Special offer

Please Get Real Mr. and Mrs. Seller

By
Real Estate Agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri MO Salesperson#2004006871

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Seller,

Now that you have your house listed and it has been sitting on the market for a while, can we please get real about selling it??  We have had many offers and still no sale.  Your home is your castle but in today's market it is not going to fetch the prices of yesterday. 

You say you will not accept an FHA offer and conventional ones are too low.  What am I to do?  I cannot get this done alone.  You need to work with me here.  Everyone wants a good deal.  Everyone has to start some where on price. 

You are concerned the offer is too low and the appraiser will predicate repairs.  Give the buyers a chance Mr. and Mrs. Seller.  You may be surprised.  This is the house for them...please or please let the buyers try to buy??

Sincerely your friendly agent...

(name with held to protect the innocent)

Compliments of Ann Hayden agent with Prudential Select Properties Wildwood/Chesterfield/Ballwin Office.  Ann Hayden is committed to your goals while educating you in the home buying & selling processes.  Please call or text Ann Hayden today to get started 636-399-7544.

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© 2008-2009 Ann Hayden, All rights reserved

Posted by

Ann Hayden Real Estate Agent St. Louis Missouri

Call or Text:  636-399-7544

with

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties

12851 Manchester Rd, Suite 100

St. Louis, MO 63131

314-775-2050

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© Ann Hayden, 2008-2023.

Views expressed are not the opinion of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties.

Comments (26)

Alan Gross
PrimeLending, A PlainsCapital Company, Equal Housing Lender - Bethesda, MD
Loan Consultant

The public needs more education on FHA financing. While it was true years ago you could get some pretty silly repair requirements after the FHA appraisal, it;s not true anymore. Combine that with the fact that most low down payment and almost all no down payment loans are history and FHA in now the best loan in the market. There's a reason it went from less than 5% of loans to over 30% of loans in a short period of time.

Feb 02, 2009 03:05 PM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Alan,

I agree.  I have completed many FHA deals and none were bad for the sellers.  Some of these buyers cannot afford the 20% down, but they still want to buy a home rather than rent.

Education is so important. 

Ann

Feb 02, 2009 03:09 PM
Karen Monsour
Coldwell Banker Fort Lauderdale Beach - Fort Lauderdale, FL
REALTOR, SSRS - Sells FL Waterfront, Short Sale Expert!

You said it...funny in a sad way...I guess I took it as very mild sarcasm...I get the point though.

Feb 02, 2009 03:24 PM
Toula Rosebrock
Diane Turton, Realtors, Forked River, NJ - Lacey Township, NJ
Broker/Sales Associate, Realtor, Lacey Township,

Hi Ann:

Sellers need to be open-minded to FHA...whatever will help buyers get to the closing table!

ToulaRosebrock.com

Feb 02, 2009 11:42 PM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Karen,

I was not trying to be sarcastic, voice inflection is so difficult with the printed word.  I was truly trying to plead with sellers to stop thinking about what they could have sold the house for and get their heads into THIS market. 

Also I was trying to point out FHA is not a bad deal for the seller as some truly believe.

Thanks again for stopping by,

Ann

Feb 03, 2009 12:28 AM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Toula,

If a buyer needs to go FHA, then the seller should at least consider trying it! 

Thanks for commenting,

Ann

Feb 03, 2009 12:30 AM
Ann Allen Hoover
RE/MAX Advantage South - Hoover, AL
CDPE SRES ASP e-PRO Realtor - Homes for Sale - AL

Ann, I have a Mr. and Mrs. Seller too......love them dearly, but they are not in the real world.

Feb 03, 2009 12:33 AM
Sandy Shores FL Realtor®, Melbourne Real Estate
M & M Realty of Brevard Inc. - Melbourne, FL
Brevard County Real Estate, Florida's Space Coast

Hi Ann, I love your letter - and if you would be so kind let me give you an address to send it to, as my Mr. and Mrs. Seller need a copy of it also - LOL.  Great job!

Feb 03, 2009 01:23 AM
Don Rogers
Keller Williams Realty Chesterfield - O'Fallon, MO
Realtor, Broker, CDPE, GRI, OnullFallon MO & St Charles County MO homes

Ann,

I would hope that a seller would be open to an offer when it came in and even think about doing a counteroffer if it is too low for them.  The other side is they will be buying for less than they would have a year or two ago.  It's all relative at times.

Feb 03, 2009 03:00 AM
George Souto
George Souto NMLS #65149 FHA, CHFA, VA Mortgages - Middletown, CT
Your Connecticut Mortgage Expert

Ann these days Sellers should just be happy to get an offer on their house no matter what the Loan Program is.  It sounds like they need a wake up call.

Feb 03, 2009 05:39 AM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Ann,

But wouldn't they at least consider FHA??  I mean I do not see the big deal with FHA.. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Ann

Feb 03, 2009 09:36 AM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Sandy,

Thank you for the compliment..  I wish our sellers would treat the real estate market like the stock market...yes, yesterday it was worth $34 a share and today it is worth $13...  So it is just the market making a correction..

Send me the address and I would be happy to forward a copy..;-)

Ann

 

Feb 03, 2009 09:39 AM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Don,

One would think this is what would happen...  A seller buying a more expensive home could really do well in this market...

Ann

Feb 03, 2009 12:45 PM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

George,

Yes, I think you are correct.  A wake up call and relief someone put an offer in on the house.  I would think they would want to at least try to work out the deal...

Ann

Feb 03, 2009 12:47 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Ann,

Interesting discussion. I only want to say that I do not understand why we think that the Sellers have to do this or that. This is often our point of view, not their.

Very often it is unfortunate when they want to sell, but do not trust your guts, and go with the higher price, but still, they have the right not to be happy about what they can get.

Let us all remember that many of these unhappy people bought houses with our help just 3 years ago, because we were so confident that these were great investments, and so often they just lost confidence that it was, and are losing money.

Do they still need to be happy about it?

Feb 04, 2009 04:36 PM
Sharon Paxson
Sharon Paxson, Realtor® EQTY Forbes Global Properties - Newport Beach, CA
Newport Beach Real Estate

Ann - this is a great post, and so true. In today's market it can be difficult to have sellers be in alignment with the market. The sellers have to remember their competition are the REO's and short sales out there.

Feb 05, 2009 12:58 AM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Jon,

Sellers have every right to their feelings, but their feelings do not control the market.  If feelings controlled the market, I would not have lost money in the stock market.  ;-)

As for this letter, it is not pointed at anyone.  It is an attempt to let sellers know, if you get an offer at least TRY to work out the details.  Do not simply reject it.  Prices are always negotiable...or so I have been told.  Some people do not feel this way.

Homes are still a great investment.  No on is asking sellers to be happy about losing any money, just to be realistic about the market.  I am very unhappy about my loss in the stock market but nothing I can do about it except live with it.

Thank you for entering the discussion,

Ann

Feb 05, 2009 01:13 AM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Sharon,

Yes, they need to understand the agents do not control the market.  We do not control the money or the credit or the inspections, etc....  I believe an educated client is the best.  I give all the facts and let them make the decision because it is theirs to make. 

Have a great day,

Ann

Feb 05, 2009 01:27 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Ann,

It is quite  common that the post is followed by a discussion, which often deviates from the post in certain way. In my second comment I am guilty of, actually, responding not that much to the post, but to the comments.

And you are absolutely right in your letter, I apologize if I gave you a feeling that it was a critique of the letter, absolutely not.

Thank you

Feb 05, 2009 02:23 PM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Jon,

No problem...  I think discussions are important and I appreciate your comments.

Have a great weekend,

Ann

Feb 06, 2009 09:57 AM