A few months ago I was working with a young first time home buyer. He was a really fun client to work with. He was appreciative of my time, my efforts, and my knowledge.
Or so I thought.
This year the Fort Wayne real estate market has been more of a seller's market than a buyer's market. I explained that to my buyer, educated him, and told him that when we find the right home, we're probably going to have to write a strong offer.
We found a home that afternoon that he fell in love with.
It was a two story with a basement in Southwest Allen County School District. It had been on the market for two days, and the listing agent told me they had a ton of showings on it and she was expecting multiple offers.
I drafted the purchase agreement and left the price blank.
The home was priced very competitively and there was no doubt in my mind that it was going to be pending by the end of the day.
I was right, but it wasn't with my buyer.
Even though I thoroughly educated my buyer on the process, the real estate market, and what it was going to take to get his offer accepted, he didn't take my advice.
He took Uncle Vinny's advice.
You see, Uncle Vinny was a hot shot Realtor in Vegas during the boom. He know how to write offers. He knew how to negotiate. He knew how to "roll the dice" as they say.
He advised my client to offer 60% of list price to "see what happens." That's the way it was done during the boom, so that's the way it's done now was his mentality.
On a side note, Uncle Vinny got out of the real estate game years ago when the boom turned into a crash.
I told my client that offering 60% is a total waste of time in this situation, and that I wasn't going to submit it. I told him to call me back when he was serious.
An hour later I got a call from the listing agent. She said that the sellers had multiple offers and had accepted a cash offer for $5,000 OVER list price.
When my buyer heard that, he was shocked.
He said that he was ready to "get real" and asked if I would still work with him.
Of course I'll still work with him, but not Uncle Vinny.
We found a home in the next few days and made a more realistic offer. He was very happy to get a beautiful new home at fair market value.
Sometimes our clients get great advice from their family and friends, and sometimes they really don't. Sometimes it takes losing out on a home to snap a buyer into reality.
Listen and take advice from your Realtors first. We live and breathe this stuff 24/7 and it's our lively hood. We have to be good at it or we don't close deals. If we don't close deals, we don't eat. Are you catching my drift?
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