12 May 2010
The House That Wouldn’t Sell (Part 3).
Posted by Ryan Coffey under: Selling .
Here is part three of my
series which features a fictional account of a couple who have trouble
selling their home. It is based on an amalgamation of some of the most
common errors made by people hoping to sell their home which ultimately
are detrimental to their efforts. Please read from the beginning of part one in order
to understand the context of the following passage.
The For Sale By
Owner Stage
Roger and Shirley had some discussions amongst
themselves and with their neighbours who once bought and sold a
house. Roger also spoke to his uncle who once bought a house. Shirley
decided to speak to her co-worker who watched the news a lot and pays
particular attention to the real estate news. She claimed to have once
sold a house herself in about two weeks without the help of a Realtor
and thus [apparently] saving lots of money.
After all this chatting with people who
they figured would be good sources of info, they reached a decision.
They would sell it as a “for sale by owner”. After all,
there are so many websites out there where they only charge you a few
hundred dollars to put your listing on it and they tell you [with dubious accuracy] how to
make a contract and how to price your home right. Unfortunately for
the Pilkingtons as well as Shirley’s co-worker, none of them knew
that the person who bought her previous home was someone who made a
living by scanning the ‘for sale by owners’ for bargains and knew
right away that the home they eventually bought was greatly underpriced as soon as they saw
it.
It was decided that the sale price
would be $325,000. They figured that after all, the neighbour’s house
sold for $309,000 last year and prices have gone up a bit plus their
home has so many details that are nicer than the neighbours. They had
discussed among themselves that they would certainly be willing to
look at lower offers and negotiate, they just figured that a higher
starting price point would command a higher starting point for
negotiations. They were so excited at the prospect of saving this
money on commission. This way they could put more money into their
next home! Roger and Shirley were enjoying looking at all the real
estate listings to give them an idea of what the next home would be
like. Would it have an ocean view? A big yard? A jacuzzi jet soaker
tub in the ensuite? Granite counter tops?
The for sale by owner sign went up as did the listing on the for sale by owner website. On weekends, so did the open house sign.
On the website you could
see how many people were looking at their house online. Every day the
number went up so they were sure that someone would call any day. And
they eventually did. Everytime someone called about the house or came to see it
they were so excited they couldn’t sit still. Shirley would often focus on thinking positive thoughts about what was coming and Roger would spend lots of time in the yard putting new flowers or some such thing in to make the home more attractive. Before the buyers
came they did everything they possibly could to make the home
appealing. They baked pies before the Buyers showed up to make it
smell nice and they kept the home super tidy. They had all the lights
on and they greeted the buyers at the door and gave them a full tour
emphasizing the aspects which they were most proud of.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned
into months. Then one day, someone who had come and looked at the place said
“I want to make an offer.” Roger and Shirley’s hearts both
jumped. They talked it over with the Buyer over the phone and after a
couple of incidents of “I’ll think about it.” they came to
a price which both parties could agree to. $315,000. It was less than
they had hoped for but it would have to do. It was getting late in
the evening so it was agreed that the buyers would come over the next
morning at eleven to sign the contract that they had spent so much
time and effort preparing.
After a poor night’s sleep for all
involved due to excitement, the next morning came and went. By noon,
Roger had tried calling the Buyer four or five times and only got
voicemail. He was starting to think this was an example of the
“buyer’s remorse ” he had always heard about. After a
couple of days of no contact and thus no contract, it was obvious
that this was the case.
Roger and Shirley were a bit in the dumps for a couple of days and generally tried to avoid pushing the blame on the other or getting wrapped up in thought about what they wish they had done differently when handling that person. Regardless, they pressed forward as they felt that there must be others out there who are interested as well. After all, it only takes one buyer to make it all happen.
The listing stayed up as a ‘for sale by
owner’ for a few more weeks before another offer came in from another
Buyer. This time they had learned from their previous mishap and got
it signed right away. “Whew!” Shirley said looking at the
signed contract in her hands “I guess we’re over the hump now!”
The buyer’s best friend who is a construction guy came and did an
“inspection” of the property with the buyer, the signed documents
were taken to a lawyer and to a bank. Everything seemed to be moving
smoothly until one day a sheepish and short phone call came from the
Buyer saying that they couldn’t qualify for the mortgage. They were
obviously really upset because they felt that their new job made the
payments easy to make but the “stupid bank” didn’t agree.
