(CHEROKEE LAKE REALTY WRITES A WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE GRAINGER COUNTY JOURNAL NEWSPAPER. THIS WAS A RECENT QUESTION ASKED BY A READER.)
LOL. I wish. No, I don’t succeed in selling properties 100% of the time.
Why? Every situation is different. I try to do all the little things that will contribute to a sale. In the column you refer to I outlined the steps I take that are a bit different from what some other real estate agents do. And, yes, these “little steps” do add up and contribute to the overall goal of selling the property. But anytime you are dealing with people (buyers and sellers) and issues out of one’s control, like the economy and global affairs, then a real estate transaction can be impacted.
There was a time when you wrote a contract on purchasing a home and the deal was basically done. Sellers got paid, and buyers owned the property. Now, writing a contract is just the first step. Appraisals, inspections on water quality and septic systems, radon level testing, roof, electrical, and just overall home inspections can derail the sale. The buyers may balk if inspections identify an issue with the property. Or the sellers may not want to negotiate on what it would take dollar-wise to correct the issue(s) that the buyers are not comfortable with. The sellers can feel that they have already agreed to a low enough price on the home when the contract was written, and don’t want to reduce the price any lower. A radon mitigation system, for example, which will control high radon readings that have been identified in the home, can cost $4,000 or more. If it is deemed by an inspector that the roof needs replacement, that can cost $20,000 or more. So, there you go, the sale is lost. I once wrote a contract on a home, at full asking price, and the buyers’ inspector reported that the roof needed replacement. The sellers disagreed and they did not want to replace the roof. The sale was lost and the home went back on the market. I wrote a second contract on the home, again at full price, and a different inspector identified the same issue. Sellers said OK, let’s get it done. But these buyers wanted to use the roofing company that their agent recommended. The sellers wanted to use their own roofing contractor. The buyers’ roofer came out of Knoxville and was more expensive than the local roofer the sellers wanted. I couldn’t disagree with their decision. Now, could I have done something different? Absolutely. I could have recommended that the sellers go with the buyers’ roofer and give in. Even though I felt the sellers had a good point. The challenge is that sometimes a seller tends to feel there will be another offer down the road. After all, we had written two contracts in the first 30 days of the home being listed, at full asking price. Well, the sale was lost again, and no other offers came in. The listing expired, the sellers gave the listing to another agent who they felt could do a better job than I did. Eventually the new agent convinced the sellers to drop the sales price $75,000 and to replace the roof. The home was sold. Should the sellers have taken the other two full price offers and replaced the roof? Sure, they would have made $75,000 more with either one of those sales. Again, I should have been firmer in my recommendation to accept either offer. But the ultimate decision is the sellers, it is their home. The old saying, you can lead them to water, but you can’t make them drink can apply to sellers and buyers in real estate. I had another sale that both buyers and sellers agreed on the price and we wrote a contract. The bank’s appraisal came in $50,000 less than the contract price. Sellers disputed the appraisal and were willing to pay for another appraisal to get a second opinion. But the buyers refused, they wanted $50,000 off the agreed price. They would not negotiate on the difference. Guess what happened. So, again, no, I don’t sell every property I list. It’s funny, but I remember the ones I did not sell more than the ones I did sell. I guess that’s a good thing, it shows that the ones we failed to sell are fewer than the ones we did sell.
