Over the holidays, I had the chance to speak with several Realtors at various parties and get togethers and find out what are other agents saying about SW Florida real estate market. We work with other agents every day, however there is something about getting a bunch of agents together in one place and discussing what they’re seeing in the market.
Agents Saying About SW Florida Real Estate Market
Each one that I spoke with had similar observations. Buyers and sellers seem to share an anger. When both are angry this is an indication the market is in flux. Each side has certain expectations and neither are being met.
If you’ve ever watched American Idol, some of the best episodes in the beginning of the season are when they show singers who think they are good. They’ve been told all their life how wonderful they sing by friends and family. Nobody wants to disappoint them, so they don’t tell them the truth. It may help their ego for a while, but secretly people are laughing at them because their talent doesn’t match their perception of themselves.
The real estate market can be like that sometimes. Most people know what a seller’s market is, and most know what a buyer’s market is. Imagine being a seller believing wholeheartedly it’s a full-blown seller’s market and buyers are just beating down doors to buy any home they can.
And imagine a parallel universe where buyers believe it’s a full-blown buyer’s market and sellers are practically giving homes away. When you merge these two universes together, each one begins to realize their expectation of what the market is, or what they think it should be collide. And when these universes collide, each side becomes frustrated.
Therefore, now more than ever buyers and sellers need agents. When either side is confused about reality, or angry, or sometimes both, transactions do not get done without the help of a professional. In 2016 transactions were down about 15% or more. We’ll wait for year-end calculations on that.
Anger shows up when it shouldn’t, and it kills deals. Regular inspection items become mountains, because the buyer has fear, or doesn’t feel like the transaction has been fair to them. Rational or not, buyers bail. Or sellers refuse to fix the most basic items; items they’d fix if they were staying in the home anyway. If the seller is angry or doesn’t feel like they’ve won, sometimes they turn off and tune out and kill deals.
What neither side fails to realize is that winning is the culmination of attaining a goal. The goal was to either buy a house or sell a house. Anger gets in the way. They judge wins and losses by who got the better of the deal, not whether the deal closes.
Now many items are important. We’re not making light of that. Agents work tirelessly every day to bring a transaction together, and lots of things must happen to make that reality. We’re talking about the silly things that shouldn’t rise to deal-breaker status but do because of emotions.
When you’re in a transaction, you can convince yourself of anything, and you’d be right. Most buyers and sellers appreciate having a professional guide them. They can bounce ideas off their agent, and an agent can give them a professional perspective on how to handle it, and which items are worth arguing about.
Imagine 4 siblings fighting over a toy. Or arguing about who started the fight. You’ve all heard “But she started it”. As a parent, you know the kids can’t see the big picture because they’re caught up in the emotion of who is getting the fair shake. They don’t realize that the parents aren’t necessarily picking a favorite, they’re just arbitrating what is fair this time, until the next argument 10 minutes later.
We don’t see buyers and sellers as children. However, children and adults alike are people, and emotions take over. It’s human nature. To combat emotions, we like to use facts, data and logic.
We study the market and counsel buyers and sellers to actual market conditions. We help get you from Stuck to Sold. Call the Ellis Team 239-489-4042. Let’s make your next transaction in 2017 a success.
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