Bidding Wars Don’t End Well
My wife watches all the “home buying” shows on what she calls; Hey Girl TV. She finally made me sit down with her and watch one. Great, just what I wanted to see.
This episode was in a large western state (Hint). These were 1st time buyers. The agent they retained seemed knowledgeable until… Buyers: We really liked the floor plan and the family room is what we have been looking for. Wife: I LOVE THIS HOUSE!Agent: Well, we should make an offer. I talked to the Selling agent before we came over. They had an offer come in this morning. We need to act quick……………..Needless to say I had to leave the room at that point. I was pissed.
Fantastic, now the agent has the 1st time buyers, who have an Emotional Attachment to the property in a Bidding War. Way to go agent!! Bidding Wars never end well. Especially for 1st time home buyers. You will wind up over paying for the property 10 times out of 10.
I don’t expect first time buyers to be ace real estate negotiators. Most are usually shell shocked. I know I was.
The buyer is never told by the agent that they give up most, if not all their negotiation juice in a Bidding War. The Seller is in the drivers seat. The agent doesn’t tell them; let’s walk on this one and keep looking for a bargain that they can’t pass up. The agent doesn’t tell them they can low ball the crap out of the property just to see what happens. You never know. You can always go back and see if circumstances have changed. The agent never tells them; a bargain is when the Seller is pleading with them to buy the property.
As an agent, I don’t think I’ve had a good week unless at least one Seller or Seller’s agent has cussed me out for a low ball offer. My point is, this is my profession. If I can’t get my clients the best Bang for the Buck, I failed period, no excuses.
Throwing clients into a bidding war is failure, no excuses.
Comments (2)
Kathy, lately, I've had offers that are all over the price scale.I don't know what some of these folks are taught by their co.'s. I usually get the most grief from the franchise agents. I guess they are believing their own BS. I'm always glad to get an offer on one of my properties and always counter, whether it's low or not.The offer starts the ball rolling.
Mike Morrison, over 12 years ago
Interesting take on a great subject Mike. 1st time home buyers are an interesting breed. But....from a seller's standpoint, they are hiring me to get them the best possible price, in the shortest amount of time. So when I see competing offers, they're usually pretty similar in terms. I wouldn't cuss you out though....
Kathy V., over 12 years ago