Actually, I feel a bit of remorse myself when I have a client with “seller’s remorse.”
Seller’s remorse happens when a seller rejects an offer for their home because they thought the price was too low but then they deeply regret it later when they have lowered their list price far below the price they rejected… and the home still isn’t selling.
Or seller’s remorse happens when a seller regrets “testing” a high price when they first put their home on the market and then slowly, slowly, slowly lowering their price… following the market down, down, down. They end up selling the home for far less than they could have at first or not selling the home at all, perhaps forcing them to change their life plans.
Every real estate agent has many sad stories of seller’s remorse.
When it’s my client I wonder, “Should I have been more forceful in my advice on pricing?”, “Could I have presented the data on pricing in more convincing way?”, “Should I have refused the listing when I suspected it was way over-priced?”.
In the end, I let my clients drive. I give them the information they need. But the decision on pricing is theirs.
For many sellers, the culture of constantly rising real estate prices has been hard to shake, and now a new condition has appeared: seller’s regret, or flashbacks to offers past.
Ms. Swanberg, who works in public relations, has spent a lot of time recalling early offers of around $270,000 that she rejected.
Mr. Diaz still thinks longingly of his first potential buyer, whose offer of $770,000 he turned down near the end of 2006.
“I should have taken it,” Mr. Diaz said, his voice echoing inside the empty home he visits every few days to clean. “I guess I was a little cocky, or stupid.”
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Sam Chapman 09.04.08 at 12:54 pm
It is really difficult to convince sellers in underperforming or declining markets to price a house properly. It is sometimes equally as difficult to get them to accept or make a reasonable counter to an offer that they consider low. Then later what happens is exactly what you wrote about. Sellers are such emotional creatures.
John Wake - Real Estate 09.04.08 at 1:10 pm
Sam,
I was just at the Scottsdale Luxury Home Tour. One Realtor has a client who, 7 months ago, had on offer for $800,000 on his home listed at $850,000 and he turned it down. Now that home is listed at $650,000!
I bet there is some seller’s remorse there.
If the seller had listened to his Realtor’s advice he would have made at least $150,000 more.