When an offer comes in, the first one is often the best one.
No, that does not necessarily mean that the AMOUNT in the offer is the best one, but you have a buyer in hand willing to buy your home. Negotiate it!
Let's face it, when you have your home for sale, you want it to be sold as fast as possible. The longer it languishes on the market, the more "stale" it gets. And that means $$ out of your pocket.
How often has a seller looked back down the weary road of trying to sell his house, wistfully wishing he had taken that first offer?
But what about the "comps" you say?
What about them? Where did you really come up with the price? Did your agent look at what sold most recently and what's on the market now? That's the usual "tried and true" way.
But what if you came up with them in a different manner?
1. You paid x dollars, so you won't take less. Sure you bought it at the height of the market, but...
2. You did x amount of work on it and you want to recoup your money plus your labor.
3. Your neighbor just sold his for x dollars and you figure yours is just as good, even though the view isn't quite the same, you didn't do any maintenance, never mind updating it like he did.
4. Your tax assessment is x amount, so you feel THAT is a good indicator of worth especially in Hawaii where your property taxes are reassessed each year.
However you derive at your sales price, that's what you decided you want for it.
NOW COMES AN OFFER, HOW DO YOU AND YOUR AGENT HANDLE IT?
Offers come in all kinds of packages. There are those buyers who put in a lot of contingencies, those that want you to do a lot of repairs, those that need to get a loan but it's kind of iffy even though they have a "pre-qual" letter from a lender, etc. Then there are those who want you to help with several thousand dollars worth of their closing costs. The list goes on.
Your agent will advise you which offer has the best chance of actually making it to the finish line.
If you accept any one of these offers, there is a good chance that it won't close for 45 days, and you will be scrambling the whole time. With no guarantee that it will come to fruition.
BUT HERE'S THE RUB:
Unless you live in a city or area where inventory is really tight and the homes sell within a day and over market price, and there are multiple offers to boot, here's the scenario:
OFFERS ARE NOT FLOODING IN, IN FACT, YOU HAVEN'T GOT ONE YET.
OK, so you haven't been on the market all that long but it is still disconcerting not to get ANY offers.
AND THEN YOU GET ONE THAT IS NOT SO USUAL:
You get one that is all cash, a couple of weeks or less to close, no contingencies.
All you have to agree to is the price. And chances are that it will be low.
HOW LOW, DO YOU ASK? WHO CARES? WORK WITH IT.
And this is where I do not understand listing agents. Do you know what they by and large advise their seller?
REJECT IT!
That's it. No counter offer even, after all, they say, "we are too far apart". In fact, "you have insulted my seller with that offer" is part of the repertoire between agents.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Here is someone willing to step up to the plate, take you out of all your misery of going through the sales process, and you don't even want to talk about it?
No, he is not there to "steal" your house, he is there to NEGOTIATE.
AND YOUR AGENT IS NOT DOING HIS/HER JOB BY ADVISING YOU NOT TO NEGOTIATE.
In fact, that attitude is slamming the door with this buyer.
THE BUYER WILL MOVE ON TO NEGOTIATE WITH SOME OTHER SELLER.
Interestingly, there are so many sellers that have regrets later about not at least talking to that buyer. Really, check around. There are many properties that are "stale" on the market that keep reducing their price. They take it off the market, put it back on with another agent, etc.
AND ALL BECAUSE YOU GOT BAD ADVICE FROM YOUR AGENT TO "REJECT" A PERFECTLY GOOD BUYER WITHOUT EVEN NEGOTIATING.
I know this blog will cause a lot of ruckus in real-estate-dom but so be it.
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