Lots of sellers seem to be lamenting the fact that strangers aren't streaming through their homes. Seems to me that might be a good thing!
Maybe an example would be instructive.
This evening I wrapped up a deal on a home for a family from out of town.
First I sent them dozens and dozens of listings and they searched on line for weeks. ( they live an hour away)
Next, they scheduled a three day trip to the area and selected their six favorite homes of the hundreds I had sent via email for their consideration. Although they thought they knew for sure what their first and second choices would be they wanted to see a few more just to be sure.
Day one of their visit we toured 5 homes; (one of their selections went UA the day they got here) They were stunned that their first and second choice homes on paper turned out to be last on their list by the end of the day. ...fell in love with a home that they didn't really like on paper. We decided to look at three more homes on day two, pretty much because they couldn't believe they found their home on the "first day".
Day two they came to the office and asked to write up an offer immediately; cancelled all other tours. We crunched the numbers, made an offer and countered the counter offer.
Day three everybody agreed on the price and terms and we sealed the deal, scheduled inspections, sent contracts to the lender. They spent the rest of the day playing tourist.
Tomorrow is day four and they head home, very happy campers.
Unusual? Yes, a little. But the point is they DID shop carefully and they knew what they wanted when they saw it. They didn't pay full price because they had seen what similar homes were going for and had a pretty good idea what the real market value was. But they did see the home because the seller had the good judgment to drop the price to nearly where it belonged. (A few weeks earlier they would not have found the home at all because it was listed at $30,000 over market value and ten thousand out of their search limits.)
Was there another home in the hundreds they rejected on paper that would have caught their eye if they had stepped inside to smell the cookies? Sure! Did they ever get to it? No, because it never jumped out at them on paper, or did not come up in their price range.
Did I drive them around? You betcha! Did I spend half as much time driving as I had spent on the internet with them. Not by a long shot!
It's a different world; you have to play a different game!
Oh, and did I mention that before we met for the first time they had selected me as their buyers agent? Their file was set up with a pre-approval letter, their preferences, and their absolute turn-offs. None of those other sellers even knew they had been considered and rejected.
But that may be a good thing because some sports fan got to watch the Tar Heels knock the tar out of somebody on their way to the championship. If we had been in his house he would have had to spend the evening down at the local WAWA drinking bad coffee and chomping at to bit to get back to his "man cave".
Sellers, let the new system do its job; you'll spend less time over bad coffee.
Eileen Musser, Realtor
GATEWAY REALTY INC.
Lancaster, Pa
800-765-3247 ext 545
717-615-3179
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