WHY ARE WE SEEING MULTIPLE OFFERS NOW??? THE REAL REASONS.

Lenn - remember the old saying "buyer's are liars and sellers are don't tellers"? 

Great stuff! You're so right, we often don't know the real reason that sellers want to sell the home, despite what they tell us. Or the reason buyers need to buy right now!  Love the sense of humor on Monday morning. Let's start the week right!

Did Susan Mangigian read this because she happens to like Lenn Harley's style?  Or did Susan read this because she knows every time she stops by Lenn Harley's blog, she learns something. Both, of course.  The certainty here is that no matter how long you are in this business, we can always learn something from each other!

Gee, I wish more sellers here were pricing their properties "competitively".  They are still coping with the fact that the foreclosure down the street is their "competition" and hoping that spring with bring a bounce to our market.  And, my buyers are ready to buy when they sell their home or because they are getting married...there are as many reasons as there are buyers. Thanks for this!

Lenn, "Because they want to" is the all time best answer I've ever heard!  That just about covers it!  Doesn't give anything away either.

   lotta food for thought here, Lenn. And plenty of truth...   :)

I guess we all have been asked a gazillion times... why is the house for sale?  I think like most of the others here, it doesn't matter to us, we are buyers and the question is.. does it fit your needs?

Lenn--I have had a few people allow me to tell their motivation is this market because they want buyers to know it is not due to financial reasons. People move for thousands of reasons and not just because they can't afford their home. But like you said, their reason for moving isn't relevant. If buyers like what they see, check out all the details with inspections and such, then write the offer! 

we are seeing multiple offers too. It is mostly from the first time folks trying to buy in a lower range. Will it keep going ? who knows. It will be a function of the economy

LOL...great post, especially for a Monday morning. 

Apparently buyers sometimes think they can gain some kind of advantage if they know why the seller is selling - it drives me almost as crazy as "what did they pay for it?"  WHY?  (It doesn't matter, it's none of your business, you don't know their loan balance and you don't know their plans - and that's all irrelevant anyway!)  Make your offer relevant to the market value of the house and see where it goes.  Everything else is armchair psychology!

Umm, all of the above? I wouldn't be the least bit surprised by buyers doing any of this. People have some really wacky reasons for deciding to sell their houses.

And here I was thinking we should attribute yet another trend to "El Nino."

The State of Utah just approved a grant for new contruction of $6000 for anyone buying a home that's never been lived in.  That got people of the fence and I now have multiple offers on my listings, even though they don't qualify for the grant.

Lenn, You are so right - buyers ALWAYS ask, why are you selling?  Loved the post!

The last 4 lines should be etched in stone somewhere.