Hi, everyone:
Thanks to all your kind and generous helps, I was able to follow your professional advices and back out from the above contract mentioned. After all, the seller seemed to have some unrealistic expectations about the property even when the property was ill maintained. The main reason why I was interested in the property mainly because it's in a big complex communities with many swimming pools, tennis courts and so on... It seemed like it would be a nice community to live at. Anyway, after using your advices, I wrote an e-mail to my agent, and asked her to rescinding the contract since the seller not only wanted more money than I'd like to pay, but also not willing to repair anything. So, luckily, after receiving my e-mail for the request, she told me that there is nothing that we need to do further because all the ounter offers that she received from the seller were only verbal ones. She had never asked the seller to send in a written offer. And it's interesting to find out that the same day I requested for the resciding of the contract from this seller, the MLS price has been reduced to the seller's last counter offer price. It's still on market now and wish the seller best of luck to sell her house soon! I thought to update you all with this deal and thank you all again!

Michael, thank you for your response and specific strategies for my question. It's very helpful.

Sunny,

Should this not be a question for your Realtor? These are things that need to be written into the original contract and not as an afterthought. After the terms of the contract are agreed upon by both you and the seller, the seller has no further obligation(generally) to "give" you anything further.

If the offer has already been submitted, but not yet accepted, I would strongly recommend rescinding the contract and rewriting a new contract with your terms.

Dave, that was a very helpful advice and I'll certainly keep in mind that you're available whenever I need professional helps with my real estate matters, I know where to get helps from all of you. Your keen insights and professional advices have all been very crucial for have helped me learn how to make better dicisions next. Yes, at least I'll learn not to use listing agent as my buying agent!!! That's a big lesson I've already learned so far! hah!

Sunny Sun, we very careful what you sign. From what I can gather from your question and some of the answers is you made an offer with no contingencies and will put them in later? The agent who wrote your offer didn't put your requests in writing from the beginning make me very suspecious of their intentions.

Most sales are AS-IS purchases and I doubt the seller is going to buy you new appliances and carpets. They may give you a cash "credit", but I don't think they are going to buy them for you.

If you don't have any contingecies in your contract, and your agent didn't put your request in writing, you might have a big problem it the seller accepts your offer the way it is written. If that happens, you might lose your 3% deposit because you will not have any contingencies, or a way out.

Don't cross your fingers and hope, take action. Write to your agent and let them know that if you do not get a credit or replacement of the carpets and appliances, you no longer wish to make an offer. Make sure you do this in writing so you have a paper trail, not by phone.

If you need someone to look over your contract, feel free to give me a call.

Good luck and be careful.

Dave Tap Tapper
Realtor
Cashin Company http://www.DavidTapper.com
650-403-6252

I am truly grateful to be able to receive so many helpful advices. And all your points were well taken! I'm going to try my luck and see if I get to stick to this property or be able to move on. What happened here with this offer was that since the agent was in such a hurry, she did not complete all the papers that needed to be signed with me. So, over the weekend, she informed me that there were few more last pages of the contract still needed to be signed and faxed to her. I also got time to read through all the papers that I had signed and realized that she did not write down any terms that I specifically requested on the papers. Therefore, I'm crossing my fingers and hope that I can still correct the situation now. I'll certainly come back and report to you all later on. And you've all been very kind and generous, I thank you for all your supports provided here again!

If it is not a REO or Short Sale, you can have your realtor put those items on an addendum, and send with your offer or ask seller credit back certain amount money at the escrow as NRCC. Yet more conditions, and longer contingencies that will make less chance to get an offer.
Realty World- Blue Property
Jerry Zang
408-930-4684
jerryzangrealtor@gmail.com
DRE#01702597

Hi Sunny Sun,

I don't recommend to have 1 agent represent both parties. What do you think the agent works for? The seller or the buyer?
It seems like your agent just want an easy transaction. If you have not signed an agreement with her, you can ask her to put down those terms before presenting the offer, if she refused, you can find another agent. However, if you signed an agreement with her, you are out of luck.

The other thing you can do is to bring up those issues during the inspection period and ask the agent to request the seller to credit back, not sure if she is willing to do that though.

Russ and Arn:
I truly appreciated both of your professional and insightful advices. We do have an agent for this specific property representing us, however, she is also the listing agent who is representing the seller. We met her at the open house, and she told us that she knows the sellers well, so she make the purchasing process fast, smooth and painless to us since we're seriously consider buying one. She asked us to sign an offer contract, but told us not to put down any contingencies at this point. And even though we have good credits and have 42% down with conventional, she thought that if we simply present the offer with our offering price, and showed the seller that we're willing to put 3% deposit with the title company, then the seller would certainly know our sincerity and pick us. According to her, the strategy is that: after their counter offer is back, then should we add all those contingencies into the contract. Is this the norm? Thank you again for taking time to share your expertise and resources with me and others. I truly appreciate your help very much.

Sunny,

Getting repairs done on a "normal" sale (not an REO or short sale) is relatively easy. If you know what you want to have done before making the offer (carpets replaced, paint, etc) - I suggest writing that in to the offer initially. It's more easy to negotiate these items up front than in the contingency period. Sellers are apt to assume that the offer price you make initially and the contract terms negotiated then, will be the same 30 days from now when you close the escrow. Most buyers think they can negotiate during the escrow and get major consessions. This lack of mutual understanding makes negotiating during the inspection contingency period difficult. So, write the offer with as much details as possible initially.

Hi Sunny,
Negotiating the terms of a contract is best left to a professional. In my opinion, you would be well served by having the assistance of a qualified real estate agent. If you don't know an agent, check with your family and friends. Among other things, a real estate agent will inspect the property and be in a position to offer advice and provide assistance that will include the repair issues you mention.
These matters are property specific and to far reaching to be left to advice given in a format such as this.
Best wishes,
Russ Boyd, Associate Broker
Intero Real Estate Services
650 325 7877

Suuny Sun
do you have an agent?
it is easy enough to include a clause in the contract requesting the seller "credit" you for the cost of new carpet and appliances.
be sure to contact your lender to determine, how much of a credit they will allow.
Arn