As a REALTOR, it is my job to keep my finger to the pulse of the Real Estate Market. What I have been witnessing this year is absolute mayhem. One month the houses are flying off the shelves - multiple offers - high prices - - disappointed buyers - - and then a short month later, houses sit longer - sellers start to panic and ask "what's wrong with my house?" The answer is - NOTHING!
The Real Estate Market is like an ocean wave.....timing is everything if you want to be at the tippity top of the wave. Sometimes it begins so quickly that by the time the dust settles, everthing is gone and those sellers and buyers are happy.
What about the rest of them? What about the couple who watched the house across the street go into a fervor of Saturday and Sunday activity? They watched as cars drove by slowly at all times of day and night.....and then two days later the sign "Under Contract" got hung up. Very Curious. A few days go by and then one morning, Neighbor Seller sees Neighbor Curious and says "Oh my goodness, it was unreal! Seven people wrote offers! It was so competitive, but I feel really great about the buyers who won..." You get the picture.
How do you suppose Neighbor Curious feels? A lot of times what happens is....people get motivated to sell THEIR house and do what the neighbors did. So, they paint, and clean out the basement, and fix the front steps, and replace the door, maybe repair the doorbell.....let's say for two weeks Neighbor Curious works on their house. Then they call a REALTOR, and the agent comes to the house and walks through and does an analysis (a lot of stock is put into the price of the house across the street). FINALLY, a month and a half later, Neighbor Curious's house is ready to come onto the market. Neighbor Seller across the street is getting ready to close on their property. Now, after all is said and done, Neighbor Curious is ready to step into the Neighbor Curious Seller role (NCS), and their expectations are HIGH. They can't wait to watch the crazy come and witness people fighting over their home. Their ideas and imagination have been growing since they made the decision to work on their home to put it on the market.
The REALTOR comes in with the photographer who is sure to capture the best qualities of the home in order to set up an excellent marketing plan. NCS's home goes into MLS on a Wednesdaty night, with a broker tour planned for Thursday, and open houses for both Saturday* and Sunday (just like across the street).
Thursday's broker tour is healthy, a lot of agents show up, have some lunch, chat about the home, and then go to tell their buyers.
Saturday comes and only a handful of people show up. Sunday there are a few more, but just trickles.
No offers on Monday, no requests for showings on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. What is happening?
No one can answer that question. The ocean wave effect strikes again.
Now, all the great feelings that NCS had while preparing their house, and all the different imagined things that their big money can buy have come crashing down, and hard. (Can we agree that NCS already has a number in their head? Can we agree that the number is probably higher than the house across the street? Why is it higher?.....because while NCS worked on their house, and put forth the effort, in their head they tacked on dollars to the listing price.
Suddenly, the excitement and unknown is a heavy blanket of negative feelings. Resentment is born. Why doesn't the frenzy come to my house? What did my stupid house do to mess up my awesome plan? Not a single thing. It is very difficult to erase or re-direct the *high expectations created by the circus that was witnessed across the street! And their house wasn't even as good as mine! Like an etch a sketch, you have to erase those thoughts. Turn it around. Listen to the advise your trusted Realtor is giving.
Sometimes the market just slows down a little bit. A lot of times, in my opinion, the buyers who were caught up in that tornado-like frenzy, who did not win house A, or house B, maybe not even house C, become completely exhausted and discouraged by their stress filled experiences. Imagine ten people vying for the same home. Only one person is happy. Nine people have to mourn the loss of the house they so desperately wanted and find another one just like it.......only to fight (probably the same people) to win again.....so, then there were eight.....and so on and so forth. Sometimes people buy a house in that situation and it's not even the house they really wanted. Anyhow, back on topic - - It takes time for people to lick their wounds and contemplate from the comfort of their pajamas, if they really want to go back into that crazy. That creats a lull.
Back to NCS and their situation. Just because the house hasn't gone under agreement in the first week, does NOT mean the house isn't going to sell.
We, especially in Boston, are so spoiled by a healthy (IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION) market, that it taints the experience when imagined or created expectations aren't met so early on. Buying and Selling a home is a very stressful experience. It's personal. It's emotional. Add the unrealistic expectations crashing down and you have a recipe for deep depression.
It doesn't have to be that way. Sometimes it just takes a little longer. Re-evaluate price and market plan and sometimes you just have to Wait It Out. Be patient with the process, with the experience, with yourselves.....and especially with your AGENT!
Market dictates price, and sometimes it makes a slight correction after the frenzy brings prices too high..... it's as simple as physics.
*Usually Sunday is open house day - the only time Sat and Sun open houses usually occur is when there is so much interest in the house that it would be too crowded for showing on one day.
written by Kim Augusta 11/5/15
written by Kim Augusta 11/5/15
