I know the SF market is hot, so you don't have to enlighten me on the obvious. But what are tactics to make sellers seriously put my offer to the top of their list?

My spouse and I are moving there for a job. The employment contract includes things like realtor fees and closing costs with us able to select from a list of realtors. We are still a couple of weeks out from pulling the trigger on selecting the realtor.

We're selling our current house and if the house isn't sold by the time we are ready to put in a bid, we have enough from our opening deposit from our brokerage account (no withdrawal fee) to pay in cash, or at least put down a large down payment (50%).

We have very good credit (at the cusp of excellent) and are working on finding the right lender, then getting a pre-approval letter from them.

I've been keeping my eyes on houses that fit our criteria and seeing what they sell for. On average houses we like go pending in about 18 days and sell between 30%-50% over list price, depending on location and house condition.

We're fairly comfortable to make strong bids, but what are current market techniques to be sure we get the house we want? Are people waiving contingencies, appraisals, or inspection?

We'll ask all these things to our realtor when we select them, I just wanted to get some insight from this group in the meantime. Thanks.

What are realtor fees looking like in Texas currently? Are we still paying both buyer/selling agents as the home seller? What are typical rates? What's fair vs disrespectful?

For context, the house that we are under contract about 3000 ft.² and the only recent comes for same number of rooms and bathrooms in the area are much bigger at around 5000 ft.²

There are not many recently sold homes in the area.

Will they have to look back more than 6 months to find comparable homes or will they use the houses that are much bigger as comparable homes?

It's within the budget. It's a 1/1 condo in a medium sized city in Florida and a huge, desirable tourist destination. HOA fees are reasonable by south Florida standards. Recent comps in the building all come in right around that price point.

Didn't think I'd ever drop so much on a condo. My questions are as follows:

• Think this would be a good investment if I decide to sell 10 years from now?
• Are there any major pitfalls from buying property smack in the middle of a huge nightlife/tourist area?
• Am I crazy for paying so much, for so little space? Price per sq-ft comes out to ~$600

edit: I am single and have no desire to settle down.

We are looking at a house that was built in the mid-90s, but the current owners have updated the inside with fresh paint/carpets/LVP flooring. The house itself is only about 1500 sq ft (2 stories) with 600 finished sq ft in the basement. The property sits on 1.9 acres. About 0.5 of the acres is flat functional grassy space and then the rest is wooded area. The house is listed at $465k and our lender thinks we need to offer $505k to be competitive. Our agent told me she’d get back to me on value. Just this month, a home right down the street sold for $410k, was listed at $389k so did go for over asking. The house is only on 0.5 acres but has 1800 finished square feet on the main level, plus a smaller finished basement.

I am curious how to go about coming up with a competitive offer. Is land worth more than home square footage, in a general sense?

Is this common for a seller to sell a home where the buyer is assuming their existing mortgage and paying them the equity in cash? How hard is it to switch the seller for the buyer on an existing mortgage?

I have a client asking me about this and I am at a loss.

A relative is wanting to transfer their house to me. They owe no money on besides a USDA Rural Housing Service single-family housing loan. The repayment is around $15,000. It acquires no interest. If she transfers, it has to be repaid. She cannot pay off the loan. I’m really uneducated on what exactly this loan is. But if I were to pay off this 15,000 should we have any problems with transferring the house over to me? Thank you for your help.