The Wrong Thought Process to Use When Making an Offer
Champagne tastes on a beer budget. We've all been there. You want what you want and you will search and search to try to find that high end item you want at a bargain basement price. Be it a purse, furniture, automobiles, or yes, even a house...reality eventually sets in. You can't get the top of the line for bottom dollar.
There is story upon story of buyers who have a specific need, like four bedrooms on the upper level of the home, yet spend their home shopping hours touring three bedroom properties that have the latest and greatest kitchens that they have seen featured on renovation programs on HGTV. I guess, if all else fails, little Susie Q. or Junior can always sleep on the monstrous island that seems to be more important that the functionality of the rest of the home. Agents can attempt to snap these types of buyers into reality and tell them, "That white washed hardwood flooring and the white top of the line cabinetry with quartz counters are not something you are going to find in these homes you can afford. They are older. The ones that have that have been renovated, therefore, cost more."
So what does a buyer with those HGTV champagne tastes do in a neighborhood where they find the ONLY home they can afford that meets their functional needs? Make a lowball offer, subtracting the cost of the improvements they want from the affordable list price. They give no thought to actually finding a similar home with those types of improvements and subtracting the cost of those improvements from that comparable home to figure out if the home they are considering is priced right for what it is. Nope. All that matters is the buyer wants what they want and they are hell bound and determined to get it on their restricted budget.
I suppose these types of buyers are under the impression that, just like the shows they watch on HGTV, they are the only buyers seeing these homes and the only ones making an offer. These "reality shows" have so little reality that they never show a picky buyer making lowball offers only to lose home after home. Yet, ask any real estate agent experiencing a seller's market and that is the day to day reality of the marketplace for unreasonable buyers.
Younger buyers may have grown up in a world where they got trophys and appreciation for simply breathing, but when it comes to the rough and tumble world of a seller's real estate market, they need to understand that they are not entitled to everything their heart desires at the low price they can afford. There are no handouts in a seller's real estate market. Homes that are priced right, no matter whether they have the sparkling quartz counters you want, or the white washed hardwood flooring you desire, are going to sell for what they are asking. They aren't going to sell for nearly 10% less just so you can afford those improvements yourself. And you certainly aren't going to get a trophy for making that offer, no less a house.
Comments(8)