Not Too Motivated To Sell? Buyers Can Smell You a Mile Away!

I received an email from some out of town clients yesterday wondering why one of the homes they found was so expensive compared to others in the area. Predictably, it was a FSBO. "Gee," they said. "This house looks really nice, but the price! Ouch! Why do you think it is so expensive? Is there something really special about it? Do you suppose these people aren't very motivated to sell?"  

Bingo! Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!!! I think you just hit the nail on the head. These people very likely are living in yesterdayland, when their house was actually worth that price. It has been on the market quite a while, during which time our prices have, well... let's say they haven't been appreciating. People that are truly motivated to sell hire a professional that can help them position their property so as to obtain the best possible price in the shortest period of time using the maximum available exposure. I can't even find the house my clients are talking about on the Internet; not sure how they found it, although I suspect they drove by it when they were in town for business recently and checked out the neighborhood with local friends. 

Perhaps these sellers interviewed some Realtors before they listed as a FSBO. I can picture the conversation: Realtor: "Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I'd love to help you but the price you want for your home is about $200,000 more than it is worth." Seller: "Well we don't agree with you, besides we know you are just a greedy Realtor that wants to sell quickly and get a commission that's why you are suggesting a low price. We KNOW our house is worth that much and if buyers can't afford to pay our price, that is their problem." (Ed: Yes, I actually had someone tell me that, lol.) Realtor: "How, exactly, do you 'know' that?" Seller: "Well So-and-so down the street got this much for theirs and ours is much nicer." (So-and-so's home sold in 2006; funny how time gets away from us.) "Someone will walk in, fall in love and pay what we are asking!"  Um, nice meeting you and good luck with that. I have something more important to spend my time on right now, like cleaning up dog poop in my backyard.

My clients are really not interested in an adventure in la-la land. They will be getting a loan and want to pursue a home that will actually appraise for its sale price. Yes, these sellers have limited their prospects to unrepresented, cash only, buyers who happen to drive by it and don't mind paying more than it's worth. Unmotivated? Yeah, I'd say so. 

Picture Credit: Very Honest For Sale By Owner Sign by Casey Serin via Flickr Creative Commons License