The Therapist Is In!

This is a bit of continuation of my last post, but I just wanted to speak to sellers for a minute. So, if you are not a seller but interested in buying, you can either go check your Instagram or keep reading.

dear Sellers, Be realistic

Ok, some of you have overpriced your property. Not all of you. Many of you did listen to your real estate agent but some of you insisted on overpricing your home, saying “Hey, let’s just see. It can’t hurt, right?”

Wrong.

It’s true, no one wants to leave money on the table. To some sellers that’s akin to being “unfairly” assessed by the county in order to determine property taxes. (That’s another post.) On the one hand, you want to see if you can reach for the sky when pricing your home, but you’ll go toe-to-toe with the county assessor and tell them your house needs major renovations and is nearly inhabitable in order to get them to reduce the value of your home.

Hey, why not, right? We’re complicated people.

let's get serious

But if you’re serious about selling your home, listen to your agent and make sure your agent listens to you. Overpricing your home can discourage buyers still in sticker shock from the last two years, assuming there’s no room for negotiation even when there is. If you get an offer that’s more than the asking price with great terms, kudos! You probably priced it right, especially if there is a competing offer.

If you overpriced it, you’ll probably get feedback telling you that.

And if the feedback includes any of the following—“they should clean the house,” or “it would help if they picked up the dog poop in the back,” or “what’s that smell,” you really didn’t listen to your agent.

dear Buyers, be patient

Ok, buyers, you’re not going to incur a mortgage with a 7% interest rate for a house that stinks. Or that needs to be fumigated. (Put those gym socks in the laundry, people!) Or that’s overpriced.

But buyers still want a home and sellers still want to sell. And that’s why we have agents who make sure both sellers and buyers don’t tank the deal by being unreasonable or clueless, or rude to the other party, or even doing something illegal. Many of us have been in the business for years. Maybe we haven't "seen it all"--but we've come damn close.

I love being a real estate agent! It’s like being a therapist without having to get that master’s degree in psychology.