Oh boy, Susan - I cried cuz Chuckie doesn't have a mom too!!!!!  Rhiannon always makes fun of me.  I told her when she has kids she'll know how I feel!  lol

Susan,

Don't ever worry about the "steal" thing, just remember it is always where buyer and seller agree!  Sellers are not usually afraid of saying NO!  Work your deals on both ends just as though you were kneading dough for bread.

Susan, you are grabbing my thoughts from one state away - today I was driving up to a listing appointment and I realized our prices have gone from feeling solid to feeling like a very melty jello-ish condition...it's like buyers think they can just offer anything ridiculous and it might work.

Thankfully, it's just a feeling! Most of the sellers are smarter and more tenacious than that!!

Susan - as one our agents has taken to saying, "the list price is just a guideline" it certainly seems that many buyers have the need for finding the ultimate deal.  Thankfully, many others are able to be realisitic and are willing to look at the whole picture when writing an offer.  Best of luck.

Susan,

I need to teach you a lesson:)))...first when you want to get rid of stuff at a garage sale...if you sell it in bunches it's a;ways easier to sell. We once had to clear out a house full of old furniture. We were doing a lot of renovations and seller didn't remove anything and left us with that. We stuck a sign out...everything free...but we still made people take one whole room instead of only one item...we got rid of the whole house in one day. Now as far as pricing on homes...exactly...go by the comps if your buyers are not really educated to our market...make a resonalbe offer and it will either be accepted...rejected or countered.

Susan, you and I are on the same page with what you said from a listing agent's perspective trying to build a win - win. I also want to build a win - win as a buyers agent. Apparently there are others out there today as buyer's agents have the name of Norman. Several agents who have sent strong low ball offers over the wall to me, I called them up and asked them prior to presenting it, and said, "Are you kidding?" They play the role of the messenger and say they are testing the waters for desperate sellers. I tell them, we're not THAT desperate. Apparently some sellers are. I chastise the buyer agent for not being more of a consultant and looking at comparables, but apparently they don't care. They are ONLY in it to get a deal done. They don't get it done on my houses. As far as crying for Chuckie, there you go again with that beautiful heart of yours ; )

After a lot of well presented and documented advice on reasonable offer price, a buyers' agent in the end is obliged to present his buyer-client's offer, even when it flies in the face of all that good advice. 

Susan,

I could not say it better. Indeed just like you "I think that in a buyer's market, sometimes buyers get the impression that they can "steal a property"."

Few times I was approached by buyers (some that would call themselves - friends-) who would ask me to help them to " GET THE BEST DEAL" ... Nothing wrong here but later I found out that in reality some of them were after more than best deal... You know what I mean.

I always run away from people like this... No, thank you!

Well said and I have to agree with you on getting rid of things at a garage sale with a "NAME YOUR OWN PRICE" was a little drastic! There are some things I've collected over the years and I know I would cry also if I had to part with them at a garage sale for 10 cents.