Ball Homes

Negotiating is a lot like playing poker

by John Rice

When I was a little kid, my dad had this old set of poker chips. There were red, white and blue ones built into a little round thing with a handle on top. I remember playing poker as a pre-teen with my friends. I also remember winning a lot. I didn’t do it by bluffing or anything that actually had anything to do with the game itself. What I got good at was studying my friends. It’s pretty darn easy to win when you can tell if your pals have a good hand or not. My dad always told me I was pretty good at reading people and seeing their motives. That has been a useful skill in my career as a realtor. 

I remember a sale many years ago with a great realtor. He did everything he should have done. My clue about the buyer’s motivation was the closing date.  It was the Friday before school started back after Christmas break. Sure, most real estate deals close on a Friday. What made this one stand out to me was how soon it was. Not the usual 30-45 days out. This one was just about 2.5 weeks out. So, I hit Facebook, and sure enough there was a person with the same name with school aged kids who lived in the same surrounding town that was on the check for the earnest money. I also knew that most seller’s wouldn’t want to be moving out of their home the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. We stood firm and got our price.

I had another deal like that. My listing was in the only neighborhood in its price range to have the very desirable school district that it did. We got an offer so low that we didn’t even counter. The buyer’s realtor told us the reason for the low offer was due to the perceived poor condition of the house. I figured they must really want to be in this school district. I mean, there were tons of new/newer houses within walking distance of this one, but they were in a different school district. I don’t know why somebody would pick a house they didn’t like that much when they can get a better house for the same money. It had to be school district. I went online to see what all choices this buyer had in that school district. The only other house was one with a crazy steep driveway…….so I knew we could hold firm to our price. We did and we got it, despite the other realtor’s great effort to get it for less.

From the lines of that old Kenny Rogers song, “You gotta know when to hold ’em.  Know when to fold ’em.  Know when to walk away.  Know when to run.”

What I like about a contingency contract

by John Rice

Well, I don’t really like them, but there is a good side to this type of contract if you are the seller.  Guess what it is? The buyer will typically pay you more with a contingency to sell their house first than they would without it.

I see it all the time. A buyer with a house to sell gets really nervous about not knowing where they will be living once they sell their old home. Now, unless the buyer already has a contract on the house they are selling, I always counter back with a kickout clause.  That basically means that IF the seller would like to sell the house to another buyer who does not have a contingency, they give the contingency buyer a certain amount of time to remove the contingency or back out of the deal. 

Another thing I like is that IF the contingency buyer can and does remove their contingency,  you have a back up buyer. Sometimes it helps when negotiating repairs if the buyer knows there is somebody else wanting the house if the deal falls apart!

I don’t really care for this kind of contract though when I am working with a buyer…..for all the same reasons. When I have a buyer who wants to write a contingency offer, I usually try to get them to just wait until we sell their house first. Here is why I don’t think they are a good idea for the buyer who can’t possibly remove the contingency if needed: Any decent realtor is going to counter back with a kickout clause. That means that if another buyer comes along they will lose the house. If no such buyer comes along, that means that the house would still be there when the buyer’s old house eventually sells, and they could probably strike a better deal at that point.

What does this do to my property value?

by John Rice

I get asked that question a lot.

Believe it or not, most of the things we worry about don’t really have all that much effect on the value of a house….so no need to rush out of the neighborhood when there is a big change coming.

A friend of mine was upset because the city made part of his huge backyard into a retention basin to solve flooding issues.  He was worried that it would make his house worth less.

I told him that his backyard is so big, losing this space didn’t have any impact on how he or future buyers would use it.  There was still plenty of room for a pool, swing set, firepit or any outdoor thing people want in their backyard.  I told him that about the only person who might not buy his house now would be somebody who wanted to build a huge garage in that space.

I think part of what is hard for owners to realize is that the person buying your house when you sell won’t have the “Before” picture in their head of how it used to be.  Only the current owner will know what the good old days were like.

I had a friend say that Ball Homes building on the opposite side of the fairway from Greenbrier would hurt the property values.  I told her that while the view of a wooded hillside was preferable to seeing a new neighborhood, it was still nice to have a beautiful fairway to separate them, so it would not have any impact on value.  Only the current owners who remember the wooded hillside will ever know the difference.  The next buyers will say “Wow, look how pretty the golf course is” and how nice it is to have so much space behind your house in Lexington.

Then there are threats of new development.  Andover Hills and Andover Forest residents are afraid that if the foreclosed golf course fell into the hands of developers that their property values would plummet.  The residents of Squire Oak are concerned what several houses, townhouses and 3 story apartment buildings on the property along Armstrong Mill owned by Overbrook Farms would do to them.

There is no need to consider selling if you live in those neighborhoods.  Sure, it would be nicer to have less traffic, fewer homes, not lose the green space if you are lucky enough to back up to it…..but it will not have much impact, if any,  on property values.  Plus, Lexington is only going to become more dense.  We should all get used to it.  I often see houses with terrible lots sell for practically the same amount as houses with average lots.  There are several houses that back to New Circle Road, the interstate, a shopping center, a light industrial area.  They usually sell for within 1-2% of what the houses with average lots do.

This might be the time to discuss the difference between property values and desirability.  A house that used to back to a farm and now backs to a 3 story apartment complex had a prime lot and now has a below average lot.  The value might not change much at all, especially in a sellers market.  What it does do is make the house less desirable.  That just means it might take more showings before catching a buyer in a slower market.  Corner lots or houses on the main drag through their neighborhood experience this already but nobody notices.

Want to know something funny?  YOU have the most control over your own property value.  A clean, updated house that is move in ready will always sell for top dollar regardless of the market and what is around it.