We Tell it Like It Is

The Buyers:  We are not wolves waiting to attack, however I guess we are kind of taking advantage of the sellers' vulnerability. We do feel sorry for the sellers, but this is our time now. We have the advantage of looking at many homes before we need to make a decision, so we will keep searching until we find one that speaks to us. We no longer have to put up with buying a house that might be a little too dark, a little too small, a little too big, not enough storage, not a great backyard, etc. Putting up with buying a less than perfect home -- that was so 3 years ago. Frankly, we don't care if your home is in a great neighborhood, on a really neat lot, has custom built whatever...and we don't care what the assessed value is or what you paid for it 5 years ago. If its not ready for us to move right into without doing a whole bunch of work, forget it. Unless its priced under $150,000, that is. The value of a home right now is not determined by an appraiser, an assessor, a real estate agent, or a seller. The value of a home is what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Period.

When you get an offer from us, you need to let go and understand that its nothing personal. We love your house and we are willing to buy it. That is a big deal in this market where homes sit for an average of 6 mos. before they sell. But, we are normally first time home buyers with barely enough money to cover our downpayment. So, we can't afford to put a lot of money into fixing up a house when we first buy it and we don't have the cash to pay for our own closing costs. If you don't work with us, it could be months before you see another offer and by then, it could be lower than what we're offering you now.

Pete & I are hosting T-day this week for the first time. Pete traditionally is in charge of the turkey, which he cooks on a charcoal grill, but he is a bit apprehensive this year because he won't have his brother-in-law Dan backing him up like he normally does. But, I think things will be fine. I am in charge of some of the side dishes and apple pie; plus getting this house cleaned and the table looking pretty. Murphy's Law of course, we are involved in the most time-consuming files right now and have had nearly no time to even think about this holiday coming up in less than 48 hours.

I am full of stories, for those of you that know me well, and can come up with something funny to tell for just about every holiday. Here's one for T-day for your reading enjoyment:

I was about 19 years old and had been dating a young man for a little over a year (not Pete!). He and his family were Russian Jewish immigrants who emigrated to the US in the mid 80's. Our families were quite different and they were both apprehensive about us dating. My boyfriend & I felt that it would be a great way to break the ice by getting the families together for Thanksgiving, and so his parents graciously agreed to host the meal at their house in attempt to make us kids happy. Things were shaky from the start when my family arrived--my mom, dad, and my dear aunt who incidentally, was dealing with some early stages of dementia. I come from a Scandinavian family of blue collar workers who believe Perkins is a fancy restaurant and have never had the opportunity to commingle with anyone that was not Caucasian, American blue collar workers like themselves. So, this whole holiday was a very new and bizarre experience for them. My boyfriend's parents were barely fluent in English and were not exactly happy that their son was dating a blond, Sandra Dee, poster child for the Arian race. They never imagined they'd host a family like mine for such a holiday like Thanksgiving. We sat in silence for a good minute or two after the initial introductions, when the family cat entered the room. My dad innocently bent over and attempted to pet the kitty, who immediately let out a growl and took an aggressive chomp into his willing hand. Mortified, we all sat frozen as blood began to appear as my dad tried to respectfully shake off the incident like it was no big deal. Not a good start, I thought. My boyfriend's father rushed into the bathroom to retrieve a first aid kit--it was pretty funny to see both men who had never met before struggle to wrap gauze around the bleeding hand as frantic apologies were being made in both English and Russian from both parties. Soon, luckily, it was time to sit at the table and eat. I knew there would be trouble as I helped bring bowls of steaming food to the table; the contents of them unidentifiable. I never thought about the fact that my meat and potatoes eating family may be turned off by the Russian cooking, which may not be a traditional stuffing-potatoes-cranberries-kind of dinner. My family apprehensively spooned small portions onto their plates and I could read my mom's mind as she thought about what she'd be cooking for dinner as soon as they got home. The silence was broken again as my dear, dementia-stricken aunt spoke up and wanted to say a prayer. I suddenly braced myself. A strong Christian woman she was, I feared she would forget that our hosts were Jewish and say something that would make us all concomfortable (as if that feeling wasn't already there x10). Before I could stop her, she bowed her head and closed her eyes and spoke with great emotion: "Dear sweet Jesus our Lord. We thank thee for the bountiful gifts you've given us and for so bravely dying on the cross to save our sins..." And I was praying too--please God, use your powers to make me disappear from this table right now.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

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.