real estate listings

Why one house sells fast and another doesn’t

by John Rice

I sold two houses yesterday.  Been a while since that happened.  Always fun.

One was a new listing of mine and the other was a house for one of my buyers.

Two totally different situations.

I put my listing on at a competitive price.  Not so high that it would scare off buyers, but just a bit over the recent sales with the hope that somebody would be afraid of losing the house and pay full price.

Four showings the first day and three offers.  The first offer was a little under the list price.  The next offer was the list price.  The next one wasn’t the list price.  The people who made the first one raised their offer and got it….but they came close to losing it.

The first people should have thrown out their highest and best offer right off the bat.  It would have saved them from potentially losing it.  For me personally, it would have meant eating a warm dinner.  It was taco night and I love tacos.

When a new listing is priced right in this market, you should always make your best offer.  You want to send an offer that the seller just wants to sign.  Going back and forth takes time, and time is what other buyers need to prepare their own offer.

The other house I sold had been on the market for quite some time.  Nothing was wrong with it at all.  The only problem was the price.  The seller started nearly $30k over what the sale price will be.  They reduced it slowly all winter.  My buyers almost didn’t look at it just because of the price. We made an offer.  It was countered.  We countered.  They countered again.  We went out and looked at more houses.  They came back at a lower price and it all worked out.

I really think that if this house had been listed at a realistic price, it would have sold quickly and probably for more money.

Two houses in Lexington.  Two totally different outcomes.  Price makes all the difference, even in a hot market.

The happiest 2 days of homeownership

by John Rice

Two of the best days of owning a house are these:

1.  The day I call you to tell you that the seller has accepted your offer.

2.  The day I call you to tell you that we just got a really good offer.

When you hire me to be your realtor, I am thinking about both days.  You may not be, and that is okay.  That is what I am here to do for you.

We are currently in a market where everything sells.  You can have two identical houses across the street from each other.  Both exactly the same.  One backs to green space.  The other backs to the loading dock of a strip mall.  Both sell fast and for the same price.  Why?  Because there are three buyers for those two properties.  It was like this too back in the early 2000s.

But what do you think will happen when the market slows down.  Maybe there is only one buyer and both of those identical houses are for sale again?

The seller backing to the green space sells their house for top dollar in record time because even in a bad market, the best houses still sell.

The seller backing to the loading dock watches the SOLD sign go up across the street.  Then they watch the new neighbors move in.  Their house is still on the market, even after reducing the price several times.  They really need to sell because one of them starts their new out of state job next month and they can’t afford two mortgages.   Then they wake up listening to an idling diesel truck at that loading dock.  They remember how lucky they felt to get their house.  How they beat out that other buyer in multiple offers by bidding as much as the green space house cost.

It is only now they realize that they made a bad decision all those years ago.  That is how real estate works.  You never know whether you made a mistake or not until you go to sell your house.

When you look at houses with me, I will always point out the negatives so you know what you are getting into.  I’ve been doing this for a long time.  I know what things buyers like and don’t like.  I don’t want anything to be a surprise to you when you go to sell your home.  What you do with that info is totally up to you, but I will always let you know because one day, you will be the seller and not the buyer.

 

The first house you buy is the most important one ever

by John Rice

First time buyers.  I’ve been working with a few of them lately.

Most first time buyers are thinking about finding a place they like.

I like to show them that their first house is so much more than that.

Every house you are ever going to own is impacted by that first one.

It is really the most important house you are ever going to purchase.

Why?

Because eventually you will sell that first house.  How well of an investment it turned out to be will impact how much money you have to put down on your next house.  It just keeps going until you are middle aged and in your forever home.  You know, the one you sell to help fund your retirement when you downsize to a cheaper home.

My dad called this compounding.  He was mainly referring to interest when he was teaching me this stuff in middle school, but it applies to real estate too.

It really reminds me more of bowling though.  To get a strike, you don’t knock down every pin with the ball.  You just hit one of them right and the pins begin to knock down the remaining pins.

What I want in 2018

by John Rice

I am about 8 weeks away from celebrating my 13th year in real estate.

When I got into this, a lot of agents thought I was crazy and that I would never make it in this industry.  Why?  I didn’t want to do all the tasks that we were told we had to do to attract business.  I didn’t want to mail out basketball schedules, calendars, packets of seed with a card that said “Help me grow my business.”  I wanted to be out and about doing things that kept me on top of the market.  Things that would benefit my clients.  I got into real estate because I love the market and houses, not because I loved mailing people stuff.

Other agents also thought I was crazy because I wore shorts and sandals all the time.  Ok, they may have been right about that one.

I was told that if I didn’t do all those things, people wouldn’t remember me.  I said that if somebody used me as their agent and forgot about me, I didn’t deserve to be remembered.

I was excited to view every house I could because the more houses I was in, the better I knew the market and neighborhoods.

As the market went sour, I gained momentum.  The agents who use to laugh at me began asking me what I was doing to get so much work.

It grew and grew until it peaked in 2014.  I was in the top 1.5% of all the agents in my area.  2015, 2016 and 2017 were all good years.  I did less work, but I enjoyed it much more and  had more time to focus on each client.

I’ve pretty much achieved all the goals I made 13 years ago.  It’s been a wild and fun ride.  Sort of like surfing and riding a bucking bronco at the same time.  What a rush.

So what do I want out of 2018?  I mean me personally…..sure my goal has always been to be the best realtor I can for my clients and always will be.  The fact that almost all my work is repeat clients and referrals from past clients shows that is happening.  But what do I want to say to myself on January 1st in 2019?

I want to look back and say “Man, that was fun.”

That is it.  No setting goals for how many houses I want to sell.  No setting goals for how much money I want to make.  No comparing myself to other agents.  I’m past all that.  I just want to be the best version of me I can so I can be the best realtor I can be…..and I want to enjoy every single day.

 

Why a price reduction is usually better

by John Rice

I practically wrote this post in my head last night.  I woke up just before 3 and never really went back to sleep.  Then riiiight when I was about to fall asleep, the dog barked at 5:AM and wanted to go out.

As I was lying there, hoping to fall asleep, I got to thinking about those houses that get the same negative feedback from showings and how sellers sometimes respond.

Let’s say a house is getting showings but no offers.  The feedback you get is something such as the buyer didn’t like the kitchen.  The kitchen is plain.

I often get asked by my sellers if they should do something like spend money getting granite.  I probably disappoint them because I usually say it isn’t a good idea.  It is better to reduce the price.

To a seller, this one thing is what appears to be holding back the sale so it only makes sense to remove the negative that has been a common thread in the feedback.

Having done this for a while, I know how it works.

See, the buyer walks in the house hoping it is THE one.  They look around until there is something they cannot live with.  Once they have made the decision that they will not be making an offer, they quit looking at the house.  Sure, they may walk around the rest of the house but they don’t really think about it any more because they know it isn’t the one.  They’ve checked out.

Then you get the feedback that they didn’t like that certain feature.

You spend a lot of time and money fixing that feature.  You turn that frown upside down.  You get a new batch of showings expecting it to sell because well, you’ve resolved the only problem previous buyers had with the house…..then you get feedback and there is a NEW problem.

See, what happened is that the buyers got past whatever problem you fixed.  You did a good job.  They kept looking at the house with serious buyer eyes.  They made it further into the showing this time before the next big negative became the issue.

IF that happens, then you’ve really wasted the money you spent because now your house isn’t selling for some other reason.  That is why I think it is safer to reduce the price verses spending a lot of money.

There has only been one time in the past 12 years where I was wrong on this.  I gave my client this same advice that you have read.  She insisted on getting granite.  LOL, the very next buyer bought the house……So if you’re reading this Tammy M, I hope I have made your day!