Buyers are Liars - Or Not

An adage that always makes me cringe when I hear it from real estate agents is "Buyers are Liars".  My first reacion is that those buyers are my clients and their business is what helps me make a living.  So I definitely don't start out thinking negative things about them.

Second, I don't think that buyers intend to be liars.  I think they just don't always know what they really want until they actually start shopping for a home. 

I recently worked with an adorable couple who found me on the Internet.  They were newlyweds - they had only been married for two months - and they were just glowing.  (Remember that feeling? Ahhhh, yes!)  So freshly married and all smiles, they were ready to buy their first home.

They started out looking in the $300,000 price range.  They knew the neighborhood they wanted to be in which really helped. When we visited the first home, the wife said it was just too small, she wanted a separate dining room, and larger guest rooms, and it wouldn't do.  Uh oh.  Big wants, little price tag. 

We looked at many homes, several of which I thought would have been a good match, but they had very good reasons for them not being what they had in mind.  They were finally able to find a wonderful home that had, not a separate dining room but a very large open dining room that will accomodate a big table and lots of guests.  It had good sized 2nd and 3rd bedrooms.  It had a big kitchen, hardwood floors, a big deck, a view of trees, was in excellent condition, and in the zip code where they wanted to be.  The price?  (Drum roll . . . )  $405,000.

Now I don't for a second think of them as being liars.  They had an ideal price point, and an ideal home. They just had to find where those two ideals would meet.  This month they will be closing on a home that they can enjoy living in for many years to come.  And that is a better "deal" than out-growing a home in 5 years and having to move. 

A & Y, I wish you many years of happiness in your new home.  And that's the truth.

If I Can, I Will

Three of my last four transactions have been competitive offer situations: more than one buyer making offers on the same property.

For two of these transactions I was representing the buyer.  Both times I called the listing agent to say we wanted to make an offer and they said they were in mid-negotiation with an existing offer.  I was able to get a very good offer written with my buyer, get it submitted, do some quick last-minute negotiation, get that accepted and ratified.  This required that my buyers clearly understood the situation and were aggressive in their offers.  It also required 10pm meetings to write and sign offers, and driving to their homes at night to get final initials. 

For another transaction I was the listing agent representing the seller.  We had received an offer that was at list but had other issues: tiny earnest money, VA loan which is riskier when it comes to appraisals.  The other offer was also at list but huge earnest money and conventional loan.  Just for the record, in a situation like this, the commission that Long & Foster and I would have earned is exactly the same amount.  So my efforts were 100% based upon looking out for the best interest of my client. 

Reflecting on these heart-pounding transactions, I honestly feel badly for the other parties who lost.  At the same time, I was able to make my clients ecstatic by helping them get the homes they want, or the sale they want.  

There are many reasons why I can't win for my clients.  My clients don't have quite enough total resources (cash on hand plus approved loan amount).  They need more seller subsidy.  They aren't using a conventional loan, or sometimes we're competing with cash offers.  But if there is a chance at success, I won't give up.  I'll convince the other agent to keep working with me.  I'll keep gentle pressure on my clients to move forward quickly if they really want the deal. 

If you have a house to sell I'll do everything I can to get it exposed to the broadest market and bring in the best price.  If you want to buy a home, and have the resources to do that, I'll do all that I can to help you win! 

This Little Light

Before daylight savings time started, I was showing a home after dark.  It was a very nice split foyer house in Alexandria's Mount Vernon area.  My clients were just starting to shop for a home and I knew they weren't ready to make an offer.  They needed to get into a few homes and start to get their bearings on what their options would be.  Therefore I wasn't 100% focused on the condition of the house and was kind of enjoying looking at all of the stuff in it while my clients were checking out the house.  

The house was rather dimly lit inside.  We first went downstairs to the family room where a TV was on, the sound turned down low.  The channel was QVC and they were selling realistic-looking battery-powered candles.  We then went upstairs and I noticed there were candles lit everywhere.  I then realized that they were the same battery-powered candles that were at that moment being sold on QVC.  Walking from room to room there were wall-mounted flat screen TVs in every single room, all turned to QVC, all showing the battery-powered candles, and there were those same candles lit in every room.  It was surreal!

We also counted about 25 cuckoo clocks, all set to go off in sequence so you could hear each one's cuckoo separately.

This homeowner seemed to know what made her happy and she was reveling in it.  No sale, but an interesting showing!