Hmmm. They already told you what they will take, and that is the listed price.
It's when "What do you think they will take" is followed by "Maybe I'll just test the water" that a savvy agent needs to step up to the challenge. When testing the water equals wasting time for everybody involved, statistics may help bring the offer more in line with reality. Sold prices are edging closer to listed prices (see charts below).
Without giving advice, I can tell the questioner that properties in our local MLS have averaged selling for 94.4% of the listed prices in the last three months (10/29/2010 to 1/29/2011). During the three months before that, properties averaged selling for 92.2% of the listed prices. Sold prices are getting closer to the listed prices, and that is happening locally, in spite of the cold months that traditionally are our worst selling season.
When it comes to determining an offer price on a specific property, I will not step over the line into "advising" a customer. A customer is someone who has not signed an exclusive representation agreement with me (it's called a Buyer's Agent agreement). A client is one who has entered into an agency agreement with me.
A client, however, who wants it can count on some serious advice that is backed up by comparable sales from the last three to six months. Those comps will take into account the location, condition, age, size and as many other details as I can reasonably utilize to extrapolate data. Putting too many criteria into the search can result in few or no "hits." Because my market area has virtually no large subdivisions, I usually search the entire elementary school district and then evaluate comps individually. Sold comps are the most reliable predictor of value.
Ultimately, the owner of the property is the one who decides whether or not to sell for a given price; so when I am representing a buyer, I sure hope that the seller's agent is also pulling appropriate comparables to help that seller recognize a reasonable offer. When both the buyer and the seller can agree on "reasonable," we have found the answer to the question, "What will they take?"
7/29/2010 to 10/29/2010 (total sold amounts equal 92.2% of the total listed prices)
10/29/2010 to 01/29/2011 (total sold amounts equal 94.4% of the total listed prices).
Average days on market went from 134 to 132 during the most recent three months. Though this timeframe included Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, and MLK Day holidays, the number of transactions was only down a little over 8%.
Comments(4)