Market News

A recent headline in the News and Observer reads “Picky buyers, touchy sellers slow home sales.” The article describes buyers as “on a quest for perfection at the perfect price,” while “sellers feel humiliated and even angry.”

Not all buyers are picky and not all sellers are touchy, but it’s true that many of them have unrealistic expectations.

Picky buyers are loking for a “deal,” which means they demand a win-lose scenario. They make low-ball offers and then get incensed when the seller says no, thanks. One buyer told me it was “my job” to convince the listing agent that the seller should take their offer! A seller’s bottom line usually depends on the existing debt on the house, which may be more than the original purchase price. If the sellers have taken cash out when they refinanced or via a HELOC (home equity line of credit), the seller may have a bottom line that’s pretty high. No amount of convincing is going to change that figure.

Meanwhile, touchy sellers know it’s a buyer’s market, but feel they’re exempt from all that. Their home is special. Last year I went on a listing appointment and the seller told me she “had to have” $200,000 net after expenses. I told her that wasn’t realistic, so she listed with another agent she described as “more enthusiastic” about selling her home. Four months later the asking price has gone down to $195,000 before expenses, and it’s still unsold.

Agents have a hard line to walk. Picky buyers and touchy sellers — neither one of them wants to hear honest advice.