The Real Meaning of “Hot New Listings”

As you navigate through the hundreds of real estate websites on the Internet, you’ll encounter a captivating feature that’s usually bolded, blinking or screaming out at you.  Yes, it’s the important service that enables buyers to receive the latest and greatest listings daily.  “Hot New Listings”, “Automatic Daily Listings Notifier”, “Your Dream Home Notifier”, etc. … you get the picture.  The titles are different but it’s the same service being offered.  From here on in, I’ll refer to this empowering service as the “notifier”.

So what are the benefits of this to buyers? Well, here are some.

• Beat out your competition or at least level the playing field.  Listings on mls.ca are around 2 days old and often the best properties are sold within this time.  To receive these new listings, you’ll need to have a real estate agent send them to you or have your information placed in the notifier.  Being equipped with this allows you to beat out buyers on new listings and to be on a level playing field with the serious ones. 
• First to arrive means first to bargain for the lowest price.  Often, I’ve been able to bring my buyers to listings that just came to market that day.  They immediately placed their offer, negotiated, and won them below asking.  A few days afterwards, I would receive word from the listing agent on the number of inquiries on the sold property.  Fortunately, these buyers were too late and were given no chance to compete with us on the property.
• We all save time.  If the listing doesn’t interest you, we don’t go to see it.

There can’t be all advantages?!  You’re absolutely right.  The major disadvantage is that the notifier doesn’t send out listings in realtime.  All the listings that meet your criteria on that day are pulled from the system overnight and emailed to you.  Do you see the problem?

The problem is that you’re looking at yesterday’s listings.  Considering how competitive the market is right now, that’s several hours too much!  If you had seen that one special listing the day it came on the market, you would’ve had the opportunity to place an offer immediately or have a night’s rest to rationally consider whether to place an offer or not. 

There’s currently no system in place to allow for realtime listings, but what if you could receive realtime-like listings?  Sometimes as quickly as 5 minutes!  If you are a motivated buyer ready to move very quickly then this competitive advantage is something you need in this market.  If you’re interested, contact me at info@condolicious.com.

Sold for 81% of Asking!

Wow, wow and ….. wow!

Don’t worry “Sold for 81% of Asking!” is not what I said to my seller client nor am I talking about the American market.  While performing my daily routine of browsing through the day’s sales, I found one sold for 81% of asking!  You’ve got to be kidding me.  Talk about not knowing how to price reasonably.   Kudos to the buyer agent for talking some sense into the listing agent and seller and making the sale a reality.  My issue is that the seller would have fetched a better price by pricing near market instead of starting at way above market.  There were tonnes of comparables to use yet it was scrapped along with any logic and reason.  Months of non-productivity could have been eliminated as well.

Yes, the listing agent is suppose to work in their client’s best interest and get them the best price, but there needs to exist some justification and needs to be within limits e.g. is it tastefully renovated? are you in a condo that everyone is fighting to live in? are you a celebrity? etc.  As easy as it may sound, shouldn’t you drop your unrealistic client?  A deal was eventually made, but at what cost?  If a potential seller were to know about it, I think they’d pass the Agent 81% option.

How to Bid Low on a Home Without Offending the Seller

By Amy Hoak
From MarketWatch

Buyers who do ask for deep discounts risk offending sellers to the point where they quash any deal. So before making an aggressive offer, some homework is in order, real-estate professionals say. And buyers will need to effectively explain why the price of a home should be lower.

… And there’s always an inherent danger in going too low. A low offer could insult the seller to the point that they’ll refuse to counter, Realtors say. And the seller could easily make the assumption that the buyer isn’t committed to making a deal.

“When you’re making the offer,” says Jon Boyd, Mr. O’Heron’s agent and president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, “if you justify that offer with outside data, then it’s much less likely to be perceived as being an insult or [the buyer] not as serious.”

Here are three guidelines on how — and when — to make an aggressive bid:

1. Learn how motivated the seller is to make a deal.

Certain sellers are going to be more willing than others to negotiate a low offer — and there are several giveaways that might indicate more leeway on price.

For instance, if the sellers have already purchased another home and that sale has closed, they’re likely to be more willing to make a deal, says Dick Gaylord, president elect of the National Association of Realtors and a broker with Re/Max Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif.

If the property has been on the market for a long time, sellers will be interested in entertaining any offers, he adds.

Mr. Gaylord says he talks to the seller’s agent to get as many details as possible about how motivated the seller is.

2. Make your case with hard facts.

When putting together an aggressive offer for a client, Mr. Boyd doesn’t just hand the seller a purchase agreement with the price the buyer is willing to pay — he creates a cover letter explaining exactly where that number came from.

In addition to citing comparable sales in making the offer, it also could be important to include details regarding the amount of inventory in the immediate surrounding area, he says.

…

3. Prepare for the possibility of rejection or negotiation.

Ultimately, a real-estate agent working on behalf of a buyer needs to honor and facilitate the offer that the buyer wishes to make — even if it seems to be too low.

Mr. Gaylord warns buyers making very low offers that the seller might refuse to negotiate. On a “super aggressive offer,” Mr. Boyd says he might tell a client “there’s a one in five chance there will be a positive response.”

Still, there’s that potential for a seller to make a counteroffer, especially if there haven’t been many other bids.

Danielle Kennedy, a real-estate sales coach and author based in Pacific Palisades, Calif., advises sellers not to think of a low offer as an insult but as “a sign of interest.”

It “begins the dialogue regarding the purchase of your house,” she says.

Not all hope is lost even if a seller doesn’t bite immediately.

Sometimes after time elapses, the seller comes around and decides to negotiate, Mr. Boyd says. New information — such as the sale of a comparable home at a lower price — also can nudge a seller to give an aggressive offer a second look and open the negotiation process.