Tell me your BUYERS SCARING OFF THE SELLERS Story (disclosure, square footage, property)
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Did you make arrangements for the buyer agent to call you when they were done? I only do that if the seller requests I do. As a listing agent I tell my clients to be gone for about 45 minutes, then return home. Honestly, at some point you have to let common sense kick in. I assume you are a first time home seller?
We had consistently been called by our Realtor when it was OK to return prior to that time,
so we were trusting he would call.
We offer $300 which we knew was low, but seeing as they had no offers for months, we wanted to see how they would come back. They took a few days and finally came back with $337500. My wife wanted to walk away and not even counter, but we talked it out. We knew our offer was out of the ballpark and just an opening salvo so we figured theres was too.
This is why sellers don't like to waste their time with low-ballers. If you knew your offer was "out of the ballpark," why did you make it? Why waste their time? And to assume that their counter would be equally unrealistic is foolish.
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So we come back with $310. Again they take a few days and come back with $335. Now I begin to question if they are serious. Me and the wife discuss again, we decide to bump it up theaverage of the comparables around the house as we finally think this is the one. Hard to really be upset a this point...
No kidding. Did you look at the comps to begin with?
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This continues for a few more offers until they settle at $330 as their final offer, not willing to budge anymore.
Makes sense, doesn't it, if the house was priced according to its comps to begin with?
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We thought about it but it just seemed to us they either didn't want to sell or something else was going on...
Maybe they wanted a realistic price for their house. Real estate is not a game.
Any stories of people (sellers) giving up for a time to re-group?
This wasn't meant for me be poked, prodded, scrutinized (and BULLIED by one certain mean spirited rider).
Thank you for all the Direct Messages of kindness and SUPPORT after that poster spread his tar. Gee, I guess not many have a good thought about that poster.
Read through the posts and see how we've (self included) digressed from the heading.
I wanted to swap stories which may help fine tune the future sales for promising Realtors who are trying to make a living in this economy to which I wish you all great success.
This is probably more locale specific. Out here we are happy to answer any questions a buyer might have before an offer.
True, but these potential buyers requests were a far cry from asking to have some questions answered.
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Selling a home is really stressful, as the OP is finding out, and if you can minimize a sale fail...
I agree. We just sold the house we lived in for over two decades. It was enormously stressful.
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Some sellers do better if they don't have to see the buyers.
You're right. We had to meet our buyers at the final inspection, incredibly demanding people (although pleasant enough) and in retrospect, I wish we'd just let the two realtors deal with them.
Your realtor allowed this BEFORE these people ever made an offer? Appalling. I hope you terminated the contract w/ your realtor. That's blatant incompetence.
Someone who comes 4 times, measures and asks questions is seriously considering ther property.
A lot ( most) agents in my neck of the woods do not know or provide a fact sheet with the ages of mechanicals, roof and upgrades. An educated buyer needs to know these things before making an offer.
I strongly prefer buyers/sellers to not meet before a contract because it can impact negotiations if they do not like eachother, for whatever reason. People have a tendency to make a lot of assumptions based on the type of car, last names, attire and so on.
Tekzilla, sorry for your experience. There's no excuse for having a firm contract (if that is what you had) and then the sellers back out by not doing the inspection and trying to change the closing date.
I suspect that the sellers had gotten prior offers during the year but rejected them because they weren't close enough to what the sellers (and it appears from your post, you also) considered to be market price. Just because there wasn't a prior sale doesn't mean there weren't offers. I think that is a mistake that some buyers make--and then the negotiation gets off on a bad foot because they think a lowball will be entertained, when the sellers may have rejected higher offers previously. I think it's best to have the Realtor do really good research on comparables and offer a bit below the comparables' selling price (to allow some room for negotiation).
OP, I feel for you also. I agree with those who say your agent should be expected to answer the questions as an intermediary. If you decide you want to market the house within this 6 months and he/she won't let you out of the contract, could you ask the broker for the agency to take over the listing or reassign it?
I also think that when you do decide to market the house again, you need to have a better plan for what you do when showings occur. Obviously sometimes you can't follow the plan (e.g., if someone who seems really interested doesn't give you enough notice), but for example:
--Have the agent put on the MLS listing that "friendly (or not) dogs will be (in basement, garage, wherever you will be putting them); please do not let them out."
--If your child is with you at the time of a showing, go to a park or take coloring books, etc., to a child-friendly restaurant and have a cool drink for 45 minutes.
--If it is a pleasant day, you could take a long walk with the dogs.
People have pets and kids and sell houses all the time. And most people who decide to view your house, sometimes multiple times, won't buy it, and there is no sense in getting upset about their simply doing that because you have chosen to sit in the car and wait. The key is to have a better plan to minimize the stress on you.
Someone who comes 4 times, measures and asks questions is seriously considering ther property.
A lot ( most) agents in my neck of the woods do not know or provide a fact sheet with the ages of mechanicals, roof and upgrades. An educated buyer needs to know these things before making an offer.
I strongly prefer buyers/sellers to not meet before a contract because it can impact negotiations if they do not like eachother, for whatever reason. People have a tendency to make a lot of assumptions based on the type of car, last names, attire and so on.
I think the fact sheet is a very good idea. The OP could even have two fact sheets - one that is one page and simple (like most of those that I have seen), and one that is more detailed, for those who are more seriously interested and have questions.
At the same time, I think these particular "buyers" are unusual for the $200K range, so I am hopeful this will be OP's worst experience.
I agree that the seller seems to be overreactive and passive aggressive - but the aggression is hurting herself, which she can't see. If she had a legitimate issue with anything the Realtor was doing, the appropriate course of action would have been to have a discussion with the Realtor . . .if that did not produce the desired results, then the next appropriate step would have been to contact the Realtor's broker . . .
The way she describes the events, she is a victim of the Realtor, and that just makes absolutely no sense.
When the prospective buyer is making demands, she can say "yes" or "no" - no one is holding a gun to her head.
It doesn't seem like the seller is very motivated . . .selling your house is a business and can be stressful and inconvenient, but most people focus on the desired end result.
In this case, there is nothing stopping the seller from asking to be released from the listing contract. Do read it carefully to see what it provides for in terms of future sales.
True, but these potential buyers requests were a far cry from asking to have some questions answered.
How do you know that?
The issue isn't that they wanted questions answered. The issue is that the listing agent didn't know her clients well enough to know that it wasn't a good fit for them to answer the questions in person. This goes back to the personality of the seller and their ability to feel comfortable in sharing information about their home face to face.
We had consistently been called by our Realtor when it was OK to return prior to that time,
so we were trusting he would call.
But you said it was shown by the buyer's agent. How would your agent know when they were done?
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