What's better, a bird in the hand or two in the bush?
Or, how many outdated and mystifying cultural references can anyone cram into one short article?
It occurs to me that your age and cultural references may differ from mine. So let me explain: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is one of those folksy, old-fashioned expressions I grew up with, but for those of you who missed that experience and may be the better for it, I'll offer a quick translation:
How lucky do you feel today, punk?
Okay, maybe Dirty Harry isn't one of your cultural references either, so I'll translate one more time:
When evaluating the rewards a situation may offer, one should always opt for the sure thing rather than hold out for a potentially better but uncertain outcome.
That's not always true, of course, or Silicon Valley probably wouldn't exist, but it's true enough, often enough, to always keep tucked away in the back of your mind.
Now that we've cleared that up, here's another question: what would you get from the following?
My sellers planned to hear offers after the open houses this week-end, but as soon as the home hit the market Thursday morning my phone was ringing off the hook, by Friday we had two offers in hand, we countered both today, which by my calendar is Saturday, and I think we'll be in contract tonight. So if you have an offer, get it to me immediately, if not sooner.
Now, if all you took away from that was "the sellers will definitely wait until after the open houses to hear offers" then congratulations! You should be selling real estate! And you probably are!
What I hope you got was "Yeah, I know the textbook says we wait until after the open houses, but this is 2009, not 2005, and in 2009 you don't tell a motivated buyer to go soak his head while you gleefully count the offers you think you might be getting. And it's okay if I improvise, as long as I tell everyone I'm improvising".
And if you can't keep up with the changes, go out and woodshed. Even Charlie Parker had to woodshed. Clapton too. Wow! Three outdated cultural references in three consecutive sentences!
And while I'm on a roll, have you ever noticed, fellow agents, that it's the agents who never have listings or buyers who are always the quickest to point out any alleged lapses in agent professionalism? I wonder why that is?
So how was your week, John?
Productive, thanks. Almost 100 people through two open houses, good interest in the home, seven disclosure packages out, two very good offers in, and after a little fine-tuning we were in contract in three days in a neighborhood where listings hang around long enough to get a gold watch outdated cultural reference alert! and a retirement party. And we have solid buyers competing for back-up position. Sure, it was too bad I couldn't change the listing from "active" to "pending" over the week-end, so I had some explaining to do at the Sunday open house, but I figured that was better than locking the door and hanging a sign that said, "You drove all this way for nothing while I'm out probably having a good time". And almost everyone appreciated how upfront I was. Almost everyone, but for those of you who stamped out of the house in a fit of pique, well, it's probably okay we didn't do business.
Now, I'm the first to insist that when you don't do things by the book, you had darn well better a) have a good reason, b) know what you're doing, and c) be ready to deal with any unpleasant consequences, not just to yourself, but to your clients. That's something I learned the hard way back when I managed rentals, but then again, property management is the kind of bureaucratic shuffle that favors a by-the-book approach. You could manage property strictly by the book for forty years and never go seriously wrong.
Real estate sales, on the other hand, is all about quick observation and quick reaction, or at least I'd like to think so. Because not only are no two markets alike, no two transactions are alike. Being able to think on our feet is the big reason we agents get to feel superior to the wage slaves, right?
So it seems to me that the listing agent has two options. The first is to hold to the offer date like a drowning man to a stick, fending off any buyers who have the unmitigated gall (and motivation) to want to make an offer right away. (No, make that three options, because the first is to price the home like September 2008 never happened. Yes, that'll keep those pesky buyers away.)
But if the motivated buyers you just spurned don't show up to your offer date, then welcome to 2009. Yes, maybe they will. But, then again, maybe they won't. Maybe you've just given them more time to second-guess themselves about how much they want the house, or how much they're willing to pay for it. Or given them more time to get side-tracked by another house, or maybe by a major holiday. Or given them more time to remember that this is a buyer's market, not a seller's market, so what's up with offer dates? Or given them more time to decide they don't want any part of multiple offers, no, not in a market as uncertain as this. Or given them more time to decide that they'll buy next year, not this year.
Most of these distractions and more lurked to waylay buyers in 2005, of course, but not nearly as much as today. In 2005, real estate had momentum. In 2009, real estate has question-marks.
Keeping this in mind, the alert listing agent might elect a third approach:
And to those buyers and sellers complaining that their agents don't listen, suddenly I feel your pain.