I was the listing agent on a transaction recently. The house had been on the market for 5+ months and there had been numerous price reductions. The sellers had bought high 3 years ago and they were suffering greatly with the falling market. The buyers saw this as an excellent opportunity to buy the SW Mpls house at a low price.
The initial offer was low, low. The seller was in shock and at first did not want to even respond. I genteelly tried to help them see it would be okay to counter and not take it personally. How can one not take it personally? The buyer's agent came on strong defending the initial offer. Her strength in representing her buyer sent things going in the wrong direction. Her buyers kept protecting their offer and my sellers kept being angry.It took 3 days to regroup.
Here is my suggestion. The offer is written by the buyer and it it reviewed by the seller. The two Realtors communicate but have no ownership to the purchase agreement. I find that when the writing agent uses the words we or ours, you will have trouble with the offer. The ownership of that agent can be stronger than that of the buyers. A selling agent must be careful not to set themselves up by telling their buyers there offer is good and any seller should be please with it. A listing agent has to be careful that they don't work to defend their listing price and therefore discourage their seller from being realistic with the offer on the table.
It must be a win/win situation for buyers and sellers. In many cases the agents have to take a deep breath and not let their personalities get in the way. A strong agent for their buyer or seller can destroy the entire process. You need to quietly help all parties see how if we row together we will get to shore. This art of being able to work with another agent can take years to develop. When I first started in real estate, I got hold of the ankle of the other agent and never let go. As I look back 20+ years, I wonder how many transactions I sent to the tank because of my attitude. It is much like the coach who coaches his team quietly compared to the yelling coach. They both might get the big W, but which coach kept the respect of all parties involved.
The deal went together and now everyone has a smile on their face. I just wonder what our blood pressures read during this process.
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