I need I need I need...

The phrase "I need" seems to be popping up more and more in my recent conversations with would-be home sellers, and it usually rears its head particularly early in the conversation. I think that many home owners want to make sure that I understand right from the get go what it is that they "need", monetarily speaking, that is, from the sale of their home. It's perfectly normal for a seller to have expectations and subsequent plans for the proceeds from the sale of their home. Quite often though, those "needs" are not necessarily in sync with what's actually achievable in the current marketplace.
So if turns out that the home owner's"needs" are not realistically achievable, is he/she really a seller in the true sense of the word? Fact is, that approximately 50% of the homes that are on the market today will not sell the first time that they're brought to market. As a matter of fact, many will be listed for two or even three times before they eventually sell, that is if they ever sell at all. Were these home owners real sellers? No! Yet they were placated by Realtors who were so caught up with trying to fullfill their "needs", that they wound up wasting time for both themselves, and the home owner; a lose-lose situation.
facts about market value
Home owner "needs" have absolutely nothing to do with the property's market value. It bears repeating, home owner "needs' have absolutely nothing to do with the property's market value. Nor is a property's market value determined by what the property down the street sold for 3 months ago, last week, or even yesterday. Furthermore, market value has nothing to do with what a well-intentioned appraisal might reveal. Additionally, market value is not determined by what the home owner paid for the property, or improvements made to that property.
Which begs the question,"how is one to surmise what the true market value of a property is?". In the interest of keeping this post short, I'll refer you to the posts titled The real real estate market, parts 1,2,and 3.
Needless to say, it has nothing to do with "I need"...

A sellers market?

That's right folks. I'm going to go out on a limb here and declare that in some market sectors we indeed have ourselves a "seller's market".


At the peak of South Florida's so called "bubble" it was commonplace for a property to sell very quickly, with multiple offers, and at above askng price. This, of course, happened because demand was consistently exceeding the supply, subsequently contributing to the 'perception of value' for real estate.


Today, almost every offer that I've put in on behalf of buyers has been at above list price, and in 50% of those cases those buyers were out bid by someone else. What type of market would you call that?


Here are two examples:
West Hialeah-single family homes priced under 200K in barely acceptable condition are selling quickly and with multiple offers

Royal Oaks(Miami Lakes)-Here, the demand for properties remains strong, and often homes priced well in comparisn to the competition again sell quickly and with multiple offers.


One can extrapolate from these two simple examples that any seller can create a buyer's market for their property, because even when the forces of supply and demand don't seem be in the seller's favor, the seller can create the all important 'pereption of value' that will always get a property sold, regardless of market conditions. In short, the seller's ultimate weapon is the asking price!