It’s not COMPLETELY a seller market in the Raleigh area. It’s GETTING there, but hold on.

First let me say that I understand how badly sellers were beaten up by buyers in the real estate downturn. Downturn. That’s putting it lightly, to say the least. But I get it. I saw seller after seller either have to PAY to sell their home, or give up entirely on the whole idea because they couldn’t afford to sell. And the buyers…holy cow. They wanted sellers to replace perfectly good carpet, paint for no good reason, encase the home in a germ-free bubble and wash the buyers’ cars and dogs. Okay. I’m stretching things a little bit. But you get the idea. Long story short: Sellers gave and gave and gave and buyers took and took and took. But…the universe will balance if you just give it a chance.

NOW, with a housing shortage in many areas, and new construction roaring back with a vengence right along with soaring prices, the market is turning and sellers have grown fangs. No, it’s true! Look for yourself! They are in the mood to get even. But sorry seller; you cannot expect a buyer to make up your financial loss when you bought at the top of the market JUST before it crashed. It’s not their fault and it’s not their job to rescue your finances. They want to buy your house. That’s it. Question is, do you REALLY want to sell it?

Part of me doesn’t blame the sellers. Who’s in the catbird seat NOW, mister buyer? Well, nobody really. It still all boils down to what one person wants that another person HAS, and how the parties arrive and a mutually acceptable solution. Nobody’s supposed to walk away with bruises, either on body or ego. It’s business, people. Oh and by the way, sometimes it doesn’t work out and that’s OKAY. If everybody isn’t HAPPY, then EVERYBODY doesn’t have to play. That’s OKAY!!

But I’ve watched, over and over, perfectly sane people…GROWN people I might add…arguing over a hundred bucks. When you’re talking about several hundred THOUSAND dollars on the table, isn’t it kind of strange to quibble over 100 bucks? But sellers are doing that AND SO ARE BUYERS.

Well now it’s my turn…because it’s my blog, after all. heh heh. But hear me out. THEORETICALLY, the seller actually WANTS to sell and THEORETICALLY the buyer wants to buy. Wow. Perfect recipe for success. What happens? People let emotions get ALL over the place. And…and this is the most prevalent problem: people who are not LICENSED, professional real estate agents try to be professional real estate agents. And they get in the way of an otherwise smooth and successful transaction, and they put the REAL professional in awkward and sometimes unethical situations. People! Let the advisor you PAY for ACTUALLY be the advisor. How crazy is it to PAY for advice and then not take it? IIII’m smiling now. It’s pretttty crazy!

Please listen to your realtor whose job it is to explain the MARKET MARKET MARKET to you. The MARKET MARKET MARKET dictates the value of your property, not your emotional attachments AND NOT how much you paid at the top of a bubble market.

Okay…and..the days of real estate transactions having to be nasty are O-VER. That kind of behavior is OLD SCHOOL real estate. Now, there are LAWS in place, and legal documents in place to take the backstabbing and nastiness crap out of transactions, if people would just stop being silly. Oh and here’s a good idea: READ THE CONTRACT YOU SIGN. You made an AGREEMENT, which you SIGNED. Don’t come back and gripe about a hundred bucks and please don’t take the lockbox off because you didn’t like the inspector! And don’t take out the stove and vinyl flooring because you think you got low-balled. Oh my God.

Talk with your Realtor; be a real team together. Vent, growl, let smoke come out of your ears…and then come up with a plan that makes you feel good about things and do that. Your agent SHOULD help you with that. And your agent should tell you when you’re being unreasonable and when you’re being an ass. Sorry.

Here’s the thing about me: I’m VERY good at what I do, and I refuse to play stupid old-school real estate ‘games’. My job is to advise you, my client, set the RIGHT expectations about what the MARKET MARKET MARKET says, and to protect your negotiating position. It is NOT my job to “fight for my client”. And it is not my job to be yelled at…by anybody involved in the transaction. I’m NICE. I’m very very VERY good at what I do AND I’m nice. Any time you hear a Realtor say he/she will “FIGHT” for you? Run. In fact, just run to me. I win without fighting. Do clients sometimes walk away? Yes, they do. Because sometimes both parties cannot come to an agreement and that’s how it is; it’s okay; it’s how its SUPPOSED to work.

Now. Why did I say MARKET MARKET MARKET, repeatedly and in all caps? BECAUSE people do NOT LISTEN. Heads up: the MARKET sets the value of your home. NOT YOU, NOT YOUR AGENT, NOT YOUR AUNT BETTY OR YOUR TWENTY INEBRIATED FRIENDS. The MARKET MARKET MARKET sets the price. Now, do people SOMETIMES pay more than the house is ‘WORTH’ according to the market. Yesssss they do. BUT ONLY if they plan to live there forever, if they will die if they don’t have YOUR house, or they plan to make a KILLING on it as a rental property.

Here’s another thing: You can price your home WAY above the MARKET MARKET MARKET value, but it won’t APPRAIIIISSSSE. Somebody’s gonna go out to your house and appraise it. And then the bank will lend a portion of that appraised value on that property and AAANNYTHING over that appraised value is coming out of SOMEBODY’S POCKET. Probably yours. OR THE BUYER WILL WALK AWAY.

Price at the market, get the house sold, or keep making payments and payments and payments while the cadre of buyers goes elsewhere and spends their money. If you insist on over pricing, DO NOT BLAME YOUR REALTOR when you get no offers! Buyers know what the MARKET MARKET MARKET says your house is worth before they ever set foot inside it.

And stop asking your Realtor to pay for things. We work our buns off for you, and this is how we earn our living. Most of us give you a discount up front these days (count your blessngs because those days are numbered), so don’t ask us for money. Unless you want to give us the opportunity to come get some of your paycheck next week. We are ALWAYS on call, never get a day off, always work holidays. Keep that in mind.

And yet…I still do this job and I still love it. Why? It’s because of the people I get to meet and help. It’s all about my clients. ALL about them.