Why did I just walk away from another listing for Spicewood TX Homes for Sale? Because the seller knows more than me! How can I educate someone who won't listen because he thinks he already knows it all.
How does he know it all? Because he's been on the market for 2 years! Yes, since 2007, he's been trying to sell his house. He's gone through 5 Realtors already. It might be six, but I'm not wasting time to look his property up again.
This round, he met with me and another agent. I received the call from Mrs. Seller yesterday saying that they chose me, YEAH! We discussed the terms since there was some back and forth at our meeting about what those terms would be. The rest of the contract was standard stuff like exclusions and protection period.
He wanted to change the protection period to 30 days. No biggie. The protection period doesn't mean anything if they go and list it with agent number seven, eight, or nine if it expires anyway as it's only good if they do not relist the property.
Here's where Mr. Seller knows what's in his best interest rather than listening...
There is a section in the listing agreement, as well as the purchase contract, that states what comes with a house. There is a paragraph about "improvements" as well as a paragraph below that about "accessories". Under "improvements", it lists "... satellite dish system and equipment..." Then, under "accessories" is listed "... controls for satellite dish system..."
The dish is connected to the house as a fixture, and the equipment must remain so the dish is operable. Just like with a house that has a pool, the sellers must leave all the pool equipment and pool cleaners, and everything to make the pool functional.
This is saying that if there is an improvement like a satellite on the house, the accessories must remain with the house as well. If there is no dish, of course there are no accessories to leave so there are no exclusions to list.
This particular seller has a dish on the house. He doesn't use the dish and therefore doesn't have the "accessories" to make it functional. Because of this, I put in the listing agreement for the seller to exclude the receivers and controllers so a buyer wouldn't expect them to come with the house.
He demanded this verbiage be removed from the listing agreement. I tried to explain to him four times why it was there. I even turned the explanation around and asked if he was prepared to buy the buyers a brand new receiver after closing if the buyers got into the house and realized there was no equipment to operate the dish and demanded the "accessories".
He further raised his voice stating he wasn't buying anyone anything, to which my calm response, again, was that was the reason it was written in there... to PROTECT him from buying the buyer new equipment.
He wasn't having it. His eyes were closed, his ears were shut. Is this the type of seller I'm going to be able to work with?
Then, I remembered how they had an offer on the house last year for about $70k more than what our asking price is going to be, and they turned it down. Why did they turn it down? Because they were asking over $100k more for the property at that time, and the seller knew best that his property was worth more.
Here's the kicker... he stated that he liked the other agent's marketing much better than mine. The wife already told me yesterday that my marketing was superior to his. I asked why I was the one who received the call yesterday to list the house instead of the other agent. He had no answer. I told him to use the other guy.
Two listings in two weeks that I've turned away... my husband doesn't think it's very smart, but he doesn't see the big picture months down the road when I'm complaining about how horrible the sellers are to work with.
So, when I left their house on Saturday, Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from this seller!!
The really sad part is that the wife really wants to sell this house and get rid of it and stop paying mortgage payments on a house they haven't lived in for two years... but the husband doesn't want to sell, and he's making every effort not to sell. I feel bad for Mrs. Seller, but at least I have another property to keep an eye on to see how many more months and years it takes to sell!
**Are You Packed Yet?**
Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
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** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **
All my blog posts were first published on donnahomesblog.com.
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Spicewood TX Homes for Sale - Sellers Know Best *
