Looking Twice at Overpriced Plano Real Estate

Common logic dictates that if a home doesn’t sell there must be something wrong with it. This is a very true statement. In a normal market there is something wrong with

Home Buyers Don’t Make Offers on Overpriced Listings

·         Sometimes they believe that if the buyer is not reasonable about pricing the house correctly in the first place that they will be difficult to deal with.

·         They don't want to offend the seller. It goes against human nature to offer substantially less than asking price to a seller. It's can be insulting to the seller and embarrassing for the buyer.

·         Buyers many times believe that the seller knows the home is overpriced. They believe that if a seller would be willing to sell for less, the seller would simply lower their list price.

How Do You Find an Overpriced Listing?

The easiest way to find overpriced listings is to ask your real estate agent.  He or She can search the multiple listing system for or for example of homes that have been available for higher than normal days on market (DOM).  Then ask your agent to study the listings and give you a print out of every home that has been on the market longer than the average DOM.

If your agent is a specialist in the neighborhood you are searching in, it is likely he has viewed many of these homes and has hands on knowledge of the condition and layout of these homes. Ask him to share this information with you.  Also ask your agent which of the homes he thinks are overpriced. You will learn that often buyers agents don't tell listing agents that their listings are overpriced because agents don't want to offend anyone either.  But listing agents sometimes make mistakes when estimating the market value for a seller.  Ultimately, it is the seller who set the listing price. 

Why Would a Seller Lower the Price?

A couple who bought a beautiful house at first wondered the same thing. The home sat on the market for more than three months at an asking price of almost $840,000. In a market seller’s market, it probably could have sold for about $820,000, but the market was soft and demand was weak and the sellers had moved out of the area, leaving the home vacant. The listing agent was not aware that the home was overpriced. The sellers were certainly motivated. Pointing out this information to the sellers, this couple was able to negotiate a deal to buy the home for about $160,000 less than the list price.  To make their offer more attractive to the sellers, the buyers did not include the sale of their existing home as a contingency. They also offered the seller a large earnest money deposit to show that they were a serious buyer. And they also showed the seller a list of homes that sold in the neighborhood at prices closer to their offer.

Not every home that is overpriced will end up selling for less than its market value. But many homes that are listed at unrealistically high prices are sometimes owned by sellers who are motivated and who are willing to listen to reasons why they should sell at a lower price to you. If you find out that a seller has turned down other offers for less money, it might mean that it's just a matter of timing. At some point the seller will come to his senses and say yes. There are overpriced gems hiding among the inventory of homes for sale every day. Don't just pass them by. You could be passing up an opportunity to buy your dream home at a dream value.