VENDORS BRIDGE EXPECTATION GAP

There are many reasons why vendors’ expectations are higher than the market indicators suggest. A few vendors have unrealistic expectations of what the market will bring, some have held out too long for a non-existent top dollar and have lost the momentum of marketing, others simply misunderstand that the market responds to supply and demand and as such, prices are not theirs to dictate.

Most vendors who receive offers lower than the price they have originally set their hearts on find the experience a confronting one. While some readily understand the relationship between timing and price in achieving the best sale outcome for their property, others find it really difficult to accept any variation in the price they have decided on and find it hard to understand that the longer the property takes to sell, the less chance they have of achieving a higher price.

It may help vendors to bridge the expectation gap if they realise that purchasers too have a price they think the property is worth; just as some vendors have to lower their expectations, purchasers too often have to lower theirs – or raise the price they’re prepared to pay. The good news is that most vendors end up getting a price they are ultimately happy with – which is not the same necessarily as getting what they first hoped for. They come to accept that the emotional value that they place on their years of living in the property is simply not capable of being passed on to incoming purchasers who are making their comparisons and looking for value for money.

To help with the decision making process when an offer is disappointing, vendors should ask their agent to provide facts and figures from past sales of similar properties. They need to be scrupulously impartial when making their comparisons (They should ask themselves questions such as: ‘Is the fourth bedroom really a bedroom or would it best be described as a sunroom or a study.  If I were the purchaser, what would I call it?’ or ‘Is the driveway steeper than a similar house that sold down the road for the price I want?’)

Source:  http://www.localpropertynews.net/