You Know What's Fun? (And What's Not Fun?)

Luv Bunnies

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Going to an open house and absolutely loving the house. That's fun.

Seeing that the asking price is pretty far above your range. That's not fun.

Asking the listing agent if he thinks the house will go at the asking price. He says he expects it to go above, considering it's already priced below the selling price of one like it that just sold. That's not fun.

Asking your own agents what they think about making a below-list price offer. They say they'll look into it. That same day, the house shows "sale pending" online. Someone else got it. That's not fun.

The next morning, you're browsing Realtor.com looking for more houses. You notice that not only did the house you loved not sell, it's showing a huge price drop! That's fun!

Your agent looks into it and tells you the pending sale status was a glitch in the system when they changed the listing to reflect the lower price. Do you want to see it again today? That's fun!

You take the kids to see it. They love it too. That's fun

So you make an offer and actually go above the new list price (but not as high as the old one), because the selling agent said he knew another offer was also coming in. Now you have to compete with another buyer. That's not fun.

Your agent writes up the cleanest offer they can, with the max price you're willing to pay. They submit the offer and you wait. That's not fun.

The next day, the selling agent comes back and asks if you can put in more money. The other buyer offered the exact same price. No. You can't offer more. You decide to just wait it out. That's not fun.

The selling agent says your offer and the other offer are basically identical. You both offered the same price. You both have sales pending on your own houses. Both of your sales have had all contingencies removed. Both of you wrote very strong buyer letters. The seller is a nice, older lady who moved to a retirement home. She can't decide which of you to choose. She wants one more night to sleep on it. That's not fun!

The next day is a Saturday. You look online and realize the seller's agent is going through with a scheduled open house, despite the two offers he has in hand. He's trying to see if another buyer comes forward that day with a higher offer. Lucky for you, it's raining pretty hard and open houses aren't getting much traffic. Still, you have to wait and hope no one swoops in and grabs the house. That's not fun.

Meanwhile, another possible house has popped up on the market, so you decide to go see that one just in case. You're kind of preparing yourself not to get the house you really want. You like the other house and tell your agent it would be a solid back up if you need one. But it doesn't appeal to you as much as the other one. That's not fun.

So you go home and try not to stress. Then the phone rings. It's your two agents on a conference call. They tell you to put your phone on speaker so the whole family can hear. OK, this might be fun.

The agent asks if you want the good news or the bad news first? At this point, you really don't care so you say, "Whatever." OK, this might not be fun.

The agent says, "Just kidding! There's no bad news! You guys got the house!" Now we're having fun!

The elderly owner just couldn't decide which family to choose. She asked her agent to make the decision. He remembered meeting us at an open house a few weeks ago. We spent about 30 minutes talking to him. We mentioned our son was in college and studying musical theater. He said he used to be a model and was asked if he wanted to go on some acting auditions. He said no, and became a pilot before going into real estate. We thought the guy was kind of weird. He was ignoring a bunch of other people and focusing on his conversation with us. We just went along with it. Apparently he enjoyed our conversation enough that he wanted us to have the house when the owner couldn't decide.

So this week we get to go back with our agents to take measurements and decide which of our furniture will fit and where we'll put it. That will be fun!

The moral of the story: Be nice to weird real estate agents, even if you think you won't be buying their house. You may end up crossing paths again and a good first impression could work in your favor!
 
Going to an open house and absolutely loving the house. That's fun.

Seeing that the asking price is pretty far above your range. That's not fun.

Asking the listing agent if he thinks the house will go at the asking price. He says he expects it to go above, considering it's already priced below the selling price of one like it that just sold. That's not fun.

Asking your own agents what they think about making a below-list price offer. They say they'll look into it. That same day, the house shows "sale pending" online. Someone else got it. That's not fun.

The next morning, you're browsing Realtor.com looking for more houses. You notice that not only did the house you loved not sell, it's showing a huge price drop! That's fun!

Your agent looks into it and tells you the pending sale status was a glitch in the system when they changed the listing to reflect the lower price. Do you want to see it again today? That's fun!

You take the kids to see it. They love it too. That's fun

So you make an offer and actually go above the new list price (but not as high as the old one), because the selling agent said he knew another offer was also coming in. Now you have to compete with another buyer. That's not fun.

Your agent writes up the cleanest offer they can, with the max price you're willing to pay. They submit the offer and you wait. That's not fun.

The next day, the selling agent comes back and asks if you can put in more money. The other buyer offered the exact same price. No. You can't offer more. You decide to just wait it out. That's not fun.

The selling agent says your offer and the other offer are basically identical. You both offered the same price. You both have sales pending on your own houses. Both of your sales have had all contingencies removed. Both of you wrote very strong buyer letters. The seller is a nice, older lady who moved to a retirement home. She can't decide which of you to choose. She wants one more night to sleep on it. That's not fun!

The next day is a Saturday. You look online and realize the seller's agent is going through with a scheduled open house, despite the two offers he has in hand. He's trying to see if another buyer comes forward that day with a higher offer. Lucky for you, it's raining pretty hard and open houses aren't getting much traffic. Still, you have to wait and hope no one swoops in and grabs the house. That's not fun.

Meanwhile, another possible house has popped up on the market, so you decide to go see that one just in case. You're kind of preparing yourself not to get the house you really want. You like the other house and tell your agent it would be a solid back up if you need one. But it doesn't appeal to you as much as the other one. That's not fun.

So you go home and try not to stress. Then the phone rings. It's your two agents on a conference call. They tell you to put your phone on speaker so the whole family can hear. OK, this might be fun.

The agent asks if you want the good news or the bad news first? At this point, you really don't care so you say, "Whatever." OK, this might not be fun.

The agent says, "Just kidding! There's no bad news! You guys got the house!" Now we're having fun!

The elderly owner just couldn't decide which family to choose. She asked her agent to make the decision. He remembered meeting us at an open house a few weeks ago. We spent about 30 minutes talking to him. We mentioned our son was in college and studying musical theater. He said he used to be a model and was asked if he wanted to go on some acting auditions. He said no, and became a pilot before going into real estate. We thought the guy was kind of weird. He was ignoring a bunch of other people and focusing on his conversation with us. We just went along with it. Apparently he enjoyed our conversation enough that he wanted us to have the house when the owner couldn't decide.

So this week we get to go back with our agents to take measurements and decide which of our furniture will fit and where we'll put it. That will be fun!

The moral of the story: Be nice to weird real estate agents, even if you think you won't be buying their house. You may end up crossing paths again and a good first impression could work in your favor!
I read this like a novel. Could hardly wait to see what happened. Congrats!
 

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