Up is down; down is up
Given the Winchester home had just been listed at the height of a hot spring market, you might reasonably expect the sellers to have stuck close to their asking price, especially in the first few days. And you’d think the sellers of the Arlington home would be fairly flexible with the price and terms, especially the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Heck, they might even be desperate.
In Winchester, my buyers made their very best offer right from the start, which came in just a little more than 94 percent of the asking price. It was accepted within hours. Contrast that with my Arlington buyers, who negotiated their offer to 97.5 percent of the asking price, and they were turned down.
It helped that my Winchester buyers got in to see the property before the weekend, when the vast majority of buyers are free to go house hunting. Another key factor, as it turned out, was that one of the adult children was present during the showing, and liked my buyers (who are, as luck would have it, eminently likable people).
In Arlington, I had been told several times by the listing agent that the sellers (and she) were extremely tired of the process, and that they were about to pull it off the market and rent it, instead. They didn’t really want to rent, but they were exhausted and it seemed they might never get to the closing table.
But 97.5 percent of the asking price wasn’t good enough. Despite the roller-coaster ride of the previous seven months, the sellers would not let go of that last $3,000 gap. They didn’t seem to care that, since there were three sellers to divide the proceeds, they could move on with their lives and clear roughly $110,000, each, from the sale. Apparently, they had to have $111,000 each, and they were willing to lose a ready, willing, and able buyer over less than a one-percent difference. Disappointed, my buyers walked away from the property.
They did come back, within a week, and we put together the deal at the sellers’ price, just as they were listing it to rent. These clients spent several years in this East Arlington home, and they were extremely happy they went that last $3,000. Six years later, they sold it for $79,000 more than they paid for it, so they could buy a larger home less than 900 feet away.
Do the right thing… for you
The moral of these stories is that, when you’re interested in buying a home, don’t try to get too deep inside a seller’s head. You and your agent can collect as much information about the seller as possible, and it might prove helpful with your strategy and tactics.
But the only thing that really matters is what a particular seller says to a particular offer on a particular day. Make your offer at the price and terms you’re happy with, and get it in front of the seller.
Then let the seller decide if it’s good enough for them or not.
