Ron Henderson, Realtor in Kansas City

I have a home in Northview Place in Kansas City North that was custom built by my sellers. They used a great builder and took one of his floor plans, then maxed it out with everything - granite, Wolf appliances, custom finishes, tons of trim, landscaping, security systems. You name it; it's in this home.

Anyway, it’s been a somewhat challenging sale over the course of the last year, but we started at what they had in it around $440,000. At the time there were 2 other homes priced higher than ours in the subdivision. The seller is a doctor and moved to St. Joseph MO to take a partnership at the hospital there. They’ve been wonderful to work with and I’ve been disappointed that we’ve had to drop the price down to $390,000 to find a buyer.

We’re under contract at $387,000 and the seller is bringing around $20,000 to the table to get it done, but is willing to do that. This last week we got the appraisal back and it came in at $370,000 - $17,000 UNDER our sales price! Honestly, I wanted to be sick, but I’m the type to take 10 minutes to cool off, then dive in there and figure out a plan.

Long story, short – I think we have a worst case scenario plan in place and a best case scenario in place, but more importantly the buyers are not freaking out and still want to buy the home. I'm probably lucky there isn't another agent involved (buyers were unrepresented) because it sure makes it a lot easier to talk to them in person without another agent in there.

When I went over there to speak with the buyers at their home, as soon as we sat down at their kitchen table, the wife said, "Ron, before we get started, can I say something first"? I thought to myself, "Oh no, they're nervous and want to back out,” but then she surprised me. She said, "We LOVE this home and we want it bad. We've seen quite a few homes before this one and we simply do not understand how this appraisal came in so low. We don't believe the appraisal can be correct because we're 100% sure this home is a fantastic deal at our agreed price, but the bank is telling us they won't loan us the money and can't change the appraisal. How can we make this work because we don't want to lose this home?”

Obviously I breathed a huge sigh of relief and then began to explain my plans for a best case and a worst-case scenario. I told them sometimes the lender will allow us to contest the appraisal, but in this particular case it appeared to me that their lender didn’t care to discuss it. I suggested we simply start over with another lender and that’s what they’re doing.

As I asked around my office this week, I heard other horror stories of buyers that backed out completely, sellers that took their homes off the market, and deals that were killed even though we had a buyer willing to pay what they felt was “fair market value”.

Think about how many people are involved in this and how it’s a lose-lose situation. You typically have two agents, a lender, a buyer, and a seller at minimum; that’s five people, but you may also have that many people involved again if the sellers were going to buy another home in that same area.

As I told this story to several people in my office this week, I realized that this is MADNESS and where does it stop? Believe me, I do understand how we got to this point, but it just seems like there’s got to be a better way.

I was attending a party recently and one of the guests at the party just happened to be a local home inspector. As I was standing there, someone asked him how the real estate market is doing. "Not very good," he said to the small group standing there. I was thinking that's probably what they all expected him to say, but I wish people in our industry would stop being so negative about it and find something positive to say.

Personally, my real estate business has been fantastic in 2009 and I see no reason for it to slow down in 2010, but I've also come to realize that not everyone is doing as well as I am. Occasionally in the company of other Realtors I won't even talk about my success because I know it's been a tough couple of years for most agents, but recently I've started to think that I should be talking about it. Obviously I wouldn't being doing it to brag about my accomplishments, but simply to encourage others that it is possible to be successful in a tough real estate market.

There have been many times recently when someone would ask me that same question, "How's the market doing" and when I tell them, "It's great!" I can see that surprised look on their face, which is almost always followed by a, "Wow, Really?" I then try to look them straight in the eyes and say, "Yes, really" because this inevitably leads us to the very reason why they've asked me that question in the first place.

Sometimes they are "waiting on the sidelines" but considering putting their home on the market and just want someone to give them a glimmer of hope that it's possible to get their home sold. Sometimes they have a neighbor or family member that has their home on the market but can't seem to get it sold. They want to ask for my business card to give to that person and say, "Here's a guy I met that's doing great and you may want to give him a call". Other times they simply want to know that it's getting better and are just tired of hearing all the doom and gloom on the evening news. No matter what their situation, telling them that I'm successfully selling homes gives me an opening for an in depth conversation and a better opportunity to hand them my business card.

Consider this; when was the last time you handed someone your business card after having a negative conversation about the market? "Well Bob, right now there are hundreds of bank repo's and short sales in your area so it's probably impossible to sell your home right now, but hey, here's my business card". Seriously? You think Bob will EVER call you now?

Here's a much better alternative answer to that question of "How's the Market?". "Well Bob, this can be a very challenging market right now, but I personally am having a GREAT year! The trick Bob is to make sure you have a great real estate agent selling your home. Why do you ask that question Bob? Are you thinking about selling your home this year?"

See how that works? Only good in depth conversations can come next and you might be very surprised to find you will get more business by being upbeat and positive. I would even go as far as to say that within a week or so you'll become more positive about the overall market and the possibilities that the coming year holds.

Let's all commit to being positive about the real estate market in 2010 and give me your suggestions for what you'll say from now on when someone says to you, "So, how's the real estate market?"

I have to tell you that it's been a great year for real estate in 2008. That's what I tell everyone that asks, and almost every single one of them are shocked to hear this, but it's true.