No pressure, I'm just letting you know the facts…

Posted on Aug 1, 2008 by Cari McGee in Real Estate Industry

It never fails, you know.  A house sits on the market for MONTHS, occasional showings, positive feedback in regards to price and condition, marketing plan in place, and nothing happens.  No offers, no frantic calls to make sure the house is still available.  It’s like a stone dropped in a lake – ripples fan out but no true waves are made.

Then, without rhyme or reason, suddenly EVERYONE wants the same house.  The listing agent fields calls, “Yes, it’s still available, but I am expecting an offer at 10 this morning…” and “No, I wouldn’t advise waiting until after your client’s parents can see it this weekend, because it will be gone by then…” or, “I am calling to let you know we have entered into multiple offer situation.  We will look at all clients’ highest and best offers tonight at 8…”

And the naturally skeptical among us can’t help but think, “Really?  Suddenly everyone wants this house when it sat on the market for three months with nary a nibble?”  And when I first got into real estate, I thought the same way.

But now I’ve seen it happen too many times, and have actually been the listing agent orchestrating the crazy situations of multiple offers a few times.

I am not a high-pressure person. I think people need to buy the house they want and I hate calling and saying, “There MAY BE another offer coming in, so if you want it, you need to offer on it now.”  Or, “I know the seller countered this morning and you’d love to take your time thinking about it, but -

I have to let you know that IF another offer comes in, and IF the seller likes that offer better, he or she can withdraw their counter offer to you

and suddenly, all the time in the world isn’t available anymore.

The frustrating part of the business is that I could be perceived as high-pressure when all I am doing is making sure the client knows what could happen, according to the laws and customs of real estate.

So, just so you know, if you get a call like that from me, or most agents, then know we’re not making it up.  It can and does happen, and the people who stay skeptical lose out on the house they want.  And I hate to see that happen even more than I hate being perceived as high-pressure.