What to do as a seller when you receive a low-ball offer? A timeless question. More often than not, the low-ball offer never even gets to first base. Many sellers will tend to disregard the low offers and do not counter. Rather, they choose to outright reject.
In these cases, sellers are more rejecting the buyer as opposed to the offer. They are sending an emotion-motivated message to the buyer that says “You insulted me, I do not need your money”. How many times have we seen such a rejected buyer go elsewhere and then pay even more? These are often opportunities lost.
Over the years, we have received many a low-ball offer. One thing that we have learned is that a buyer’s first offer is seldom his last. For that reason alone, sellers should almost ALWAYS be encouraged to counter. Keep the dialogue open. Successful real estate agents are the ones who have learned to build bridges, not walls. We have seen very hopeless looking initial offers that ultimately, successfully closed. You can make lemonade out of lemons if you can simply find a way to keep emotion out of the equation. In doing so, your odds for a successful conclusion have improved dramatically!
For more on general real estate topics, including short sales and REOs, visit Ed and Terri Smith at www.DestinFloridaRealEstate.com