"They Just Aren't That Into You".....Why Sellers Take Their Time Responding To Offers

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"They Just Aren't That Into You".....Why Sellers Take Their Time Responding To Offers

Too many buyers....there are just too many. Too many short sales....they just don't really care. Too many bank-owneds...they are waiting for multiple offers to come in. Listing agents can afford to be picky, and they are. I remember when an offer would be greeted with excitement and great care...now? Sometimes they aren't even acknowledged for days, let alone responded to. All this is making it very difficult on the buyer's agent to keep their clients happy.

The media is bombarding the public with bad press about the housing market. They are not discussing the multiple offers, the bombardment of buyers, nor the artificially low listing prices. Buyers have the wrong expectations going into the process. The challenge then becomes how to educate our new buyers without looking like a "pushy salesperson" who is trying to get buyers to increase their offer price. Then when they do write an offer....they wait and wait and wait. The buyer's agent is forced to say things like:

"I've left a message for the listing agent, but I'll try them again"
"They are going to collect offers and then present them all at once"
"I'm not sure what's going on, the listing agent said we'd hear something today"

The problem is that one buyer....is not valuable in this market. The difference is that normally the media provides reports which set the proper stage for home buying. Seller's Market or Buyer's Market! But now the information in news stories is on the plight of sellers....foreclosures, short sales, home loss. This is absolutely true. They mention the great drop of home values and prices. This is absolutely true.

It's true....but not a complete story! We need to complete the story so that buyers better understand what is happening, that they are not going to be able to go into a short sale and offer 20% under asking price. That a home which has been on the market for 200+ days is not "desperate" for a buyer. Likely there have been many buyers over that time frame and they are merely waiting for approval and will then find out which buyers wish to compete for the house later.

The main problem buyers have right now is it's a seller's market....and the seller is "just not that into you."

Karen Fiddler
Broker/Associate
The Fiddler Realty Team/eVantage Real Estate
Lic # 01494165

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Posted by Karen Fiddler, Broker/Realtor, Mission Viejo on 02/02/2010 07:15 PM

Comments (39)

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39 Comments on "They Just Aren't That Into You".....Why Sellers Take Their Time Responding To Offers

FEB

2010

Love it!!!

I don't usually do short sales, but what a perfect analogy :)

As always you are so RIGHT! I think that as usual the Washington Post has done a huge disservice in our area to buyers - I have had multiple offers on the last three houses I have listed - all since the first of the year. Now getting them to appraise and the buyers to stay in the contracts are all different issues....

Great post Karen! Another bullseye regarding the media's failure to report the whole story. I was Bullseye from Vic wondering when they were going to start too. Look at this past week. After months of reporting how tough it is to sell a home, they ran the story about hundreds of buyers clogging the freeway and waiting in line to buy the 50 homes just released for sale in Irvine.

Doesn't anyone at the editor's desk notice they are reporting opposite "trends". We can educate our buyers, one at a time, and we can share with our sphere of influence through blogs and newsletters, but we really need the media to report the whole truth.

Ah well, what am I saying? Why should they start now? The truth is; they need to sell newspapers and get ratings, the news does not matter to them - revenue does.

Hi Karen-

Good thought! It's going to be a rude awakening for some buyers. Maybe they should weigh the opinion of their agent a little more heavily...

Sara

I'd love to be able to bypass short sales....but I can't. They are everywhere in my market. It would be nice to have some support in the national press. Not that they are lying, but they are not telling the whole story and it's hurting our credibility.

Karen - "and the seller is "just not that into you." LOL Unfortunately, it doesn't get much better once they do get into escrow and start the loan process. While my clients have a very good LO who cares about them very much, many lenders simply don't give a rats @$$ about borrowers and they couldn't care less what your COE date is because they will close your loan when they %@#^ well feel like it on their own time schedule.

I'm dealing with a lender like that now.....everything is manana, manana....we'll do the best we can. Blah, blah. I'm really upset. They don't seem to understand approval deadlines.

FEB

2010

Interesting post, Karen. This situation has gone on long enough now, that buyers can no longer "take advantage" of it.

Karen - While I agree with you and Deena above that buyers can no longer maintain the attitude that they're going to take advantage of the market by getting some property at some ridiculously low price, the only buyers getting those kinds of properties are all cash buyers. Furthermore, it is true that we need to be educating our buyers on the realities of the current market and real estate environment.

However, having said that though, we should also be educating them on the fact that they do also have options and rights. Just because it's a sellers market doesn't mean that our buyers need to lie down and let sellers/banks/listing agents walk all over them and trample all over their rights.

There are new properties hitting the market every day and if some seller/bank/listing agent wants to be an @$$#*!% by treating us and our buyers like worthless crap, then we need to be prepared to walk away and basically just say "NEXT".

Regardless of whether our clients are rich or not, FHA buyers or conventional, they deserve to be treated fairly and professionally and the same goes for those of us representing the millions of buyers out there in the market right now.

Homebuyers are this industry's lifeblood, regardless of whether they're all cash or financed buyers. Furthermore, the first time buyers are the bulk of buyers out there right now and without the first timers, our industry would be much worse off than it already is.

Ok, enough of my soapbox, I'm done for today. Sorry for the long comment - JMHO. Have a good day Karen. :)

thanks for the "long" comment. I agree....the problem is that with so many cash buyers, our little FHA-ers are waiting a long time to hear they were outbid by a cash buyer. I never remember a time when I was so excited to work with a cash buyer. In the old days, it was nice, but not essential to sellers that they had a cash buyer, now? Crazy!

You have a great day too! K

FEB

2010

Send me some of those buyers! They are worth more in Ohio! LOL

Akron, Ohio

Karen this is just another reminder of how local markets are, as well as how different various segments of the market is. Yes multiple offers are here and buyers will have to adjust their strategy.

The biggest problem I have with short sales is they put a price out there even if you make them a full price offer the bank doesnt accept it. They should have to go to the bank first and get the packet in and get a price from them before putting bougus prices in the MLS. I have clients that have waited 3 and 4 months just to be told it would be 30 or 40K more

Nice take on the market, Karen. I've managed to convince most clients that the best deal are not the short sales and bank owned. If you want to get into a place you can love and call home, buy from a seller who has to compete with the SS and REOs. It's unfortunate for the sellers that appraisers don't take into account that the banks have strongly effected values by their ineptitude.

Our Short Sale Sellers require a minimum of 2 business days as a response time to the loan pre-approval or proof of funds (for cash) can be verified with the financial institution.

It all boils down to communication. If the bank is going to hold offers for 7 days, then the listing agent should state that in the MLS remarks. If the listing agent would update the MLS remarks to let everyone know there are multiple contracts and that the buyers highest and best needs to be submitted before xxx date and time, it would eliminate a lot of phone calls and frustration. If everyone knows what to expect, then emotions don't go into overdrive.

In some price ranges in St Charles county, the bank owned properties are getting multiple offers and are selling over list price. When you try to explain that to buyers, they look at you like you are crazy. I find that sometimes, they need to lose out on a couple of properties before they will listen to our advice.

But it's not just the short sale and banks that are doing this. Many times the equity seller is putting off responding too. I think we are going to get another dip in values....so these same sellers are now going to be dealiing with jaded buyers. We'll see what happens.

Great points! I just got a luxury short sale approved and pending and we had that exact problem. Even when it was approved and I stated the amount buyers wanted to offer 20% less. We had 5 offers over the months we were trying to get approval and some of those simply did not understand at all how this works at all giving close dates only 2-3 wks away etc...

If nothing else, print copies of blogs about the accurate picture of the Real Estate market. Blogs are starting to become credible sources of information. That may help educate your buyers. Unfortunately, some buyers only believe what Bob (their neighbor) told them, because he helped his sister do the same thing.

We all know Bob and have dealings with people who take advice from Bob. My suggestion is attempt to educate your buyer, and if they do not want to learn, move on. Do not be afraid to tell a potential client no.

You do not want to waste your time on an unrealistic client.

Aaron

I agree with Lise. Here in DC, the Post just provides information that leads buyer astray. It gets hard trying to refute incomplete data over and over and over...

It's not the buyer's fault, of course....they do listen to their neighbors and the media. No one wants to be considered a fool. I think that encouraging buyers to look through blog posts to see what others are finding out. It's more of the "real world" than the national media, I'm afraid.

I'm running into more buyers now that are using Zillow as their Real Estate Expert.......they look at the perceived value that Zillow has placed on a property and then come down below that in their offers since they feel that this is the "true" value. And no counseling, no education can change their minds. A lot of buyers are still under the misconception that they can offer 10-20% below the asking price and have their offer accepted. This is for every home, not just equity or Short Sales. If i can't educate them in a reasonable amount of time, then we part ways. Sometimes losing 5 offers that they placed well below the asking price, shakes them up to reality, and it also shakes up the seller the reality of the market, too.

I find it interesting to read newspaper articles which have headlines that are either great news, or bad news.......then go down to the final paragraph. There will always be a disclosure that no one truly knows what will be happening. Yet, it's the first sentence, or headline, that the home buyer or seller reads and this is what taints their mind in this process.

Have you thought of doing a press release? I've always heard it's pretty easy, though i haven't tried it. But I think this viewpoint needs to be out there.

We have not had the huge increase in buyers this winter yet, a smaller increase is what I would call it. We believe also that we will have more dips in prices before we're done........ once the credits are gone ... what then? Folks are still losing jobs...

So True!!!!

Karen, I was tempted to comment with "For Now."

We have segments of the market that are just as you describe. Sellers in no particular hurry to respond. I have noticed a number of listings where the owners have taken week long vacations the day before the listing goes live. The result is multiple offers waiting for them when they return. GENIOUS!

The higher priced markets are still sitting for months on end. They seem a little more responsive to offers and more willing to make deals.

Buyers are coming to me with too many expectations as too how much choice and control they have.

Karen, your analogy is spot on, thank you for your contribution.

I used to be able to get a house closed in 3 weeks. I am now telling people to expect 3 months. Sellers are just the first delay buyers will run into.

Your comment in #17 says it all. Jaded buyers will be a problem in the coming year, thanks for the post!

How can we as Realtors help sellers find our client's offers to be more attractive? Is it price alone? Often times I have found a simple note from the buyer to the seller -attached to the offer- makes the emotional connection between the two and helps bridge the gap between an inexperienced buyer who's offer we have to present, and a seller who doesn't yet see the light.

I loved #19, Arron's comment.

We absolutely need to make sure our clients have the right expectations. We can educate and then let them experience some disappointment, but after a while, we will have to let them go if they don't begin to realize the situation. Just too bad they are coming in with bad expectations to begin with.

Kudos on the post! I wish the media would leave our industry alone and let it heal. It is like an open wound that keeps getting the scab picked off and festers... They are reading national news and applying it to their own neighborhood. It does not apply everywhere. I am in St. Louis and I am finding that I am listing at prices equal to 2-3 years ago and they are selling!

I have been waiting for 43 days to hear back from a bank owned property and we were told we would hear in a day. (3 offers) Left another message today with no response! Like you said, they do not care when it sells.

FEB

2010

The good news is there are many, many buyers....the bad news, there are many, many buyers.

FEB

2010

This is a prime example of where perception and reality collide and where that old saying "real estate is local" rings so loud and clear.

FEB

2010

That's not something that I've been experiencing in my market, so perhaps that's just a local phenomenon. We are still somewhat of a buyer's market, though starting to lean more neutral, and sellers still seem pretty anxious for offers. I know the REO's are a pain, but I'm surprised to hear you have problems with traditional sellers in your market.

MAR

2010

that is just too funny...why does the listing agent "wait for more offers" you get a contract send it in...

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Karen Fiddler, Broker/Realtor, Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo, CA

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