I held an Open House today in a condominium complex in an highly trafficed upscale neighborhood of Scottsdale, Arizona. Thinking Sunday afternoon was prime time, I had high expectations of drawing a crowd. To my dissmal dissappointment I only had one neighbor stop by. He was one of the original owners, mind you these units were built in 1964. Every neighborhood has one of these guys. He stopped by to chew the fat, eat all the candy out of my candydish and clue me in on the real estate market trends. First off, I had the property priced way to high (the seller dropped the price $40,000 off the original list price) and told me I would never sell it for that. He continued to inform me that in todays market there were to many homes on the market and to few buyers who could qualify for a mortgage. This situation would cause the value of homes to continue to plummet. After all, he was an expert because he had worked as a commercial mortgage lender (before he retired an eon ago). Then he went on and on about his kids and their nearly perfect FICO scores. . .
Needless to say, I had a very uneventful afternoon. One thing I have learned to do as a real estate professional is to respect the opinions of others and never discount them. I thanked him kindly for his insight as he left with my last piece of candy.
Who really got the sweeter piece today?
The answer to the question is: I DID! Later on that evening, I got a phone call from an agent who had an offer to fax over to me on the condo in Scottsdale. The offer was higher than the last one I had received. The buyer is putting up $5000 in earnest money, 20% down with a conventional loan and on a solidly backed LSR. It's a SWEET DEAL!
Mr. Rogers is welcome anytime at my Open Houses!
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