Buyers and sellers in the Plazuela de los Sapos, Puebla, Mexico (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It might be one of the most asked questions I get from both Buyers and Sellers…
Is this the “best” deal?
The problem is that there is almost never an answer. It isn’t as simple as a mathematical equation… unless there are variables to include for things like emotion, comfort and other intangibles. The other problem is that just trying to figure out if THIS is the best deal can change the answer to the equation.
People have a tendency to “dig in” when they are pressed. Buyers or Sellers hit a limit to what they want to do, and often they hit that limit harder when the other party is trying to test the limits.
We’ve all heard the story of the boiling frog… If you put him in a pot of boiling water, he jumps out, but if you put him in comfortable water and slowly heat it, he will sit there and boil.
boiling water עברית: מים רותים (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It works the same with buyers and sellers. If a Buyer sends an offer with a very low price (we’ll leave aside value v pricehere…) to start negotiations, the Seller often digs in and won’t accept an offer that they might have accepted had negotiations started from a more acceptable point. Conversely, if a Seller starts with a list price that is too high, the Buyers may just not submit an offer… or they might pick the property apart and submit a lower offer than they might have otherwise.
Of course the thing to remember is that it certainly ISN’T the best deal if it never happens…
Related articles
- Emotional Traps of Selling Your Home (jcorcoran1.wordpress.com)
- Does a seller have to respond to my offer? (findwell.com)
- Traditional ‘Rules’ of Home Buying Return (money.usnews.com)
