The one that got away
Negotiation: the balancing act that buyer and seller do which yields a result that both can accept. If a deal is too lop-sided, the party that is behind frequently withdraws from the negotiation.
My clients are not in competition with the seller. My clients are in competition with other buyers -- real or imagined -- who will buy the house for more money or with better terms for the seller. If the seller believes that that other buyer is weeks away, my client’s reasonable concession will be rejected.
Sometimes that hypothetical buyer is just around the corner. Sometimes that buyer is years away. That is the bet that seller and buyer make, usually with the help of an agent who is familiar with the lay of the land. As a buyer’s agent, I encourage my clients to walk away if the seller is asking for too much or giving too little. The seller cannot walk away from their house (without financial repercussions), but the buyer is not held to any particular house until an agreement is made.
In the past year, I had inspectors find structural issues that required an engineering inspection. In two out of three cases, the seller could not or would not compensate for the required repair (and subsequent stigma of having a house with a structural repair to explain.) Both of those houses went under agreement again – one within weeks, and one about two months later. Some buyer accepted terms my clients would not, or the seller saw the light and compensated the next buyer.
Another house, where my client’s offer was rejected, ended up at auction.
One house, where Dianne’s client walked away after home inspection early in 2009, is still for sale.
A house, where my client walked away because of aluminum wiring, sold two years later. Another house with aluminum wiring, where other clients walked away last spring, still has no buyer.
The question here is about negotiation. The power of your position in a negotiation affects the outcome. I contend that buyers can and should walk away from a deal that is lop-sided against them. The problem is that other buyers may accept those unfavorable terms. When you walk away, there is a risk that you will remember “the one that got away.”
In my experience as an agent, my clients stop mourning and start celebrating those walk-aways when two things happen. One, they buy something else. Two, they find out what the other party paid for the one they didn’t buy.
How about you? Do you mourn “the one that got away”? Are you happy you didn’t go out on a limb for a place because you did better on a different house?
