When I started playing chess as a kid, I would hope that my opponent wouldn’t always see the best move to make. I soon realized that the best strategy is to assume that my opponent will always make the best move. This is a good strategy to following with home selling. The opponent analogy for buyers and sellers may be a bit extreme, but the reality is that sellers are trying to sell for the highest price and buyers are trying to buy for the lowest price.
The other day I saw a home for sale by owner that I thought some clients of mine might be interested in. I did some checking and learned that the seller bought the 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in May of last year for $395K. He then put it back on the market 2 months later for $489K with no significant improvements! He also got his agent to list it as a 4 bedroom house even though the 4th “bedroom” is in the basement and thus can’t be counted as a bedroom in the MLS. 4 months later it was advertised as “HUGE PRICE DROP!” with a new price of $455K. In December he cancelled the listing.
I called the seller and asked him the price – $465K, $10K higher than the price 3 months ago and $70K higher than what it sold for less than a year ago without any significant improvements! You would think now that’s he’s trying to sell the house for sale by owner he would have kept the price the same or lowered it since he now only has a buyer broker commission to pay.
This seller is obviously waiting for a naive buyer to come along who won’t do the research that I did. Having failed with this strategy for 9 months now, he might want to try a new one.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fran Bailey shows, previews and tracks downtown Chicago homes for sale giving her the insights needed to help her clients negotiate the best price and terms. Fran has been quoted in numerous Chicago and national publications. To schedule showings of listings regardless of broker or to contact Fran email her at fran.bailey@bairdwarner.com or call 773.793.4516. Learn More
Fran Bailey, Realtor
