Realtor Refrain: 'Put it in Writing'

Realtor Broken Record

Like a lot of Listing Agents (representing Sellers) these days, I find myself sounding like a broken record.

As in the following:

"Would your client entertain a really low offer?"

"Put it in writing."

"Would your Seller consider an offer 30% below their asking price?"

"Put in writing."

"Would your client pay $10,000 in closing costs, replace the (functioning) furnace, and throw in the plasma TV in the den?"

"Put it in writing."

Probes and Posturing

If the Buyer's agent and their client won't even spend an hour putting together an actual, written offer, they're not very serious (or, they're simultaneously probing multiple Sellers to sniff out a truly desperate one).

It's also the case that it's NEVER a good idea for a Seller to negotiate with themselves.

Which is why the standard response to any question beginning with, "Would your client take . . .?" is, "I'm sure that they'd accept a full-price offer; anything else, I'll have to run by them once I've got it in writing."

"The Mulligan Market"

Disregarding Buyers' First Offer

Mulligan (ˈmə-li-gən): a free shot sometimes given a golfer in informal play when the previous shot was poorly played.

So, I think I've got a good name for today's housing market: 'The Mulligan Market.'

That's because so many deals these days start out with the Buyer making an insultingly poor (out-of-bounds?) offer, simply because they believe that: a) housing prices are softer than they really are; and b) every Seller is desperate.

Once Buyers discover otherwise, if they're serious, they typically return to the table with their second, "new-and-improved" offer . . . and negotiations can commence for real.

(The trick for Sellers confronting such Buyers is not to overreact to their first, unrealistic offer.)