Recently, I've been lucky (I think) to get some listings that have Sellers with equity. This means that when an offer comes through there's no waiting for a bank or other "third party approval". You would think that would mean that these Sellers would be ready to work with reasonable and even not-so-reasonable offers that come to the table.
You would be wrong.
In fact, I'm working with a Seller now that has equity and can certainly make a decision to move forward pretty quickly...if they really wanted to. Of course, they tell me they're ready to sell but, of course, they don't want to "give it away" (don't pay attention to all those short sales and foreclosures that are being "given away").
To be fair, some of the offers are pretty low and pretty insulting. However, one came in the other day which, while a little low, was entirely within the realm of reason. I'm thinking that home prices have declined since the home originally went on the market. I'm thinking there are no good, recent comps. I'm thinking that 25% of the Actives in the neighborhood are short sales or bank owned.
So I try to point out the benefits of working with this offer or even accepting it as presented. No go. My Seller client needs to have [x] number of dollars. Never mind that the possibility of getting [x] number of dollars decreases as every week passes. Never mind this Buyer actually looks like they can afford the home and pay the mortgage.
But I tell myself (and tell myself and tell myself), "It's not my home." If the Seller wants to sit on it for a few more months, that's up to the Seller.
It brings to mind a client I was working with last year. She didn't want to give it away either. She turned down pretty reasonable offers. She didn't want to "give it away". After several months of no offers and some price reductions that particular client actually sold and settled for $30,000 less than the offers she turned away because she didn't want to "give it away". You see, she eventually got to the point that she wanted to sell, needed to sell and would take virtually anything to sell the house and move on with her life.
It's just a damn shame that some people take longer to learn the lesson than others.
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