After moving to the Bay Area about 18 months ago, it was time to shed my last ties to SoCal and put my lovely pre-Trulia townhouse on the market. Being the biggest housing bear in the company, I knew the halcyon days were over and suspected I’d probably have to live with a few lowball offers. What I didn’t quite expect was the kinds of comments from prospective buyers I’ve heard through my agent.
If there was any doubt the market has softened considerably (some say tumbled or crashed), take a look at the kind of gamesmanship sellers have to contend with. Gone are the days of 20%-above-asking first bids, waived inspections, and buyers begging sellers to accept cash bribes on top of bloated end-of-the-bidding-war-can-I-please-buy-your-house offers. Now, it seems, buyers aren’t content to offer 20% under asking–it’s become a game to gloat about it, and the nitpicky hunt for every possible blemish in the house is a competitive sport.
The old “deferred maintenance” euphemism, which used to mean “this house is falling down”, now means my lovely tile countertops are going to cost me $30K. Five-year-old, like-new appliances whose sole peccadillo is that they don’t look like a Mac Pro mean I’m a hopelessly unhip oaf stuck in pre-industrial mode (and wind up costing me another $20K). And graniteless kitchens earn sellers more eye-rolling than the crumbling brick foundations and leaky rooves buyers were happy to be saddled with even after spending 20% more than they intended to, just two short years ago.
I’m all about bargain hunting, but it’s bad form to kick the market while it’s down, and if you’re going to haggle, show some dignity. There’s nothing wrong with being a cheapskate and paying fair market prices–in real estate, it’s the responsible thing to do, and I certainly did when I bought this albatross you’re trying to buy from me. Just make the damn low offer, and quit being so guilty about it you have to disparage every atom of the place you’re going to live in for the next 7 years.
But I’m not complaining. Stay tuned for part 2.
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February 8th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Roger, I can see your talent extends beyond code. Nice post!
February 8th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Thanks, Caleb. I got an offer faxed about 2 hours after my post went up, so maybe this whole internets thing works! I’ll be sure to document the arduous sale process here. I’d be curious to see how other sellers’ experiences compare.
February 9th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Here in the Bay Area’s mid-Peninsula region, during last year’s slowed-down market (the latter half of the year) buyers took a perverse pleasure in sticking it to sellers. Mostly it seemed like revenge for several years of having the reverse be true. Now that the market has changed here and the sellers are again very much in control, it’s back to the old days again.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Are sellers really back in control, though? In the East Bay, all I see are either sellers undercutting the average listing price by 10-20% (and selling), or sellers clinging to early 2006 prices (and not selling).