Humboldt County Real Estate: Buyer vs. Seller

Good day and thanks for visiting my blog! This week I've been working with a seller/buyer, a person listing their home and then buying a replacement home. This can be very tricky, but if planned properly can work out just fine. However it occured to me that they have 2 different mindsets. As a seller, this client wants the most for their property, but as a buyer they want to get the best deal on the replacement property. I just came across a terrific article that can summarize both sides of a transaction, and can be found '>here.

I actually wrote a letter similiar to this not long ago with an offer. The letter asked the seller to consider countering an offer I wrote on behalf of a client. The buyer (from out of the area) believed that they could offer $120,000 less than asking on a house that was priced at $420,000. Now, I'm all for a good deal, but I felt that this was a really bad offer. It would serve the purpose of insulting the seller and closing the door on all negotiations. In fact they wanted to offer less, but I convinced the buyer that they would never get a response. The seller was insulted, but they kindly gave us counter offer, that my clients did not respond to.
The real problem here is that many buyers are looking for an unbelieveable deal, but rarely will you buy a house for 50% of list price, atleast not in the Humboldt County market. That may work in areas that are battling with unprecedented numbers of foreclosures, but Humboldt County has one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the state.
The NY Times article points out that more and more loans will be backed by freddie mac and fannie may, which buy mortgages from lenders and help make it possible for them to lend more money. So in effect, there may be more buyer in the near future. I won't be like the bad old days of lending to anyone with a pulse, but it may serve to get more buyers in the mix.
Of course I want to give my buyers the best chance of getting an offer accepted, and that means offering a reasonable price, but I also don't want them to "break the bank".
My concern, and the concern of many Real Estate professionals, is the perception that Sellers can sell their homes and Buyers aren't out there anyway, and that's just not true. People are always selling and buying homes and that's not about to change. The bottom line is trust your real estate professional to help guide you through the entire process.
As always feel free to email me with any comments about this blog andy@azalearealty.com
or if you want to take a look at our local market and what's out there feel free to use these links:

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