Jun 24 2008
Advice to buyers and sellers in this market
The analogy is kind of weird, but the sentiment is probably true in this DP article:
The In his most recent market report, Phillips likened the local real estate conditions to his recipe for pumpkin meatloaf — a dish defined by its disgusting clash of ingredients. “Like a good recipe, a good real-estate market is one that features a good balance of ingredients,” he wrote. “If you put in a little too much of one ingredient, the dish may not taste very good; however, if you put in way too much of that ingredient, the dish becomes unpalatable. The recipe for the Charlottesville area real-estate market has way too much of one ingredient — supply of homes for sale — and that has created an unbalanced recipe that is hard to swallow.”
A couple comments:
I’ve always found sellers are willing to come down a few grand - even in a tight market - except in the first week or so of the listing.
The best advice in the article was for sellers: “…be ready to walk away and go on to house No. 2.” That’s the key to getting the best deal, be it a primary dwelling or investment property. Getting too invested emotionally before finalizing terms is usually expensive. If your bluff gets called (and it is a bluff if you’re so invested that you can’t walk away) you either end up sad and discouraged or swallowing your pride and paying more that likely should.