, we chose three weeks just to be safe as we had some extra admin to do on our side ITO selling our current place and getting some finances in order.
 
newby_investor said:
Yeah. When I submitted mine, it closes today at 18:00, the agent then told me that the seller has gone away for a long weekend or something (nice to be retired I guess).

If she comes back and wants to accept, I'll sign a new one, but I didn't want to leave it open-ended for the very reasons discussed.
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We had a similar thing WRT the timing - the sellers of the place we purchased are currently sailing on a yacht on the other side of the planet, so as you can imagine the timing was a bit of a stuff up. How they managed to get the paperwork sorted despite them being on the ocean somewhere is a miracle in and of itself:D
 
PhireSide said:
Try and call the agent and tell her you would like to withdraw. You have nothing to lose by asking.

We also got 'pressured' into signing an OTP with some clauses blank, because the agent claimed and said that "This property will fly because of the low price, but quickly sign here and here and initial here and I will fill out the rest when I get to the office tomorrow". I doubt that any agent would put their reputation on the line but it still gives me funny vibes when they try and pull crap like this.

No matter what the agent says, never, ever sign a blank document or initial next to blank spaces after having promised by the agent that "they will complete it later". This is such a big issue if they make one little mistake which could cost you a lot of money. I'd also get a funny feeling but perhaps the agent will let you go and go off in search of 'easier' prey.

The waiting time is normally to give the buyer time to secure a 100% approved bond, and this is usually quite a while as it depends on credit checks and how eager your contact person at the bank is. Ours was three weeks, but we got the bond approval in three days. I think two weeks is the norm, we chose three weeks just to be safe as we had some extra admin to do on our side ITO selling our current place and getting some finances in order.
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No I know about the 2 weeks clause in which to get an approved bond. I'm asking how long it's recommended to keep your offer valid? How long should I give them to accept the offer? I gave them, let's count quickly, 17 days to get back to me with a "yes" or "no", before I have to even apply for bond, and that was on recommendation from the agent. That seems a bit long.
 
Toxxyc said:
No I know about the 2 weeks clause in which to get an approved bond. I'm asking how long it's recommended to keep your offer valid? How long should I give them to accept the offer? I gave them, let's count quickly, 17 days to get back to me with a "yes" or "no", before I have to even apply for bond, and that was on recommendation from the agent. That seems a bit long.
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Ah, my mistake. I would personally give them 72 hours to accept. I just realised ours was also open-ended in this regard, which is why I thought you were referring to the bond clause.

Ours accepted immediately, but I think that next time we will enter a clause that states the OTP is valid for x amount of time, just to make sure the seller doesn't dilly dally.
 
I doubt this is new ... but I discovered a site where you can see all the last purchase prices within SA (for free). Some interesting stats :)
 
zerocool2009 said:
I doubt this is new ... but I discovered a site where you can see all the last purchase prices within SA (for free). Some interesting stats :)
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Do share...nedbank offers 3 free property valuation reports per month on their app - have to a customer of course.
 
wtg said:
Do share...nedbank offers 3 free property valuation reports per month on their app - have to a customer of course.
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Also keen to know.

FNB offers unlimited reports too, but you also have to be a customer of theirs
 
zerocool2009 said:
www.property24.com

Property valuations and prices for homes in South Africa : Property24.com

Property valuations, prices, trends and statistics for properties in South Africa.
www.property24.com www.property24.com

Enter the street name, and off you go. I can confirm all my properties are spot on listed.(as in the price I bought it for with date)
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Yeah, it's a matter of public record.

It's a bit slow - my neighbour who bought a month or two ago isn't recorded here yet, but if you don't need the latest up-to-date figures it's very useful.
 
PhireSide said:
Also keen to know.

FNB offers unlimited reports too, but you also have to be a customer of theirs
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I'm with fnb and Nedbank. Is the fnb one a full valuation report? Maybe I didn't look hard enough
 
wtg said:
I'm with fnb and Nedbank. Is the fnb one a full valuation report? Maybe I didn't look hard enough
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The FNB one depends on what is publicly available but it usually has the important bits like last transfer date, transfer amount, erf and building size, number of bedroom, bathroom, sometimes even what construction materials were used and year of construction
 
Lightstone reports are the most comprehensive that I have seen.
I know Windeed's are comprehensive as well.
Those are paid for though.


I also use Standard Bank:

Home Services property guide

Searching for a new home or want to sell your existing house? View our free Home Services property guide for property valuations, area and sales trends, reports and more.
www.standardbank.co.za www.standardbank.co.za

(no need to be a customer).
 
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