If you're shopping for a home and have just stumbled upon your dream property, beware of the possibility of running into competition when making an offer.
Regardless of whether the level of supply or demand in the market is higher or lower than average, it always seems that the number of really great properties are in short supply. That's because the best properties generally sell pretty quickly.
By "best properties," I mean homes that are well-conditioned, well-located, well-marketed and priced properly. At any time, there are only a select few properties that have those four things going for them at the same time. Many properties may be well-conditioned and well-located, but if the pricing is too high and/or the marketing is inferior, buyers will pass.
In over 38 years of selling homes, I have seen it happen countless times that when a buyer zeroes in on a property that she likes, chances are another offer is brewing. That's because the dream property that you viewed today was viewed by someone else yesterday, and that person may be a little ahead of you in their preparations to submit an offer.
So, when you find a property that you are "seriously" interested in, don't mess around. Listen to the advice of your Realtor, and make a "serious" offer.
It's common for buyers to want to offer low to see what kind of deal they can get. However, when a seller is savvy enough to price their property well, they are not going to take a low-ball offer. Why not? Because they are either well aware of values in their market or they are getting excellent advice from their listing agent.
A seller may reject your offer if it's too low, or you may waste valuable time going back and forth in days of negotiations to get the offer price to a more realistic level. During this process, if another - better - offer surfaces, the seller could simply choose to work with or accept that offer, and not give you a chance to improve your offer.
So, trust your Realtor and listen to their experienced advice. Their goal is to get you the property you want for the lowest price possible and the best possible terms. Sometimes that means making a strong and fair offer at the outset to avoid losing the property to a competing offer.
Contact a member of the Matheson Team today to work with an experienced, knowledgeable Scottsdale real estate expert who has your best interests at heart.
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