You know, I’ve been doing this for a long time.  You start to see patterns after a while.  I guess that is called wisdom?

Here are some things I have learned that are typically true in real estate:

1.  If somebody says they are going to make an offer, every hour afterwards that you don’t have it in hand reduces your chances of getting it at all.
2. If you are a seller and decline a showing, few buyers ever reschedule a time.  They say they will come see it later, but never do.
3. Usually the best offer you are going to get is the first offer.  The times it isn’t the best offer, it will be the worst.
4. If you get 10 offers on your house, 8 will be practically the same, one will be crazy low, and one will be the best.
5. If 20 buyers have seen your house and given the same feedback about the condition and list price, odds are the next 20 buyers will say the same thing.
6. If you get a full price offer the first day, that means you priced it just right.  Don’t wonder if you should have asked more.  When a house is priced too low, almost always does it get more than one offer and both will usually be above the list price.
7. If you feel like you got a good deal on a house, most likely it is because it was a house nobody else wanted.  You will have to give a good deal when it is your time to sell.
8. Crazy realtors have the craziest clients.  You can often tell a lot about a buyer by who their realtor is.
9. The more complicated the deal is, the more likely it is to fall apart.
10. The longer the time between contract acceptance and the closing date, the more likely it is to fall apart and not close at all.