Naples FL Blog

The other day I was speaking to a fellow Realtor® about a listing that recently came under contract.  The Realtor® said to me, "That seller joined the ranks of the desperate sellers that don't want to wait for season to sell their home and just gave it away."  I in turn said to that Realtor®. "The market is what the market is."

That Realtor's® statement unsettled me.  I wanted to start arguing with this Realtor® but I held my tongue.  What I REALLY wanted to say was that no seller GIVES AWAY their home.  There may be sellers that are desperate to sell but the market sets the price for their home.  A seller may decide to accept less than market for his home.  In the thirty years I have been selling real estate, I have seen this happen very few times.

Some people may think sellers are "giving away" their homes.  It is my opinion that these people are living in yesterday's market when real estate prices were inflated.  Compared to sales prices in 2005 it may appear that homes are being sold for a "song."  As I said to the other Realtor®, "The market is what the market is."

When I started selling real estate in 1978,

interest rates had just started soaring upwards.  I was 25 years old and had NO CLUE that the market was bad.  The market was............the market.

I studied VA loans because at that time there were a number of guys who had served in Vietnam, had started a family and wanted to buy a home.   FHA loans, holding seconds and contract sales were also ways to buy a house that I studied.  I analyzed ways to buy a house so that I could help my buyers. I also learned how to explain the ways buyers could purchase a home to my sellers.  Back in the days of old, sellers just wanted to see a contract with a contingency for a "normal" bank loan.  That kind of loan was just NOT going to happen.  I can remember being elated years later when the first adjustable rate mortgages came on the scene.

Did people "give away" their homes back in 1978?  No because the market was the market!  Don't we all wish we would have bought more real estate back in 1978 and resold it when the interest rates came down and the prices increased?

1991 found the United States "waiting" to go to war. 

I had listed a home in Naperville, IL that I just loved.  The floor plan was a wonderful great room concept.  In the middle of the great room was a  beautiful fireplace.  God, that house was gorgeous. 

If you were a Realtor® in 1991 or a Seller, you will remember that the MARKET came to a stand still while the U.S. waited to see if we were going to war.  We kept reducing the price on this home until we finally came to a price that the market would bare and the house sold.  It was difficult pricing any home at that time because of all the uncertainty.  Home just were not selling unless they were priced right at market.

While some Seller's may think that by holding onto their asking price until season will get them their price, I say "Get your place off the market and put it back on when the market can bring you your asking price."  Come on guys, real estate is cyclical and I have lived through a few cycles to know a house will not sell if it is overpriced for the market.  This market is probably not going to change by season 2009.  If you can afford to wait, why don't you save your home for another upturn in the real estate cycle?