Everyone places different value on different criteria. Whether your’re choosing between new cars or picking out your favorite candy bar, no one size fits all. What makes real estate wonderful is the inherent uniqueness of each house. No two are made the same. While you could argue that there are multiple instances of any given floor plan, the location is ALWAYS different, however subtle that may be. And I can also promise that your neighbors are ALWAYS different too.
In much the same way, choosing how you sell your house is ALWAYS different too. Time of year, condition of the house, the time you have to sell, the amount of work you need to be able to sell, and finding a price are all big variables that affect the sale. Selling a house can be a daunting task to the inexperienced. Often times, homeowners feel they must rely on real estate agents to guide them through the process, but there are just as many real estate agents that don’t have quite enough experience to have all the right answers either. In real estate we tend to agree with the 80/20 rule, that is, 20% of the real estate agents do 80% of the work. In fact, I would even say it’s more of a 95/5 rule where 5% of the real estate agents do 95% of the work. If you’re one of the unfortunate house sellers that picks the wrong real estate agent, it could end up costing you a lot of time and money. There are some really great real estate agents out there and we are happy to refer you to some if that’s what’s best for you, but consider your options before you do so.
We have purchased multiple houses from real estate agents, and from real estate agents representing their clients. Some of these agents really did take the time to figure out what was best for them, and what was best for their clients too. And while that may not always be the case, we’re more than happy to give an honest opinion of some factors you should take into consideration before making your decision. There’s a phrase used in real estate to describe an offer, “highest and best.” This phrase really says a lot about how an offer to purchase a house is viewed, of course highest refers to the highest dollar amount, but what do they mean by best? In the phrase “highest and best” best typically refers to the terms of the offer. Let’s say you had multiple offers on your house, one from buyer A was for $100,000 and they could purchase next week. The other offer from buyer B was for $108,000.00 but they didn’t want to purchase for 4 months. Is it obvious to you which offer is “best”?
It shouldn’t be, it’s a very subjective opinion. Just like being the best chef in the world is a matter of opinion, so too is figuring out which offer is “best”. If, say for example, you need to sell your current house in order to purchase your next house, which you have under contract and are set to close in 30 days, the offer from buyer B is out of the question. You simply don’t have the time to wait for buyer B to follow through with the purchase, otherwise you may have no next house to move into.
Another example. Let’s take the same situation with the two buyer’s, but remove the seller having a new house to purchase. Why wouldn’t the seller take the offer from buyer B? At first glance, it’s clearly a higher number, so the only difference is an additional 3 months time to close. Here’s the problem, what if life happens? What if the buyer loses their job or gets laid off in those extra 3 months? They can’t buy the house. What if the buyer finds another house they like better? They’re not going to buy. What if the buyer spends a lot of time thinking about the house and changes their mind and decide they want something small, or bigger, or cheaper, or newer? They’re not going to buy.
The point is, a lot of life can happen in the midst of a real estate transaction, and usually that means an unsuccessful sale. And what happens when a buyer doesn’t buy? The seller is stuck with a house they don’t want. It can be an unfortunate reality sometimes that humans, buyers, make decisions based on emotions and those decisions are often not what’s best for the seller. Fortunately, you have decisions too, and you must choose what’s best for you. Consider a CASH offer and make the choice.
