She is NOT lowballing
Wednesday this week was the perfect day. It was a coolish, late spring day. The sun was shining; there was a bit of a breeze in the air. It was a day and an evening to be outside. But you know how people talk about the weather…
I came into the office, high on fresh air and sun. What did I hear? People complaining about the impending wet days ahead. It was like saying “ouch” before you hit your thumb with a hammer. I don’t get it. I am an optimist by nature. An optimist, BTW, is not just a positive, sunny personality; I’m not much like that. An optimist is someone who thinks that his/her actions have effect in the world.
Since I don’t say “ouch” before something hurts, I don’t shy away from putting in a market-price offer on a property. This week, I presented another low offer that wasn’t a “lowball” offer. I define a “lowball” as one that is well below what the market is bearing in that area. The Comparative Market Analysis price for this low offer was about where my buyers were offering. The asking price was about $80,000 more. The agent told me that the seller is an investor, a businessman. He is all business and I should not expect compassion. I don’t expect compassion; I do expect a sense of reality.
The offer was rejected outright. OK. I expected that. In the next breath, the agent pointed me in the direction of another listing he has. I saw it about a month ago, nice place. It is also overpriced. When I told him that the location was not as good as the one my clients made the offer on, he told me I needed to pay his (inflated) price for that first place, in order to live on that street. I told him that I disagree.
When I told my buyer that the agent continues to support the unsupportable price and also wanted to sell them his other listing, he laughed. He’s an optimist, too. We’ll see if this agent calls me in a month or two or three with a reasonable price. Chances are my buyer will be closing on something else before this seller gets off his monetary goals and back into the market.
Have you had a seller come back, tail between his legs, after rejecting your reasonable low offer? I have. Maybe it will happen again. I'm an optimist.
