Special offer

Remember when your buyers just loved the home they offered on?

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Greater Cleveland Southwest

Geez!  What a trip getting an offer these days!  There is no sense of urgency in writing or countering.  Buyers write low offers and inch themselves up or walk away.  It takes days to get a counter and no body wants to put anything in writing ( probably so they are free to go bid on another home while they wait for your seller to mull over this low offer, afraid that it may be along time until they get another one!) .  I haven't seen too many buyers these days that you actually got the feeling that they absolutely LOVE the house......not that every buyer told me that before some still wanted to play it cool.  But a realtor almost knew he had found his buyer the right home..........today, the buyers are trying to make houses work in order to get a deal.  They don't seem to have the emotional attachment to any homes they want to see! ( sometimes I'm actually thinking...why would they want to see THIS home......it doesn't meet any criteria they've ever talked about!) Yet, because there are so few buyers in comparison to our inventories, you're afraid to cut them loose because you have a prequal letter in hand or their house is on the market.......even if it maybe months down the road to a sale, they want to sell. 

All this only adds to frustrating the realtor who is trying to do a good job and still not be taken advantage of......sellers have a lot of stress in getting their homes sold, but I hope they know we have alot of additional stress trying to coax buyers to write realistic offers and perform in a reasonable time period.  There just isn't a lot of urgency or emotional attachment to getting that HOME any more, it seems people are just buying houses. 

I can't count how many offers that went nowhere or buyers who walked away from a good counter.  Really wondering about the buyer loyalty and their ability to zone in on what they truly want!  I really feel for my sellers who are trying to write a counter that will result in a deal......sometimes the figures are just too far apart to ever imagine the banter will result in a sale, and yet they seem to be trying to bend over backwards to accommodate even crummy offers!

Boy I hope this can turn around soon!

 

 

Renee Stengel
Houlihan Lawrence, Associate Broker - Katonah, NY
Westchester County

Today, buyers treat homes as investments.  I believe they are right in doing that.  Especially in today's real estate market.  If they walkaway they really didn't want the house in the first place.

Feb 06, 2008 02:07 AM
Linda Tremblay
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc, PA License #AB065488 - Doylestown, PA
Associate Broker - Bucks County, PA Real Estate Services
The market is really wierd.  Even if you get a buyer that ablolutely loves the house & writes an offer almost right away.  If they do not get everything they want in the iI agree, there is no emeotional attachment.nspection process, they still walk away.   
Feb 06, 2008 02:08 AM
Melina Tomson
Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon - Salem, OR
Principal Broker/Owner, M.S.
I agree. I think a "realistic" offer is an offer that buyers are making.  It's supply and demand and boy are the buyers demanding!  I hear you on this one.
Feb 06, 2008 02:10 AM
Charlotte Koch
Keller Williams Greater Cleveland Southwest - Strongsville, OH
Realtor-Strongsville,Ohio
I know it's a realistic offer to them.....but many of us have worked on our sellers to drop their prices, be objective to low offers and yet they get slammed in the end..........the buyer walks away and I have to call the agent back rather than the agent call me and tell me it's over.....I may know that but there isn't much coutesy to my sellers who have taken the time to counter and fretted over doing it!
Feb 06, 2008 02:15 AM
R. B. "Bob" Mitchell - Loan Officer Raleigh/Durham
Bank of England (NMLS#418481) - Raleigh, NC
Bob Mitchell (NMLS#1046286)

My best advise to a buyer is NOT to fall in love with the house until after they close on it!  I don't blame them at all for attempting to get a deal.  I just bought my home for 30% less than the guy was originally asking.  That price wasn't realistic, but I still got a hell of a deal on it.  Why shouldn't I expect my buyers to try the same?

 

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc. 

Feb 06, 2008 02:32 AM