We Tell it Like It Is

This is helpful buyers. Please read. I am fortunate enough to work with sellers and buyers equally, so I know the mindsets of each. When you are buying or selling, its great to have an idea of what the opposite is thinking!

The Sellers: They have to sell right now and wish they didn't. But, they are getting divorced, getting married, its getting too crowded in the house, their health has significantly changed, or they are relocating to another city or state. They have to sell. They are deer in a vulnerable position being watched by vicious wolves (buyers).They see other deer that have been injured as a result of the wolves, but hope they are fast enough to outrun them. And they are not afraid to put up a fight in the process.

They have been given the grim news that their house has significantly declined in value. They have been told they will not make a profit in the sale of their house or if they do, it will be extremely minimal. Whatever the home sells for, they must take that sales amount and reduce another $10,000-$20,000 from it to cover their closing costs and real estate commission. The rest must go toward paying off their mortgage, so they hope to at least break even. Some pray for a few thousand dollars left over to go towards the downpayment of their next house, but that's pushing it. So,for example:

A seller bought their house for $275,000 a few years ago. They now owe $240,000 on their mortgage. So, they have to make at least $240k on their sale in order to pay their mortgage off. Their Realtor estimated about $25,000 for their closing costs and real estate commission. They'd really like to have $10,000 for a downpayment on their next house. This means they have to list their home for the same amount they paid for it a few years ago. This is frustrating to them because they were led to believe buying a house was an investment and to them, this is not the case.

When they list their home, they frustrated at what they have to list it for. In addition, they may have put a lot of work & money into the house in order to make it more appealing to today's buyers, so a certain level of pride exists.

Its difficult for buyers to understand why sellers are so difficult to negotiate with right now. They believe sellers should just simply understand they are not in the drivers seat and so they must just concede. Its important for buyers to know that sellers are very angry people right now and feel like they have been completely shredded even before the house goes on the market. So, when sellers seem stingy or not very flexible, understand that they are in a tough position and if they didn't have to be there, they wouldn't be.