You are hearing several people (full disclosure: myself included) who are talking about how great the market is for sellers right now. I know for a fact that this has pushed several people into seeing what happens if they try to sell their house by themselves. I fear for these people.
The number one reason is that they do not know what they do not know. And that could cost them so much time and money. They do not know what the five types of buyers are and how to deal with each one. They do not know what the three types of real estate markets are. They do not know what is a normal ask in a purchase agreement, and what is not normal. They do not know the retail pricing strategy versus the auction strategy. They do not have a marketing strategy. They do not have a prospecting strategy. They have little to no experience negotiating offers. They do not know what a normal ask is in the inspection period. They don’t even know what the normal inspection period is. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
For example, I will take a buyer and a seller that I dealt with last week that were my clients, and one of each that were unrepresented.
I had a seller that wanted to price at a specific point and I told them to take advantage of the market and price lower than they wanted to. They let me, and let me negotiate for them. The house got into a bidding war, and went for more money than it was listed, and more money than they had wanted to price at.
I also had an unrepresented seller with a house that one of my buyers wanted. In negotiating with them, they told me that they were willing to take less than asking price and then proceeded to tell me what would make them take less and why. I ended up getting my buyers the house at a significant discount.
On the buyer side, I have buyers who have been looking for a long time to find the perfect home for them. I have kept them calm and logical in what they are doing so that they get what they really want. Last week, we finally found a house that they really wanted. They were ready to give anything to get it, and I talked them into a stronger negotiating position. They put the house under contract for less than asking price with every single concession we asked for.
I also had unrepresented buyers reach out to me (they were represented but their realtor was letting them go look at houses and negotiate on their own) that really wanted a property that I had for sale. They ended up losing the property because a represented buyer’s agent made an offer with much stronger contingencies that protected my clients better, even though they both offered about the same dollar figure.
All of this happened within the last seven days. My clients came out way ahead of where they would have been if they had done what they felt they should have done instead of listening to me and my advice. All of these examples are only around one thing: negotiation. My clients are also getting the benefits of my knowledge of everything else that goes into a real estate transaction. (I won’t list them again.)
If you want to sell for more money in less time, or buy better deals, or know anyone else who does: call me. You can reach me at 515.724.3163 or RyanLynch@KW.com
~Ryan Lynch
