Florida Homes and Condos for Sale

I Can Decline Your Listing!

I met with a Franklin TN home seller on Friday. Her home had recently expired and she called me to list her property. I am very thorough when preparing my Competitive Market Analysis. Not only do I run the comparable active listings but I also check the recently closed sales and even expired listings. I want to know what has sold and what has not.

Then I preview approximately five active listings in the neighborhood. If possible, I inspect homes with the same floor plan. If one isn't on the market, then I preview homes of a similar size and amenities in the neighborhood.

While I know this neighborhood very well, I wanted to be able to tell the seller I had recently been in the homes that would be competing with her home.

Since this is a large neighborhood with the same model currently for sale, I was able to very accurately price this home. I even contacted the on-site agent selling new construction in this neighborhood. The builder had discontinued building this model and I just wanted to confirm their reasons for doing so.

As I suspected, the floor plan wasn't very desirable. It had 3,200 square feet with a nice open floor plan but it only had three bedrooms. It seems that everyone wants four bedrooms now--no surprise there.

Equipped with my CMA in hand, I met with the seller to discuss the sale of her home. Having already spent considerable time on the phone with the seller, I sat down to discuss the results of my analysis. It was easy to see why her home hadn't sold. It had been previously priced about $50,000 higher than it should have been.

As I discussed my findings, it was clear that the seller was not prepared to price her home to sell. She tried to tell me that I was going about this all wrong. You see, her previous agent told her to take the price she paid, add the REALTOR's commission and then her desired profit to get the listing price. I informed her that her previous agent was incorrect and that was not the way to price a home.

She tried to go on and on about all the features her home had that others did not have to justify her asking price. Since I had just been in the other homes the day before, I knew her home had no additional features to justify her price. And because the floor plan was a less desirable plan, the best thing to do was price it less than her current competition.

After showing her all the recent comparable homes and even showing her photos of these homes with my iPad, it was clear she was not going to price the home right. I apologized for taking up her time and said there really wasn't anything further to discuss. 

She was shocked. She had never heard of an agent turning down a listing. That's crazy. Who does that kind of thing? I do.

You see, Mrs. Seller, I spend a lot of time and money to market your home. If you're not going to price it right, then it is a total waste of my time and my marketing dollars to try and sell it. All the marketing in the world will not sell a home that is not priced right. I'm not in the habit of taking listings that won't sell.

If you agree to price the home to reflect the current market value, then we can do business. Otherwise, there is nothing in the Code of Ethics that dictates that I must take your listing. Mrs. Seller, I can decline your listing. 

If you are currently looking to sell your Franklin TN home and want to meet with an agent who will prepare a very thorough Competitive Market Analysis, then give me a call. However, if you're not prepared to price your home correctly, then it's important for you to know I can decline your listing.

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Tammie White, Realtor® in Franklin TN

Cell Phone: (615)495-0752

www.TammieWhite.com

Tammie@TammieWhite.com 
 

This posting and the contents written here are the intellectual property and opinions of Tammie White of Benchmark Realty LLC. Providing real estate services to clients in Franklin, Brentwood, Nolensville, Thompsons Station, Spring Hill, Fairview, Leipers Fork, Nashville and the whole Middle TN area.

 

 

 

More and more of my friends and neighbors are walking away from the homes they truly love.  Why?  Because they owe more than their home is worth.  (For Now)

But they are leaving this wonderful home, destroying their credit, and going out to RENT a house, nothing like they dreamed of, and FOR AS MUCH AS OR MORE THAN THEIR MORTGAGE payment was.

Someone PLEASE tell me what I am missing here????

Is it just the principle of the matter?  Oh, don't get me wrong.....I push the principle often on matters I feel are worthy.  I suppose I have been in the business for so long, and seen so many markets, both up and down, and figure that the housing market WILL rise again (won't it?) and their home will once again be on track. 

Now, I realize that some folks have no choice but to walk away, because of lost jobs and such.  But the majority of the folks I am seeing, are financially fit and just make the choice to take the walk. 

Just like the stock market and other investments, there are losses and wins.  I just cannot help but think that in the long run, IN MANY CASES, it would be a wise investment to just try and stay in that home you love, and wait the storm out for a while.

 

Let's say you are a buyer and you have found a house that meets your needs and its listing price is in your financial comfort zone.  You have reviewed recent comparable sales for like properties.  You have established what you think the value of the home is.  You are armed with a pre-approval if you are going to seek financing or have copies of statements verifying liquid funds if you are paying cash.  You are ready to make an offer and open good-faith negotiations for the house.

Okay, so stop for a moment and think of yourself as a pitcher...a baseball pitcher.  Think of the seller as the batter at the plate.  The catcher's mitt is like the comps - the target you are aiming for.  Are you with me?

Pitchers have more than one pitch.  Each pitch is used for a different strategy.  Offers are the same.  You can make a full-price offer with super strong terms - a fast ball pitch down the middle of the plate.  If a house is priced at market value and there is strong competition from other buyers, your fast ball is the best option.  And you may have to go over the ask...that is put a little extra on that pitch!

You can make an offer somewhere at the bottom of the zone of established value.  That is like throwing a slider or a breaking ball low and inside...if it is interesting enough (strong terms like a high percentage down, no mortgage contingency, waiving of inspections), the seller will take a look at that pitch and may swing (a decent counter offer comes back to you) or a check swing (no or low counter offer).

Or, you can combo up some strong terms with a sensible value price...that's like throwing a knuckleball in the strike zone and let the seller make contact.  Get the ball in play and see if you can reach agreeable terms and price for both sides.

Lately, I am seeing too much of the dangerous pitch choice...the wild pitch.  Lowball offers are like wild pitches.  Wild pitches are so far out of the zone, the catcher doesn't see it coming, can't catch it and the batter is puzzled and trying not to get injured.  Same thing with lowball offers.  They insult the seller, confuse the agents about your motivation and there is no basis in anything concrete to support the offer.  Pitchers who pitch wild pitches get pulled.  The seller reacts the same way by making no counter offer and saying "NEXT!" and some other choice words I cannot type here.  Your wild pitch of an offer has set a tone for the negotiation and vicariously painted a picture of yourself as being opportunistic, or unrealistic or not serious.  If the seller is able to remain calm and let you make an improvement, you are lucky.  But the damage has been done.  You have left the door wide open for another buyer to come in and give the seller incentive to listen more closely to them as direct response to your lowball offer.

So, when you are ready to make an offer think of yourself as a pitcher with a choice of pitches.  AVOID WILD PITCHES.  Study your target.  Get that offer over the plate and give the batter something to look at and consider swinging at!  If you can put the ball in play, you are on your way to buying a house.

 

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FACEBOOK KILLED MY SHORT SALE!

There is this form that must be signed with most short sales called an "Arms Length Transaction affidavit".  Basically, it says that the buyer and seller don't know each other.  The form says it with a lot more finesse, but the basic message is that the buyer and seller didn't "cook up a plan" regarding the purchase of the home.

Seems silly, right?

Well, It's not, or at least it didn't start out that way....

Picture it: A family is living in a home that they bought 4 years ago when values were at "WOW" prices.  Since then, Hubby took a cut small in pay and the wife lost her job.  She decided to stay at home with kids rather than working to pay for daycare.  They can make their payments, but they are eating mac-n-cheese more often than they care to.  They try to refinance to lower their payment and find out that they owe $15,000 more than what the house is worth in today's market.

While bemoaning the fact that they are going to have to do some belt-tightening, they decide to talk to their parents for advice.  Together they decide that Mom and Dad will buy the house on a short sale for $20,000 less than what they owe on it, the kids will make the payments until they can repair their credit from the short, then buy it back from Mom and Dad.  They never have to move and they own the house for $20,000 than they originally paid for it. 

That's is called Fraud.  Basically the house didn't change hands and the bank is out $20,000. 

The Arms Length Transaction Affidavit was born!  The bank will short the property, but the banks feels that the owners have to have a little discomfort too.

Now, PICTURE THIS:

 

A short-sale seller receives an offer from a buyer that she doesn't know.  While waiting on the approval process, the buyer stalks the property (as buyers often do).  Once day while driving by, the seller is outside and the buyer stops.  The buyer and seller start talking and realize that they like each other.  They are both thrilled to have met and are happy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The short sale gets approved and everything moves towards a closing.  Two weeks before closing you get an email from the bank that says that the short sale is rejected due to "possible fraudulent activities". 

You call the negotiator, send them an email and dial the "help" (term used loosly) line to speak with "Betty" from Malaysia to find out what the heck is going on. 

All kinds of horrible things run through your head: The seller lied on their original Loan app; The seller was involved in Money laundering or tax evasion (Can't do a short sale if you were convicted of a felony involving money); The buyer has purchased 30 homes in the last 2 months; You did something horribly Wrong.....

Finally, "Betty", the bearded, sweater wearing man from Malaysia reads the notes on the computer screen and tells you that the closing department discovered that.....

*GASP*

the buyer and seller are friends on Facebook.  Therefore, this is not an arms length transaction and is rejected.  Active Foreclosure is immediately initiated.

"Betty, You got to be kidding me!"

 

The moral of this horrible, but true story: Check your Social network friends and tell your sellers and buyers to check theirs.  Apparently the bank does.  It could be the difference between life and death of your short sale.

Happy Real-Estating!

Brenda Noffert

Associate Broker, GRI, ITTI, CCREC

Realty World Alliance 

Wichita, KS

cbnoffert@cox.net

www.KansasHomesToday.com

316.871.4586