Tulsa Home Sellers and Realtors need to establish expectations up front
A productive Realtor is in the middle of multiple transactions at any given time – and BECAUSE that’s what we do for a living, we forget how emotional buying and selling a home can be.
I did sell my personal home a few years ago and I still remember how furious I was at my first offer.
Seriously, I couldn’t sleep. I was angry at the Realtor who brought the offer and couldn’t understand why his Buyer didn’t think my home was worth my asking price!
I work from home, but dropped by my office the next day for some reason. My colleague asked what I was muttering about and I flew into a tirade about my “low ball offer.” Sue Ann grabbed my arm and said, “You have a cash offer $15,000 below list price AND YOU ARE COMPLAINING? You would advise your client to be calm and counter the offer, so do your job!”
What a wake-up call that was for me – and good, solid advice. I went home and thought hard about my counter and what I wanted to convey to the Buyer. Long story short, we settled $2,500 below my list price, and we all lived happily ever after.
Yesterday I presented an ordinary offer to my Sellers – $5,000 below their list price and $6,000 in closing costs. I made a recommendation as to what to counter, but they wanted to “sleep on it.”
Today, the Buyer’s Realtor is justifiably hounding me for a response and my Sellers didn’t understand the rush. I finally got the wife on the phone and they not only decided to reject the offer – they decided to take their home off the market. The wife told me that neither of them could sleep and that she had horrible diarrhea all night. I could tell she felt relieved after she explained their thought process and decision – she was worried about upsetting ME.
As a Realtor who often evaluates my performance, I asked “where did I not communicate well? Did the Sellers ever tell me they would only accept a full-price offer?” Did I ASK them?
In this situation, I believe the Sellers’ reasons for wanting to move have changed during the three months their home has been on the market. They aren’t finding the right home to purchase. The stars are not in alignment. I didn’t establish their expectations up front.
Hopefully I’ve learned something from this experience. I have over $1000 marketing expense invested in this listing that I can’t recover, but allowing my Sellers to gracefully back out will somehow work out in the long run.
The NEXT listing appointment I go on, I’m going to ask the Sellers what their expectations are and what will be the course of action if those expectations are not met.
Until poor business decisions are fully tax-deductible, I can’t afford to continue to operate WITHOUT this discussion, and I don’t want another Seller to experience diarrhea.
