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He Refused a good offer 1 year ago, and now the house is still on the market.

A year ago I listed a home for sale; this home was just a year old and when I took the listing I told Mr. Seller I think we priced this home too high. We added a special stipulation to the listing agreement reducing the price after 30 days. About 10 days after listing this property we had a potential buyer who interrupted her vacation to come and view the home. This buyer drove 7 hours to see this home and was ready willing and able.

The buyer placed an offer and provided earnest money. I presented the offer to my seller and provided the sellers net to show his profit. He refused the offer. I also offered to reduce my commission since I was the only agent involved and this would present a win-win for everyone involved.

Mr. Seller was not happy with this and the buyer would not budge on the price. I informed Mr. Seller that if he chose not to accept this offer, I though it would be best that he take his home off the market. Mr. Seller was rejecting an offer that was $30,000 more than what he paid for the home. Mr. Seller did not want to pay the withdrawal fee so he chose not to show the home each time I called to show it.

The buyer decided to purchase another property just a few miles away, which settled earlier this year. In the mean time, Mr. Seller re-listed with another agent and 2 other agents after that. The home is currently on the market one year later and the listing price is now several thousand dollars less than what he paid for the home 2 years ago.

Mr. Seller will most likely sell the home at a loss, when it gets sold. I took a look at the listing today and here are some of the pictures. BTW, these pictures were taken by an experienced agent who has tons of listing. In my opinion this agent would have been better off not to include these pictures. Tell me what you think?

Posted by Ava Anderson "Selling Real Estate in Snellville, Grayson and Loganville" on 08/08/2007 11:05 PM

Comments (27)

for sale one year later, refused offers

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27 Comments on He Refused a good offer 1 year ago, and now the house is still on the market.

AUG

2007

Ava, fortunately you did your best to get it sold and unfortunately the seller made a decision that has cost him. It's the price a seller pays for getting too greedy. My best to you!

We all have to deal with sellers who don´t understand that the market determins the market value, not the agent or even the seller himself.

BTW: I see a lot of pictures on our MLS that I would never ever put in there....

You probably shouldn't be using another broker's photos to make a point that they are not doing their job well...without their permission anyway...copyright violation at best and possibly slander. Sorry but it's probably true...any lawyers want to chime in?

An old maxim "your first loss is your best loss" or another take "your first offer may be your best offer". There is no excuse for greed... but we get the bad name not the seller

AUG

2007

I think you got lucky that you were the first agent and not the fourth or even worse, marketing this property for that last year...some sellers are like this and you would do us all a favor if you talked him into selling FSBO so none of us have to present an offer to him. =) Sad situation...Mr. Seller is Mr. Stubborn or Mr. In Denial.

Gee I think the pictures fit the seller. It saves them the time of showing the property.

Ahh! A great cautionary tale. You did a great job for this Bozo, and he may be realizing it right about now!

As this property has now sat on the market for so long, it may require a change of tactics, such as a real estate auction, to garner new interest in the property.

The next time you have a property going stale, it might be worth talking with one of the professional auctioneers in your area to see if they can help you and your seller. Yes, you will still get a referral fee.

Remember, you can't fix stupid (when it comes to some Sellers).

David: It is truly unfortunate for the seller and I am sure he's kicking himself now.

Deidre: I can only assume they are showing some sort of details, but of course many buyers are asking the same question you are asking.

Axel: You are correct. Some sellers just don't get this, but I hate when they have to find out like this.

James: Thanks for your comment. I have slandered no one, I did not name an agent, brokerage, the client or clients or the location.

Perrin: You said it "your first offer is probably your best offer", and if two parties can met in the middle that's probably a good idea. I have seen this greed on the side of the sellers and even agents.

Rondel: I think he tried FSBO and that didn't work for him. I choose not to provide any advice to this seller, but I wish him the best.

Darrel: LOL. It just amazes me that anyone would provide those photos.

Thanks Patricia!

Michael: I will keep it in mind if I ever have a stale property such as this one. The seller and his new agent have to figure out what is best concerning this property at this point.

I am seeing more and more situations like that. A seller will not negotiate with a potential buyer and months down the road they have reduced the price to below that original offer.

Love the pictures :) I have even seen ones upside down in our MLS...

Kim

Ava - he lost out.... (regardless to if he will admit it or not) HE BLEW IT! I've had these to happen also. Some just have to SEE it to believe it.... then it's AFTER the fact.... oops, too late!

So shameful! The pictures especially. I bet Mr. Seller is kicking hisself in the butt now and I'm surprised he hasn't come crawling back. Greed is very unfortunate. Slander? I think not, if only you did mention the name, then we could be warned!

Kim: Yes this seems common place in todays market.

Diane: He blew it alright and definitely too late.

Carolyn: Yes, those pictures are shameful. I wonder if the seller has looked at them. I believe pride presents him from coming back, but truthfully I wouldn't take the listing again.

Ava - I think we have all had one or two of these sellers, most times they end up seller for less than the first offer they refused.

AUG

2007

I hope the seller realizes the "error" of his ways soon. Maybe after the listing expires with this "top agent" he'll relist with you Ava.

AUG

2007

That is so frustrating. I have an agent that works in my office that had a seller that had already purchased another home with bridge financing that listed their home a littler higher than he should have. Got 2 really good offers and didn't take them. Second offer he just decided he didn't like the agent that brought the buyer and dug his hells in. Once the listing expired he tried FSBO for about 2 months than listed with another agent at the same price as his last offer.

Needlessly to say it sold in 12 days. My agent was sick to say the least. The seller lost 6 months and thousands of dollars for being GREEDY.......

AUG

2007

I have had that happen....they refuse the offer and 6 months later they are complaining about having to reduce the price to get it sold. Some people just won't take advice-

Hi Ava! Sounds like you had a lot of fun with that listing. heheh Really, it's unfortunate for the seller. It's always difficult when the client is distrusting. A client I worked with once was distrusting of women. (It took me a while to figure this out). He was always making statements second guessing the work I did for him, even though I was forthright and on top of my research and game (I'm very detail oriented). Finally, when he became contentious because he remembered a meeting time 30 mintues before we agreed, he got pissed because he called and I was at Starbucks and he thought I was standing him up... After that, I realized it had nothing to do with me. It was just this strange, against the world behavior, and I handed him off to a male associate who wrote up the offer later that day on that same property I had located for my client. My male associate had no problems with him. (The client was also divorced and seemed very cynical toward his ex-wfie... maybe he was directing some of that animosity towards me....) Generally, those are the clients I choose not to work with.

Jennifer: I guess everyone has them. It was my first experience with this, but it hasn't been my last. Had something similar recently.

Vanessa: My suggest for this seller now is to take the home off the market for awhile. I hate seeing my sellers in a weakened position. This seller is now in a weak spot.

Kim: Wow....that's crazy.

Barbara-Jo: As the old saying goes you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

Sara: You might be on to something the 3 agents after me have all been male.

AUG

2007

Some sellers just don't want to sell. They say they do, but they don't.

Best wishes with your other listings. ;)

Last year a seller I know of priced his home at $469,000, got an offer of $460,000, (buyer wanted the washer/dryer, had $200,000 cash, seller REFUSED the offer), never received another offer and the house is still on the market a year later at $429,000....