Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Not as Red Hot as you may think.


I recently included a listing with the many Albuquerque Homes for sale. It is a nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1 story home that was in great shape and very clean. It could use a few updates but over all it was in good shape and had great bones. I would even say it was "turn key". The neighborhood was also in great shape. It was just one of those smaller, unique, cozy areas that could be found in the Albuquerque real estate market.

The day the sign went up, a woman who has been looking closely at the area, was fortunate enough to catch the handy man at the property and asked it she could view the property. The handyman agreed and the lady walked through the property and liked what she saw. She then called her Realtor who, in turn, called me.

To make this long story short (as it should be) the woman and her husband wrote an offer. It was a good offer and my seller countered the price and a few technical things. The buyer then countered back and their original price. Then came my warning to my seller -

Just because a home gets one offer the first couple of days does not mean the buyers will come flooding in right behind them. It is a very easy trip to get in and many people fall for it. The first offer is usually the best and, as the saying goes, one in the hand is ALWAYS better than two in the bush, especially in this market. I don't know how many times I have seen people deny the first offer in hopes for another, larger offer...and it never comes. I have seen people almost beg the initial buyers to come back with their offer 6 months later. Its not pretty.

Bottom line - If you get an offer on your home and it is where you want to be in terms of price (not a low-ball offer), do not fool around too much with counters. Lock that offer down and get on with it! Thankfully my sellers were smart enough to do so! :)

by Tim Fish

2 comments:

Admin said...

It all boils down to "don't be greedy"...:-) and works both ways oftentimes.

Unknown said...

Agreed. I am working with a buyer now that just has to get the home below a certain price per square foot. He might be jeopardizing his chance of buying a home he and his wife really want over $5k! Thats like $7 extra a month...