{"id":475,"date":"2006-09-26T18:30:21","date_gmt":"2006-09-27T01:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=475"},"modified":"2006-09-26T18:30:25","modified_gmt":"2006-09-27T01:30:25","slug":"blogoff-post-98-first-timers-search-gives-good-lesson-for-buyerssellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/475\/blogoff-post-98-first-timers-search-gives-good-lesson-for-buyerssellers\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogoff Post #98: First-timers&#8217; search gives good lesson for buyers\/sellers . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is one of my all-time favorites from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/AZRep.php?Gfile=AZRepublic\/133.php\" target=\"_blank\">my <i>Arizona Republic<\/i> column<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I was out showing with first-time home buyers Saturday.  This is my favorite job as a Realtor. Buying a home is never easy, but it gets easier with experience.<\/p>\n<p>We looked at 14 houses, all in the same area. The buyers were smart, focused and well-prepared, which is not always the case.<\/p>\n<p>They were able to distinguish their rational wants and needs from their visceral emotional reactions, so they were not swept away by homes that were beautifully appointed but a poor fit for their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Out of the 14, they narrowed their choices to three, one of which was truly sub-optimal but happened to be selling at a great price. We revisited the top two choices and ended up settling on the second. The third choice didn&#8217;t even rate a second look.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some interesting facts from this fairly typical home search:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Three sellers made it difficult for us to get in to see their homes, and one refused to let us come at all.  You can be pretty certain your house will never sell if you won&#8217;t let buyers see it.<\/li>\n<li>Many of the 14 candidates were poorly maintained, to put it mildly. Pet odors, food odors, yapping dogs and aggressive dogs &#8212; many of the houses were a long way from being show-ready.<\/li>\n<li>The home my buyers picked was one of four with the exact same floor plan for sale in the same subdivision. We actually looked at three of the four.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>They chose the best, of course, in terms of condition and location. They had no need and no reason to settle for less.<\/p>\n<p>What can you take away from this? &#8220;If your home is not the best choice, either in presentation or price &#8212; or both &#8212; it&#8217;s not going to sell in this market.&#8221;<br \/>\n<!-- technorati tags start --><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right;font-size:10px;\">Technorati Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/arizona\" rel=\"tag\">arizona<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/arizona real estate\" rel=\"tag\">arizona real estate<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/phoenix\" rel=\"tag\">phoenix<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/phoenix real estate\" rel=\"tag\">phoenix real estate<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/sellsius 101\" rel=\"tag\">sellsius 101<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/real estate\" rel=\"tag\">real estate<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/real estate marketing\" rel=\"tag\">real estate marketing<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- technorati tags end --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is one of my all-time favorites from my Arizona Republic column: I was out showing with first-time home buyers Saturday. This is my favorite job as a Realtor. Buying a home is never easy, but it gets easier with experience. We looked at 14 houses, all in the same area. The buyers were smart, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":816,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/816\/information-comes-with-experience\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":0},"title":"Information comes with experience","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is me from today's Arizona Republic (permanent link): Information comes with experience Continuing from last week, let's work together as Realtors and round out the purchase offer for our buyers. What's the best closing date? The buyers have never thought about it, but it's our job to know. They're\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2181,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2181\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-will-the-negotiating-their-buyers-agents-compensation-make-buyers-more-practical\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":1},"title":"A consumer&#8217;s guide to the divorced real estate commission: Will the necessity of negotiating their buyer&#8217;s agent&#8217;s compensation make buyers more practical?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part II: How buyers can finally take a seat at the grown-up's table When a potential home-seller calls me to set up a listing appointment, very often the first question I will hear is, \"How much do you charge?\" A motivated seller is done with the house, and now all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12341,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12341\/first-time-home-buyers-tax-credit-the-morning-after-the-governments-gift-to-new-home-buyers-a-house-immediately-worth-8000-less-than-they-paid-for-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":2},"title":"First time home-buyers tax credit, the morning after: &#8220;The government&#8217;s &#8216;gift&#8217; to new home-buyers? A house immediately worth $8,000 less than they paid for it.&#8221;","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"From the National Review Online:Things are looking worse on the housing front, with a severe drop-off in existing home sales following the expiration of the home-buyer tax credit. It's hard to overstate how stupid this policy was. The government marketed it as a measure to boost residential real-estate prices by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Mother&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5446,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5446\/offering-more-service-to-buyers-for-a-bigger-slice-of-the-buyers-agents-commission-redfin-moves-closer-to-traditional-real-estate\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":3},"title":"Offering more service to buyers for a bigger slice of the buyer&#8217;s agent&#8217;s commission, Redfin moves closer to traditional real estate","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"When I represent buyers, I see my biggest responsibility as taking the fear away. Yes, I need to find and show houses. Yes, I need to write contracts and supervise inspections. Yes, I need to husband everything through the lender and the title company. But the job of jobs is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Disintermediation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":519,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/519\/the-seller-really-pays-for-the-buyers-agent-definitely-not-when-the-buyer-pays-out-of-pocket-but-what-if-the-buyer-really-did-pay-for-the-buyers-agent-from-the-buyers-side-of-the-hud-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":4},"title":"The seller really pays for the buyer&#8217;s agent? Definitely not when the buyer pays out of pocket. But what if the buyer really did pay for the buyer&#8217;s agent from the buyer&#8217;s side of the HUD-1?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot of discussion of Buyer Broker compensation going on around the RE.net, and I want to draw attention to it while I can. I have some further thoughts of my own, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to them today. It's Saturday, after all. One\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2555,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2555\/if-youve-finally-found-your-dream-home-dont-dawdle\/","url_meta":{"origin":475,"position":5},"title":"If you&#8217;ve finally found your dream home &#8212; don&#8217;t dawdle","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link): \u00a0If you've finally found your dream home -- don't dawdle Here's a paradox for the ages: It's been a strong buyers market for more than two years -- and yet buyers still can't afford to be lax\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}