Old Real Estate Sayings That Are True Today
June 8th, 2009 categories: Home Sellers, Prescott Homeowners
There are a lot of old sayings in the Real Estate business. Some of them are true, some not. Here are five old sayings that are true in any type of Real Estate market.
1. Your First Offer is Your Best Offer. I have sold or been involved with hundreds of Real Estate transactions over the years, and more times than not, the first offer to come in is usually the best offer. When a seller receives an offer on their home, it may be less than expected or desired. After negotiating, Seller and Buyer cannot come to terms, the deal dies and the search for another buyer resumes. More times than not, offers that follow are incrementally less than the first offer, and ultimately the seller wishes they had made the first offer work. Remember, don’t step over dollars to save pennies.
2. Low Ball Offers Don’t Necessarily Get You the Best Price. Extremely low offers can lead to an insulted seller, which typically leads negotiations to nowhere. Most sellers are emotionally attached to their homes and a low offer may be perceived as insulting. I recommend that buyers know the comparable sales prices in the neighborhood and make an offer slightly below that. If the sales prices ends up near market value, everybody wins.
3. Overpricing your home is a huge mistake. This is and always has been the biggest mistake a seller can make. Sellers do not set property values, the market and buyers do. If you over price your home, you run the risk of always being behind the curve, trying to play catch up with price reductions and probably in the end, getting less for your home. If you are serious about selling your home, Price it competitively from the start.
4. It’s Nearly Impossible To Under Price A Home. If a home is truly priced below market value, chances are it will receive multiple offers driving the price back up to market value, maybe even a little higher.
5. It’s important to Offer The Most and Cost The Least. This is the secret to selling your home for top dollar, with the least amount of hassles and in a reasonable time period. I recently met with a client who sold a condo in Michigan, which due to the economy is a difficult place to sell a home. She explained to me that while her condo was on the market, she personally looked at all of the other condos listed for sale in her complex. After previewing her competition, she made sure that her condo was the best and brightest and priced below her competition. Needless to say, her condo sold, while the others are still sitting on the market to this day. She went on to say that since she closed escrow, values have declined further in her former neighborhood.
My business if full of old sayings and rules of thumb. The above are just a few that are heard on a regular basis, especially in today’s market.
If you would like to discuss current market conditions or any Real Estate needs, please call us at 928.778.4492.
