I had a conversation recently with someone who has diligently researched all the property sales, knows the tax records and has put offers in and on homes for sale in Glen Cove Bethesda and looked homes for sale in Crestview Bethesda.
As with many buyers today her desire is to get a good deal and to that end she used a limited service brokerage that rebates a commission to the buyer, but she realized that it wouldn't be a successful strategy. In a competitive environment for well priced homes a buyer agent who writes a contract and then does no further negotiation is unlikely to be successful for their client.
She also wrote an offer with the listing agent of a home but had that offer handed back to her. No counter. Just handed back.
So she called me because she can see by my blog that I'm pretty familiar with this corridor. What did I think?
Well….
First off she needs an advocate. Going from limited service agent to listing agent to listing agent is not an effective strategy. There are so many moving parts to a real estate transaction that can fail that without someone to help you through the rough patches, it's really pretty difficult to ever get a home to settled. Finding a house is the easiest thing on earth. Search around the hundreds of sites that display houses and pick something you like. Seriously, this is the least complicated part of what I do.
Figuring out what to offer on a home starts the tricky process. In this case, she had researched the sales and decided that since nothing she saw sold above assessed value that she would only offer that. Trouble is, the home is worth more than its assessed value. Is it worth the current offer price? Probably not at 38 days on market but surely it's not worth less than smaller homes in the same area that are going under contract for MORE than what she wanted to offer on this property.
So why did the listing agent even write an offer that was $125K below asking? Because with an offer in hand she could go back to anyone else who might be interested in the property and try to get them to write an offer. Without revealing any details, it's just an offer and the other party has no way to know what it is, except it exists. If they want to get the house then they need to get something in writing. Or perhaps she thought her clients would be willing to find a way to meet. But unfortunately too many sellers just get angry and can't see past what they consider a true waste of their time.
And why did the sellers not counter? Who knows? But contrary to what the buyer believes they are not desperate to sell, even though she heard the listing agent say they were moving away and needed to sell this home. But let's just say they were…. If they reduced the price to the correct market range they could sell the home quickly and for far more than the exceptionally low offer the buyer put in front of them. No need to take such a low ball.
This is the fatal error I see over and over with buyers.
Why would they take your low offer when they can just reduce the price to the correct market value and get far far more than you offered?
Our market is shifting gears, with less inventory to sell and a spring market in full swing. Homes that are priced well are selling quickly and especially in those areas where there is Metro access, walk to shopping and the fun areas of Friendship Heights.
So what I think is she was more about how to get a deal than she was about getting a house. And it's too bad. Take that energy and channel it with someone who can guide you a bit better and you'll likely actually have a house not a string of contract writing exercises.
I'm happy to help her but she has to be willing to let me do so…
Homes for Sale in Crestview and Glen Cove
The walk scores for these properties are fabulous!
Homes for Sale in Bethesda and Bethesda Real Estate
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