This Buyer's market that we are in is BOOMING. More and more properties are staying on the market an average of 3-6 months at the least. Sellers are complaining and buyer's want to make you go out and show them 100 homes before they make a decision. What is a Realtor to do?
I start off by being very honest with my Sellers. I advise them of the present market conditions and the length of time their home might be on the market. I also advise them of the importance to pay out a commission that would make other agents want to show it before another home in the same area. I also suggest to the seller that if we have already lowered the list price and the home is priced fairly, it might be a good idea to try and offer a "bonus" to the selling agent instead of another price reduction in order to stimulate more showings of the property.
In this market the average homeowner is already making a good return on his investment and Realtors have to work much harder to sell homes. So it just makes sense to reward the selling agent with an additional incentive instead of having the home sit stagnant on the market for a long time.
With my buyers I make sure to qualify them as good as possible before I start setting up showings. There is a lot of homes on the market and if you don't qualify them good you will end up showing them a lot of homes that they wouldn't want anyway. My suggestion is to Qualify, Qualify and then Qualify them again. Make sure you go over precisely what they are looking for so you don't waste your time or your buyers time.
Once I find a home that my buyers wish to put an offer on, I make sure to go over with them how legally binding a Florida Real estate contract is and make sure they want to go ahead in writing the contract. The reason I do this is because in this market you can run the risk that a buyer places on offer with you on a property than before the closing date a friend or relative tells them about a home that might be a better price or a foreclosure in the same area. The buyer then is trying to do everything he can to try to get out of the contract you wrote. It can become a very sticky situation at that point so be prepared to have all your I's dotted and T's crossed.
These are hard time for our market but if we work hard and do our homework we will make it through with flying colors.
Don't forget, the Baby Boomers start retiring now and another boom is lurking in the near future.
Good Luck :-)
Chaz Mena
Remax Hometown
954-804-1284
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