The headlines and newscasts keep repeating doom and gloom for the real estate market from sea to shining sea. Obviously they missed the breaking news that all real estate is local and not every seller is ready and willing to take a rock bottom price for their home.
This week, I received an offer on a great home for sale in Harvey. I have a motivated seller who has looked closely at the market and what homes are selling for in the neighborhood. He then made a deliberate choice to price his home lower than any of the others in order to make it appeal to the largest number of buyers. And it’s working. I’ve had more showings on this home than on almost any other house I have listed, and I’m sure that it will be sold soon since it’s priced right, clean as a whistle and move in ready.
So I really felt sorry for the young couple who came with their agent and fell head over heels in love, only to find out that their very low offer was flat out rejected after we determined it was the most they could afford to pay. It was a waste of time all the way around for everyone involved and it could have easily been avoided.
When working with home buyers, one of the first things we do is arrange a meeting with a local lender who can pre-qualify them. It’s not a hard process…you give them your financial information in exchange for a loan approval and a budget for what you can afford to pay for a house.
Things we do to help you find a home
- Find out what type of financing you’ll be using (conventional mortgage, FHA or VA financing)
- Determine if you have enough funds for the closing or if you need a little help in that area
- Ask a lot of questions about your wants and needs
- Use all of our resources to provide you with a list of homes that meet as many of your wants and needs as possible while staying within your budget
- Use our market expertise to bring to your attention those homes that may be slightly out of your price range, but that we know are priced too high and probably have room for negotiation
Things we DON’T do to help you find a home
- Bring you to a neighborhood that is way out of your price range
- Allow you to get excited about living in a home that you can’t afford
- Write an offer that we know has a snowball’s chance in hell of being accepted
- Set you up for rejection and disappointment
It is your agent’s responsibility to represent your best interests, not to be the cook throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. Let’s sit down, determine your wants, needs and budget and keep you from getting this response on your next offer…
For professional real estate services across the West Bank of New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to help you buy or sell your next home.
Hi Lisa - I have been on both ends of this. Listing side where my seller have received offers from buyers that in no way can afford the home. And on the buy side, where you do have the buyers pre-qualified and insist on seeing homes well above their price range. You can talk to you are blue in the face and show them the home list price to sell ratios, and still it doesn't matter, they listen to the media, their friends and family who are telling them sellers are giving their homes away. Usually it takes them losing a home they love for them to start listening to their Realtor, who lives and breathes the market.
I have made the statement many times that real estate is local and just because you hear how bad it is nationwide, doesn't mean it's bad here. It's a hard lesson for some to learn, but it's true.
Lisa,
It is so true, the first step in the homebuying process should be a pre-approval. Why should a buyer be setup for failure and why should a real estate seller have to deal with unrealistic offers from people who just can't afford to buy their home?
Thanks for the comments ya'll...is it obvious that I'm a little frustrated? This was a huge waste of time for everyone involved, especially the buyer (who is now disappointed) and the seller (who was insulted).
Lisa I learned the hard way myself. My first year I was wasting more time than I had. Took me a while to get the ropes.
John, if only I could say this was the case of a rookie agent. Nope. It was a BROKER. Yikes!
Lisa - I always, always have the lending conversation with each buyer I meet with for the first time. I explain the importance of meeting with a lender to officially determine their price range. That even though they don't initially feel like seeing any property is a waste of their time, I try to explain to them that I'm truly doing them a disservice by showing them homes they may not be able to afford. It throws off their sense of reality and in the end we won't be able to write an offer on it, especially if the home is priced fairly in our market. Plus, if they do end up falling in love with a house - if we have our ducks in a row, and a pre-approval letter to back our offer up, then yes,we can proceed to writing that offer up right then and there if they choose.
Jessica, hooray for you - you've got it down pat. If only everyone else... :)