Can you call it a moral victory when you make a sale in today’s sellers’ market?
A moral victory is one where you believe that you are right, even if what you have accomplished is considerably less than what would have been accomplished had the main battle been won.
The main battle I am speaking of is selling at a fair price for both buyer and seller.
As an agent, your fiduciary duty is the protect the client’s money. That of course means helping them get the best deal. As the Listing Agent, even if you are able to negotiate a great deal several thousand above appraisal value, for your seller, could you have done more? Could that several thousand have become ten thousand if you waited for a better offer? At what point do you accept the bird in the hand without waiting for the two in the bush?
Conversely, how high does a buyer need to go to secure a property and still call it a good deal? I recently did a Comparative Market Analysis for a buyer that showed nine out of ten of the most recently sold houses in their market sold at or above list price. Most of these sales were assuredly above appraisal value.
Does getting a contract at a price higher than you wish to pay represent a moral victory? At what point does it become an immoral victory?
Regardless of which side you represent in today’s market, there seems to be an ongoing mindset that “I could have done better.”
While it ultimately is the client’s decision on the terms of the deal. Agents are being placed between a rock and a hard place. Negotiating deals above what we have come to know as typical makes the tools that we use to determine market value ineffective. It is like hitting a moving target. All you can do is close your eyes, aim, and fire.
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