Home Seller Lament:  “But, I Got it (Full Price) Before!”

One of the toughest pills for home Sellers to swallow is revisiting their asking price in the wake of a failed deal, especially if the deal was for full price (or more), early in the listing.

That’s especially so when the deal later fell apart solely due to the Buyer’s change of heart — or financing glitch — rather than some issue with the home.

Did the Owner REALLY Get Full Price??

Now fast forward three — or six — months.

With slow showings and no offers, good listing agents will ordinarily counsel a 3% – 5% price reduction to jump-start things (of course, that assumes the home is already optimally prepped, staged, and photographed).

The inevitable protest from the frustrated Seller:  “But, I got it (my price) before!”

Having shown Buyers a couple of such homes recently, here’s my sympathetic-but-frank message to the would-be Sellers:

“If your previous sale didn’t close . . . you didn’t get your price.  What happened last Spring or even 6-8 weeks ago is much less relevant than what’s going on right now. Or isn’t . . .”

P.S.:  Multiply by a few thousand, and you get a sense of the post-2007 housing market, when legions of Sellers turned down what they deemed to be disappointing offers, early in the listing, only to see the market move away from them (read, down) later.

See also, “Nurse!  I Need a Price Reduction, Stat!!”; and “Perils of Overpricing Even (Especially) in a Rising Market.”

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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