If you can’t decide between selling your home now or waiting until next year let me give you a 3rd option…what’s called a delayed entry pocket listing.
We are contacted almost every day by buyers and other Realtors asking us what homes we have coming on the market soon. Often a buyer will see one of our homes that isn’t a good fit and ask us what we will be selling that would better work for their family. A pocket listing allows us to keep your home in mind in case someone contacts us that would be a good fit for your home.
What if we had a cash buyer for your home or someone with a flexible move in date? Would you be willing to sell now if they paid the price you want for your home?
A delayed entry pocket listing means we have an agreement to actively list your home next year but you still have the opportunity to sell if we find a buyer earlier than the listing date. Our real estate market is not as seasonal as you may believe and there are currently motivated buyers out looking for a home. If the idea of a delayed entry pocket listing sounds good to you contact us today at 512-791-7473 for more details.
Cancel At Any Time
If you are like me whenever you are buying a product or service you want to know what guarantees you will receive and how you can cancel the agreement. For some reason when people are selling their home they don’t think about getting a guarantee. Perhaps it is because some people think the real estate market is so good that every home will sell quickly.
In reality, about once a week we receive a call from a person trying to sell their home. Their agent isn’t performing and the seller isn’t happy. Their home isn’t selling and it seems like promises were made by their agent and not kept.
The seller wants to hire us to sell their home but unfortunately in most cases the seller has signed an agreement with the agent that doesn’t allow for the seller to cancel the listing agreement.
When you get ready to sell your home something you should think about is hiring a Broker who advertises an “Easy Exit Listing Agreement.” Not just an agent who says they will do that when asked but someone who advertises that guarantee.
We always offer an Easy Exit Listing Agreement for two reasons. First, I like to buy things with a guarantee. Second, I want our clients to know we need to perform for you every day.
When you are ready to sell your home call us to talk about a proven marketing plan for your home including an Easy Exit Listing Agreement.
It Can’t Hurt Until It Hurts
When buying a home there is a huge advantage to working with a Realtor who also is an experienced listing agent. Perhaps the biggest advantage is understanding what helps get an offer accepted (even at a lower price) and what really turns off a seller causing an offer to be rejected.
More and more we are seeing sellers wanting to avoid accepting an offer from a buyer who is flaky. Sellers don’t want to take their home off the market for a buyer only to find out a few days later they want to cancel the contract.
The internet is full of advice telling buyers to write a letter to the seller explaining how much they love the home. You probably have friends who have told you they won in a multiple offer situation even though their offer was significantly lower because they wrote a letter. I don’t doubt that is what someone was told but in my experience that rarely happens. What’s more likely to happen is the listing agent tells the buyers their offer was accepted even though it was at a lower price so they buyers would feel good about the purchase and not feel like they are overpaying for the home.
When we review offers with our clients, we encourage them to consider the aspects of the contract that demonstrate the buyers are serious. Aside from sales price there are certain parts of the contract that signal a buyer is going to be flaky or difficult to work with and less likely to actually close on the home.
A few weeks ago, we had a situation with one of our listings where buyers submitted an offer with signal that they were going to be flaky. The buyer’s agent called me after sending me the offer and said “I know this makes the buyers seem crazy but tell the sellers they aren’t crazy. I told them not to put this in the offer but they wanted to give it a try and after all it couldn’t hurt to ask.”
It turns out that sometimes it does hurt to ask. In this case even before making the offer the buyers had signaled they were going to be flaky (and possibly lacking the financial means to buy the home) so when the sellers reviewed the offer they decided not to even make a counter offer. When we received another offer the next day rather than going back to the first buyers the sellers decided to negotiate the 2nd offer and the sale closed successfully with no issues.
It took about 30 days for that sale too close. Throughout those 30 days the agent for the first buyers constantly called me to see if there was anything they could do to buy the home. Unfortunately for them by the time they realized their mistake it was too late. This home was a rare opportunity and it’s not likely another similar home will come on the market any time soon.
The first buyers should have had an agent who understands how to write an offer that is more likely to be accepted. That is especially true when dealing with a property that is special or if it is a competitive situation with other buyers.
In any negotiation you want to consider the other side. Whenever we represent a buyer we review the contract in advance and point out areas that are important to sellers. This way we can help structure an offer that is more likely to be seen in a favorable light giving our clients the best chance of getting an offer accepted or at least a counter offer.
Don’t Give Up Until You Know For Sure
Occasionally a client is confused about something we couldn’t have anticipated. The client might give up without us ever knowing the reason. Recently a client said they didn’t want to build a home because they didn’t want to make 2 mortgage payments for the 6 months it would take to build the home. Of course when you build a home with a regular tract home builder you don’t make mortgage payments on that home until after the home is completed. Once I understood their concern it was simple to ease their minds and they were able to move forward.
If you are ever confused about something regarding real estate make sure you reach out to a professional to discuss your concerns before giving up.
When you are ready to sell your home call us to talk about a proven marketing plan for your home including an Easy Exit Listing Agreement directly at 512-791-7473 or eric@koparealestate.com .
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