I was reading this blog article by Sandy Shores and it made me think about a scenario that I am all too frequently faced with.
It seems that about 80% of the time (no joke) when I am working with buyers, we'll find the greatest house, go to submit an offer and learn 3 more are coming in. Did I mention that the house has been on the market for MONTHS? Is this some type of cosmic joke? A property sits for months and then all of a sudden, the universe decides to smile upon it and make it the star listing that everyone wants? This has happened to me a few times when I have spotted a really good deal on a new listing, take my buyers immediately and another savvy Realtor had the same idea, but more often than not, this cosmic joke happens with long standing listings.
I'm not even kidding - it happens so often that whenever I take my buyers to the office to write an offer, I now have to tell them about my "curse" up front and encourage them not to low-ball because another offer might come in! I tell them that I KNOW it sounds like a sales pitch to get them to offer a high price and I say that my buyers don't believe me until it happens to them. They offer respectably and then, guess what? Another offer comes in! Then they are REALLY glad that they didn't play games.
If you're looking to buy a home and find something that you would really prefer not to get away, consider if you really want to lowball the home or if you'd rather offer something respectable so you don't run the risk of losing your "perfect house". I just had a set of buyers that were looking at a foreclosure (a cream puff awesome house!) that was a GREAT price. I showed them the CMA and they went in full price. The home was on the market maybe a week. We submitted the offer and the listing agent informed me (upon Fannie Mae's verbal acceptance) that it was good we didn't wait any longer because 2 offers came in right after ours had been accepted!
So buyers: if you're looking for a "good deal" and your Realtor presents you with a market analysis well below comps (as this one was), what are you going to do? Good deals are out there, and they DON'T have to necessarily be foreclosures or short sales for you to get them!
Does anyone else ever have MOS (Multiple Offer Syndrome)? It's not exactly a curse if you're the listing agent, but when working with buyers, aye yaye yaye!
Angela Elliott is a licensed Florida REALTOR® with Century 21 Classic Properties in Gainesville, FL. Please visit my profile for more about me and browse my Gainesville, FL real estate website for additional Alachua County information and listings. Your phone calls are always welcome at (352) 256-7038 as are your e-mails to angela.elliott1@century21.com. A portion of all my closed sales will be donated to the Alachua Co. Humane Society (View my mission statement). Follow all my services on MyBlogLog.
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