About 2 years ago I was working on a listing with my then team member, Tom Ricapito. I won't go into detail about the listing, but I will say that we listed the property at $549,000. We mentioned to the seller that the property would probably sell for less, but the area was in a strong market at that time, and we were hoping to get close to if not asking price.
Most agents will tell you that the first offers you get on a listing are the strongest, and those offers will tell you if you are priced correctly, and that was definitely the case for this property. We received a cash offer for $525,000 and a few others around that price range as well not too long after listing the property.
We urged the seller to consider the cash offer, as it was an extremely strong offer. $25,000 under asking but it was all cash and there is nothing that gives you goosebumps in real estate more than "all cash offer." However, being relatively early in the game, our seller decided to decline the offer because "if we're getting this kind of offer early on, we will probably get better offers down the line!"
Well. Let me tell you how untrue that is. Statistically speaking, in the Hudson Valley market and for the country as a whole, the longer you are on the market, the less money you get. I've attached a graph that I quickly made using all the data from my local MLS for sales in 2018 so you can check it out yourself. It makes sense if you think about it, if you're on the market for 6 months, a buyer is going to come along and make you a lowball offer because they know you no longer have a highly sought after product.
Needless to say, we did not get another offer that was higher than that, and the seller decided to pull the house off the market and stay in the area for a while.
So here I am the other day, going through the MLS and I found out that the seller recently went back on the market with a different agent and sold the house.......for $500,000. We had an offer of $525,000 cash and they did not listen to our advice to take the offer, and because of that they lost out on a good chunk of change, and also had to pay 2 more years worth of taxes, utilities, and all the other costs that come with owning a home.
With real estate being such a broad area of expertise, and the fact that there are around 2 million licensed real estate agents in the county, I completely understand why it's difficult to put so much trust in us. However, there are a great handful of us who actually do know what we are talking about and are the real deal. Now I'm not saying you should trust the first agent that you meet to sell your house. Every seller I meet with I encourage to interview with other agents, not only because I'm confident that I'm better, but because it's what every seller should do, even if you have a friend in the business.
I like to consider myself one of those agents who knows what they're talking about. With the exception of that client and 2 others who decided not to sell for personal reasons, I have successfully sold every house I have ever listed, and for an average of 99.4% of the listed price. While I am the youngest agent in my firm, I have been around the block a few times, and when it comes down to it, the numbers don't lie.
If you have doubts, talk to your agent about them, and listen to the advice they give you. We want to see you succeed just as much as you do, I promise.