Over the last few years, we have noticed that buyers are coming up with some pretty off the wall ideas of what homes are truly worth in many of the markets we serve. If they are coming from very distressed areas of the country, they automatically assume our market is just as bad as their last market and in many cases, that is not true. Texas did not see the huge market upticks in prices and the large decreases in prices that many other areas of the country did. It's a different market especially in some of the markets we work daily.
Recently, I wrote an offer for a buyer that wanted to offer 10% less than asking price on a hot new listing that was experiencing multiple showings and was about to receive multiple offers. The market analysis of the property and the neighborhood showed it was an incredible value at full price as it was the lowest priced home available in the neighborhood, had been remodeled to the "nth" degree and was gorgeous to boot. After seeing at least 20 homes in the area, there was no question this was the best home on the market in the area.
Of course, my client did not win the bid for the house as we were not even in the ballpark of the offers they received on that house. When I asked him what his source of information was that he was using, he replied that he was using a national web site for his information and therefore his negotiations. He had my market analysis in his hands, but refused to realize that my information was more current and accurate, but just knew he was going to win the bid or at least would receive a counter from the seller. Now they are heartbroken that they missed out on this great home that met every criteria they had.
Now, we are back to looking for other options for this family. Will they learn from this ordeal and get more realistic or will this strategy be used again and again to no avail?
It's hard to get buyers to sometimes believe in the market data that comes direct off the MLS system sometimes. Since buyers can't access that information themselves without their Realtor providing it to them, they rely on other less accurate sites for their information and lose out on some great homes. If the market is showing 10% drops in prices, that data will show up in the MLS data as well.
We are all for buyers doing all the research in the world that they want to do. We think its great that buyers can go to the public web sites for tax information and other very useful information. Google Earth is a fantastic way to view a home at first. Just remember that you need to look at data from multiple sources and find a Realtor that you trust to work with and then listen to them as well.
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