In today's market, the great deals are plentiful. In fact, it's hard not to find a great deal. As I have said in many previous posts over the past few months, this is truly a buyer's market and an excellent time to jump into the real estate market. With home inventories at historically-high levels, prices down to very affordable levels, and amazingly-low interest rates, this is THE time to buy.
However, no matter how good the deals are, there are some who want an even better deal. Now, I can't fault anyone for wanting the best deal they can make (we all want those deals.... even me); we all should go for the best deal. But, where I'm constantly puzzled is by the people who will skip a GREAT deal because they want an even BETTER deal.
Here's what I mean (and I'll use a dramatic example to make my point): Let's say a buyer finds a home - maybe a foreclosure - for sale for $300,000. All the comparables indicate the home, with some light fix-up work (paint, landscaping, cleaning, etc.), could be worth $400,000. So, the buyer could buy the home for about $100k less than "market value." Now keep in mind, in this example, this home just went on the market and it's an "obviously-great deal" and it will surely sell within a few days. Does this buyer offer the low asking price of $300,000 and get the great deal? Nope... a great deal isn't good enough for this buyer; he wants an even better deal, so he offers $250,000, thinking he'll get a "steal." Well, his greed got the better of him and the house sells to someone else for the asking price of $300k. This buyer lost a great deal because he wanted a better deal.
Does what I'm saying here make sense? It's like the last time I had a garage sale. I had a computer printer for sale for $10.00. It was a $100 printer that was only about six months old. I was selling it because I bought an even better printer and had no need for the other one. I was asking ONLY $10 - a GREAT deal!!! I had a guy offer me $5.00 and I said no, I wanted $10. He didn't buy it. He passed up a great deal because he wanted a better deal. In the end, he got NO deal.
Again, don't get me wrong here... we all want to get the best deal we can. And we can certainly offer anything we want for something for sale... be in a printer or a home. All I'm trying to communicate in this article is that we need to recognize a great deal when we see it and not pass up the amazing opportunities that are presented to us because we are so greedy we want an even better deal.
Many people lose out on great opportunities because they let their greed (or their fear) get the best of them. When opportunity knocks, some people lock the door.
Just think about it...
Other posts to read:
This is so true. With so many homes available to choose from many Buyers want to see what else is out there. They are afraid that they are going to miss out on something better when in fact great opportunities are passing them by. I guess for some the grass is always greener.
SonoranHouse.com
Posted by: Susan Gruenling | Monday, March 17, 2008 at 10:46 AM