It is so funny how extreme our American society can be. In the real estate market, for example, when it was a sellers market, homeowners were so arrogant and wouldn't even think of dropping their prices because they just knew that some sucker would come along and pay full or above list price for their property. And they would. And how dare they ask for repairs or anything extra? They should be happy I am selling them my house. They are lucky. "Take or leave it", they would say, "because if you don't buy it now, another better offer will come tomorrow!"
Now, that is is a buyer's market, consumers have gone the other way. It's almost venence on seller's now. And part of me agrees. I mean, I was a regular consumer, not a realtor, during the boom. I just became a realtor last year, when things were taking a downturn, and now buyers want their pie and I can't really blame them.
However, they are still so unrealistic. They want to ask sellers to sell for 20 - 30% below list price. Don't they understand that there is a psychology behind making an offer? Someone who just put their house on the market 30 days ago at a price above market will not be ready to drop their price that low so soon. They need time to stew, time to be wait, time to feel the pain of not getting what they thought their home was worth and then they need to drop their price slowly over months before they finally give in and only get 20 - 30% below their original list price.
"Giving in" doesn't happen overnight and this is what buyers just can't accept. No matter how many comps and how much reasoning you can give behind your low offer, sellers just aren't ready to accept that the party is over and buyers are not ready to accept that their party isn't in full swing yet! I am not sure when it ever will be. I guess sellers got such an ego boost during the boom that they haven't quite come down off it yet. And poor buyers, they are so angry. And realtors, well, we are in the middle of it all, just trying to make sense of yet again, the extreme nature of American society.
Let's just hope that soon enough, reality will begin to hit and sellers will lower their prices just enough for buyers to feel that they've gotten a deal.
Hope you all have a great week!
Comments(4)