"We got an offer? Terrific!". My sellers were so excited!!! It was a low offer, but in today's environment that isn't uncommon. It also is pretty normal to counter, sometimes several times. So they did. They made a good counter, showed willingness to negotiate and expected a counter in return.
The buyer walked. No counter. No reason. They just rejected the counter.
What????
One month later, another offer. Awesome! This time the sellers were more aggressive with their counter offer. They didn't want to lose another buyer. The buyer countered, a slight movement indicating hard negotiations or possibly their unwillingness to move much on the offer price. So the seller countered again, conceding more.
And the buyer walked. No counter. No reason. They just rejected the counter.
Not again!!!!
The reality is it is a buyer's market. To have two counter offers rejected before indicating an impasse is tough to swallow. There was no indication of 'a final offer', no communication about 'the house is over-priced'. In fact the agent indicated that the buyer wanted to get this together. Obviously they changed their mind.
The moral of the story? The obvious one - get a contract signed as quickly as possible. But the true lesson is to negotiate in good faith, don't play games and hold out to save a thousand dollars. Be aggressive and remember it is a buyer's market!
In case you wondered - my sellers did negotiate aggressively and they gave it all they could. They controlled what they could but unfortunately, the buyers didn't think it was enough. I did talk with both agents, attempting to understand the motivation and rationale behind the buyer's logic and neither could offer much. Both indicated the decision surprised them, too. The buyers apparently just changed their minds.
Now they hope that the third time is a charm!
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