Dear Seller, Nothing personal but your house isn't priced even close to market value.
On December 13th we put the finishing touches on an Offer to Purchase for a house in Franklin. Franklin, while only 20 miles away presents a completely different picture of a real estate market than here in Sylva and Dillsboro. There have been more short sales and foreclosures. I posted an article about this offer and being relieved that no matter what the picture presented, at least I had comps to work with. The article concluded that we felt we had given the seller ample data to understand why the offer was much lower than his list price but higher that what the market values were showing by virtue of the CMA.
After presenting our case in writing the seller countered back via his agent by email. He stated he was insulted by the offer, countered with a $4,000 decrease and gave us one hour to respond. Never mind that it was purely by chance that I happened to be on the computer at 8:25pm to learn we had a 9:00pm deadline - that’s another post by itself.
I emailed the agent , thanked him for his time and said we regretted the seller felt insulted. That was never our intention. Our clients don’t lowball for sport, hours were spent researching for the CMA. When asked if the seller reviewed the information accompanying the offer, the listing agent replied his client wasn’t interested in comparable sales. HUH????? You’re kidding, right?
Our clients receive copies of correspondence and comment that our communication with other parties is ALWAYS professionally courteous.
This post came as inspiration from them. Here’s a direct quote:
“There really is a lesson here for your blog - and your fellow realtors: don't let your seller burn his bridge to a potential buyer before the negotiation process is completed. Had he replied courteously that he appreciates the buyers trying to get the house for a lower price than he is seeking, but that he is not yet ready to reduce his asking price, it may have led to the buyers (us) coming up to his asking price. He doesn't know what we were willing to spend until the counter-offers stalemate, and they had not only not stalemated, he cut it off before they even began. He shouldn't have taken it personally that we were trying to get it for less than his asking price, and I think that any good realtor would have cautioned him from that message that his agent "passed on to us."
The listing agent admitted he hadn’t used comps when pricing for property. If he had, the seller would have been prepared for offers in market range amounts.
Help your sellers with their responses and counsel them to leave personal comments out of counter-offers, preserve potential buyers as long as possible. Advise them there’s nothing personal but the market value of your property isn’t even close to what you’ve listed for.
