The Toughest Offer to Accept
Contrary to what you may think, the toughest offer to accept is not the offer below your desired price. The hardest offer to accept (albeit begrudgingly) is the offer that is less than what you have previously rejected.
In the past 5 years, selling has been relatively easy. Pick a number and wait for buyers to meet and exceed it.
Now that the market has moved into a more balanced phase, it is frighteningly easy to undersell.
Scenario: Vendors Bob and Sue receive a solid, but not spectacular, offer from a buyer early in their campaign. The offer would be acceptable at the end of the campaign but they are ‘not in a rush’ and decide they would like to see what other offers come along.
In the meantime, that same buyer has an offer on another property accepted. Bob and Sue’s agent was unable to find any buyers at, or above, the price, which had been previously offered. Consequently, Bob and Sue need to go back to the open market.
Over the next 2 months, Bob and Sue’s price expectations come down as their motivation to sell increases.
The agent is doing the best they can, Bob and Sue can see that. Unfortunately, the market doesn’t seem to be as strong as it was earlier in the year.
The next offer that comes in is respectable albeit lower than the very first offer that Bob and Sue were presented with. In their desire to ‘move on’ they accept the offer and put the shortfall down to experience.
At present, versions of the above scenario are being played out across the marketplace; as buyers, sellers and agent’s transition from a booming market to normal trading conditions.
To ensure that you accept the right offer, it is crucial that you look at other properties on the market as well as recent sales. When you are selling, recent sales are history. Stock on market is your competition for a buyer. All scenarios should be explored with your selling agent prior to responding to an offer.
This is a great market from a historical perspective but it has cooled since the beginning of the year.
Remaining calm and pragmatic will lead you to the right decision when selling.
