Five mistakes homebuyers make as seller's market looms
Posted: 06/04/2012
- By: Paul Owers, Sun Sentinel
South Florida homebuyers have had the advantage for six years, but now sellers are enjoying a resurgence.
Prices have increased in Broward County for much of the past year, and values are inching upward in Palm Beach County as well. The number of homes for sale is down dramatically in both counties.
Some buyers don't realize or can't accept that the market has changed, real estate agents and analysts say.
"People come in, and they think the market is 2008 or 2009, when sellers were desperate," said Jennifer Sommers, an agent with Nestler Poletto Sotheby'sInternational Realty in Boca Raton. "They're not desperate. Not at all."
As a result, some buyers aren't getting the homes they want. Here are five errors that agents and experts say buyers are making as Broward and Palm Beach counties shift to a seller's market:
Sticking with lowball offers. Ridiculously low offers were the norm during the housing bust, but buyers can't get away with them anymore, agents say.
Stephanie Chen is closing next month on her Weston home after previously rejecting an offer for $400,000 less than her $1.1 million asking price.
"The mistake some buyers make is going so low it's not even reasonable," said Chen, 32. "We just walked away from the table."
Buyers and sellers have different definitions of a lowball offer, said Randy Bianchi, co-owner of Paradise Properties of Florida in West Palm Beach. Sellers think they've been lowballed on offers less than 90 percent of their asking prices, while some buyers say bids of 80 percent to 85 percent of the list price are reasonable, Bianchi said.
Jackie Smith, an agent in Broward and Palm Beach counties, said a client recently went against her advice and offered $55,000 less than the $194,000 asking price on a two-bedroom waterfront condominium in Lighthouse Point. The bid was rejected.
"Right off the bat, buyers say, 'I want a steal,' and I tell them they have to wipe that word out of their vocabulary," Smith said
Taking too long to "sleep on it." Agents who tell buyers not to dilly dally often are accused of being self-serving. But with so few houses available for sale, agents say buyers don't understand how the market has changed.
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