Just before Christmas, I helped my client, Gui Zhong, find a great deal on a rental home. Built in 2006, this North Las Vegas home was large and fairly new—typical of an REO (real estate owned, or repo) near Steve Wynn’s old Shadow Creek Golf Course, in the 89081 zip code. Priced to sell at $84 per square foot, I advised Gui that this property would sell for more than full price, and quickly. Everyone wants a great deal, and I invest my heart and soul into getting my clients a great deal; but come on, when a house is priced so that it will immediately receive multiple offers, don’t waste your time trying to save a few thousand dollars when you stand to pick up tens of thousands of dollars in equity!

We wrote the offer and submitted it within an hour of viewing the home. Gui’s cash offer was $4,900 under asking price, despite my advice. A competing, full-price offer was accepted over his offer.

Undaunted, Gui let me pick another house for him, as he'd gone home to LA by this time. He sat on the offer I’d drafted overnight, despite the fact that this house was priced as well as the first one I’d shown him. When he finally faxed me back the signed offer the next day, another offer had already been accepted.

On Day 3 of our quest to find a home for Gui, another home in the same area became available at an even more incredible price. At $74 per square foot, I knew this REO home was underpriced at $230,000 and would sell immediately--and for well above full price. I advised Gui to offer $250,000 cash, with no concessions from the seller. Gui did so, and I kicked into my aggressive mode. It’s ugly; you don’t want to be around when I’m negotiating a deal for a client. I’m big on win-win transactions; we win, we win…yeah!

Day and night I stalked that poor listing agent, knowing that time was not on our side. Some agents will hold off submitting your offer to the bank’s asset manager for days if you let them, buying time in the hope that they’ll get competing offers. My client had offered $20,000 over asking price on my advice, but so had two others. When the seller asked for our highest and best offer, Gui froze. Understandably, he was upset that a home had been offered for $230,000, yet he’d offered $250,000 and they weren’t selling it to him. But we can’t take this stuff personally.

I advised Gui to increase his offer to $260,000; he was upset with the seller and insisted on offering $255,000, and not a penny more. The principle of the thing, I guess—$5,000 more was less insulting to him than $10,000 more. The competing offer was accepted, and we missed this deal by only a few hundred dollars. The home last sold for well over $400,000, and Gui told me afterward that he’d been prepared to go to $260,000. Yet he lost out, because he made the same mistake many buyers make. He was sure that the bank expected a lowball offer and was prepared to dicker. Highest-and-best means exactly that. If the bank requests your highest and best offer on a repo, know that you have one shot at this point and make it your best —even if your best is to stand firm and reiterate your offer.

For Gui, there’s been a painful learning curve. If he has the intestinal fortitude to compete for the best deals, we’ll begin the search again when he returns from vacation next week. I generally don’t give someone three chances to ignore my advice and blow an opportunity, but I love this guy. He’s not afraid to make a decision based on photos, he has a great sense of humor, and he’s teaching me more about his culture. If he’d just give me his checkbook and let me pick out a house for him, I’d have already made money for him. After all my effort, the least he can do is give me his Macy’s card for a day…

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