It is still a buyers market but there are still homes that sell very quickly and homes that get multiple offers. It has always been that way.
Today's buyer is looking for a bargain but I have to say homes sales are still negotiated. negotiating is about give and take and back and forth. Often neither buyers or sellers are in a position to dictate the terms. Both buyers and sellers need to keep in mind that they are party on the other side of the transaction is a person . . unless it is a bank then who cares.
Buyers won't always get what they want, neither will the sellers. Buyers need to understand that it is possible to tick the sellers off and sometimes sellers do not have an unlimited amount of money and as amazing as it may seem sometimes sellers have more than one interested buyer.
Negotiating is about back and forth, give and take. Negotiations can break sown even in a buyers market if the buyer makes too many demands. I am seeing some interesting negotiating strategies where buyers simply ask for more and more until the sellers say forget it, I'll sell my house to someone else.Maybe your agent is telling you to ask for anything you want . . . that isn't negotiating.
Twitter
Flickr
LinkedIn
Facebook
RSS
Posterous
Email
FourSquare
Yelp
SlideShare
Good topic. When negotiating, you have to come from a place of rational reason to ask for something. Many times, buyers and sellers negotiate on principal and lose sight of whats real.
Example: Buyer has an inspection, and finds that there was some minor water damage done (and repaired) and that the seller didn’t appropriately disclose it. The buyer then gets angry and feels as though the seller is dishonest and that leads to the buyer feeling like they are entitled to more of a discount.
In that scenario and others like it, there is no basis for the discount. There certainly is basis for the buyer to be weary about other issues that may be wrong that they weren’t told about, but that’s what an inspection is for, right?
I love to negotiate, but not when there is no reason to ask for less (or for more) if there is no justifiable reason to do so. Otherwise, you’re just pulling stuff out of the air.
Teresa, My ears are ringing from the painful truth of your post. Back when the market first turned, in late 2006, I was a home inspector. Seems like overnight I went from getting called back to re-inspect one or two minor work orders, to re-inspecting the WHOLE freeking report. The reasonable buyer has become an increasingly treasured find in our market in the Pacific NW. And I mean merely “reasonable.” A buyer with an “Attitude of Gratitude” is rarer still.
One thing I educate my sellers on, because of this new buyer mentality, is that they should always leave room in their negotiations to “let the buyer win.” Buyers need to feel like they came out on top these days, so if a seller will settle for “X”, counter-offer at “X+Y” and let the buyer have the final word, “No, we’ll only give you “X”!!!” It’s usually spot on.
Good point.
Very true. there are “principles” on both sides and it never ceases to amaze me what can become a major issue.