SD Realtor. None of the homes I wrote offers on that went into escrow, have closed escrow yet. But a few homes I looked early on at and considered strongly writing offers on, have sold and closed escrow. 3 I can think of are in RSF, including one we did write an offer on.
The first sold for 69% of its original listing price, 85% of its second listing price, and 88% of its final listing price. It was on the market over 1.5 yrs. I really liked this house and wanted to write an offer on it. I thought it was a bargain at that third listing price and would have offered more than it sold for quite honestly. It was a “fixer upper” and we were relatively early in our process, and my wife was having nothing of fixer uppers. She has come around some since then, but just some. That is almost one that got away.
The second sold for 61% of its original listing price, 78% of its second listing price, and 89% of its final listing price. It sat on the market for over a year. Kind of a project house. Too small for us, and hard to see where to add, but it was on a great property IMHO.
The third is a sore spot. It is the only home we allowed ourselves to get emotional over. We did go after that one and competeted with 5 other buyers and it sold for 88% of the original asking price, 95% of the second asking price, and just above the final asking price. To me, it was worth its original asking price, but I would never have paid that. It was turn key perfect though, in every way.
My view is that while discipline and paitience are a virtue in this market, you must find a balance. I won’t write an offer below 80% of asking and really the vast majority of mine are in the 85%-90% range. I don’t want to play games with sellers and want to start somewhere where logic can suggest a middle ground. So I wait for a few “real” price reductions before I get really interested and start from there. That way I won’t be forced to write a 60% or 70% of asking offer. I note that some sellers list high and immediately lower the price to appear like a price reduction that really is not. These are easy to spot if you have looked at a lot of listings.
I feel that if you find a house you really want, you should go for it. If I had an emotional attachment to any of the homes I competed for, I would not have let a few % points in price difference stand in my way. But I did not. I really liked them, but my other options did not compel me to bend farther. You don’t want to loose that amazing house over a small gap from your rule, but then again you must conclude it really was amazing. Only that one example above fit that bill for me, but alas, I could not compete against those other bidders. To be honest, in retrospect, I wish I had been a little bit stronger with my coutners on that one, but that was my first offer last year and I had less market info. I think I still would have lost to a higher bidder though.
As for patience, my wife and agent don’t have nearly the patience I do and I am starting to wear on them, particularly my agent. I feel for her, honestly. Imagine seeing a six figure commission check so close you can taste it, only to see it wait for another birth.
