Memo to Sellers
Lots of Sellers, in lieu of reducing a too-high asking price, are instead directing their agents to tell prospective Buyers that “the [asking] price is negotiable.”
Here’s a news flash: they already know.
In the vast majority of these cases, the issue isn’t that no offers are coming in — low, high, or otherwise.
Rather, the problem is that no Buyers are even looking at the (overpriced) home.
No Showings = No Offers
Buyers typically don’t make offers until at least a second showing, and often times a third.
If and when they reach the point of making an offer, many Buyers today feel obliged to start with a number that, to be generous, is “unrealistic” — especially if the home is upper bracket and has lots of competition.
Once that’s rejected — and it always is — the negotiation can begin in earnest.
P.S.: discussing hypothetical offers on a home that’s not even getting showings reminds me of one of my favorite lines, “if your parents don’t have kids, you won’t either.”
