Based on recent sales in the neighborhood, we agreed that the house was optimistically priced – i.e. overpriced.   My buyer decided to make an offer for the house that was approximately 8% less than the asking price but actually almost 1% MORE than the most recent sale that had taken place in the neighborhood.  We submitted the offer, with a letter from a lender saying that the buyer was financially well qualified and did not need to sell his home in order to purchase this new home.  The buyer asked for settlement to occur 90 days after settlement and asked for the seller to leave the Murphy bed that was attached to a wall in the basement bedroom. 

After waiting three days and being promised a response momentarily, the seller’s agent called to tell me that the seller was not going to respond at all because the offer was too far off.  The seller did not want to leave the Murphy bed, wanted an earlier settlement date, and was not willing to accept our offering price. I asked why the seller didn’t just say that the Murphy bed did not convey, name an earlier settlement date, and counter on the offering price.   The seller’s agent repeated that we were too far apart.

I confess that I was nonplussed that the seller wouldn’t counter at all. To my mind, we had made a very fair opening offer.  It was $5000 more than the most recent sale (and that house was updated with a new kitchen and baths) although the house for sale was 50 feet bigger than the one that had sold.  We had offered a non-contingent offer with a qualified buyer and a longer settlement date, picked out of respect for the seller’s age.  (The seller is moving from her home of 20 years into an independent living facility.)

After waiting two days, my client reopened the negotiations with a new offer.  The settlement date was changed to 60 days, the Murphy bed was struck from the initial offer and the offering price was left unchanged.  The buyer was not willing to counter his initial offer on price and bid against himself before the seller made a counter offer on price. 

Three days later, the seller countered.  The settlement date was cut down to 45 days and the price counter was about 2% less than the asking price.  The seller also asked for an increase in the earnest money and to shorten the time for the house inspection and the radon inspection.

My client is still hanging in there, so we countered again. The buyer was willing to settle on the seller’s requested date, increase the earnest money, and do the house inspection in a condensed time frame.  He also was prepared to make an offer that was very close to the top of his ability to pay. 

We talked about the nature of the seller’s personality and whether the seller would need another counter to be satisfied.  I thought that the seller had at least one more counter to give.  Therefore we made an offer that was slightly less than he was actually willing to pay so that the seller could make an additional counter.  

I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

There are several things to keep in mind when negotiating to buy a home in the DC area. 

1. Try not to go back and forth more than twice. Don’t annoy each other by prolonging the negotiations.
2.  Focus on the strengths of the offer – is it non-contingent? Is the buyer qualified?
3. Find out what is important to the seller and what is important to the buyer.
4. Don’t get lost in the minutiae of the offer.  You can counter on settlement date, price, terms.
5. It is important to keep talking and moving toward closure.
6. Eliminate each area of conflict one at a time, and focus on the ultimate goal of resolving the difference.

If you want to buy or sell a house in DC, Bethesda, or Chevy Chase, give Lise Howe a call. After years of negotiating for the US Government, she can negotiate a successful transaction for you too!

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Jaguar Convertible or Jeep

I never got the Jaguar although I drove a Jeep for years, and since they both start with a “J” it seemed that I was almost there. I did end up selling million dollar houses, but that was after the market had tanked in 1989 and 1990, and I was selling them for $400,000 instead.  I didn’t develop a taste for bonbons though, but two out of three isn’t bad. 

I also discovered that there is a lot more to being a Realtor than just driving around in a pretty car and popping bonbons.  Some days my family doesn’t even have an idea of how I spent the day.  So…. I decided to start this diary to explain what a realtor does all day and to review how I spent the day.  I hope for you, the reader, it will be interesting and informative. For me, it should be a kind of accountability.  

With that sense of optimism, here it goes!

TODAY, October 27, 2009, is probably not a representative day to start a diary.  This morning I took my dog to the vet at Friendship Animal Hospital for a monthly shot because he has Addison’s Disease.  Who knew that standard poodles are predisposed to Addison’s? Fortunately the vet at Friendship over a year ago knew that.  Now we go to the vet every month which he loves because he gets treats there non-stop so he doesn’t misbehave, bark, or lunge at other dogs.

Poirot and my daughter, Lise Courtney

After the trip to the vet, I stopped at my office at Coldwell Banker on Wisconsin Avenue.  We are remodeling our office, which promises to be a new and incredibly exciting space. No more cubicles! They have been replaced with a lounge, zebra striped chairs, sofas, a coffee bar, and communal work tables.  Our manager, Darrin Friedman, promises that this will be Kinko’s meets Starbucks.  Since we have been living in chaos for the last two weeks, we will be happy to see the end results. 

I wanted to check my office, which was being painted “Hawaiian Blue” this morning.  Thanks to a suggestion by Bronwyn Mathis, my assistant, the two end walls were painted with white board or dry erase so that we can keep track of listings and sales in progress, make sure we are in contact with our clients on a regular basis, and monitor all appointments on a massive calendar.  Happily, the color is exactly what I wanted and the white board paint works.  (The outer office has a big blackboard for writing notes to each other, but I really prefer our white board! No chalk dust and it is so much brighter!)

My office is childishly signficant to me. Even though I was consistently a significant contributor to the bottom line of my previous real estate company- always in the top five in production and sales- I never had my own office.  Now that I am at Coldwell Banker, I have my own office, an assistant and a buyer’s agent.  As a team we are so much more productive – exponentially so – than I was as a single agent in my old company.  The happy Hawaiian blue walls and white board establish the style that I want the office and my team to project – warm, comfortable, welcoming, peaceful, and very productive.  With the white board, we will always be able to monitor productivity and the  positive direction in which we are moving.

Once I was wowed by how great my office was looking, I went to Herndon, Virginia with my buyer’s agent, Janet Rushford, to attend part of the REBarCampDC.   It is hard to explain exactly what REBarCamps are - a collection of realtors and vendors who believe that technology can make a signficant contribution to the real estate industry.  Janet and I attended a presentation on the use of video tours in real estate.  The consensus of the group was that video tours should be no longer than 3 minutes, although a second  and longer video tour can be posted along side the shorter one for anyone who is very interested in the listing or neighborhood.

Several people there reminded me of some tax attorneys I have known because of their delight in debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.  The people at REBarCamp sidetracked the presentation to a discussion of whether agents can post videos on line of other agents’ listings. I think that the end conclusion was that it depends on state law, and the NAR code.  It seemed to me that it is inappropriate for an agent to post another agent’s listing on the Internet without getting the listing agent’s consent.  Generally an agent is delighted to have another agent include photos and information about the listing on that agent’s website or blog, as long as the listing agent is clearly identified.  I still am not sure why we wasted five minutes in such a non-issue.

After this angels on the head of a pin discussion, Janet and I decided that the office was looking even better than before as a destination, so we left before the next presentation on the use of statistics in marketing. After a quick stop by the office to watch the paint dry, I pulled my laptop out of my bag to settle in for some real work.

Much of my day is spent in responding to emails and reaching out to new clients.  Today we received several inquiries from Homegain buyers and sellers which had to be answered with offers of our services, including a set of properties available that match the buyer’s criteria or a description of our marketing plan for the seller’s property.  Inquiries from buyers visiting my website www.homesinchevychasebethesda.com require that we set up a search for those buyers with daily notifications of new listings. 

A current client needed the name of a handyman, while a new contact that I hope will turn into a client needed a painter.  I shared the name of my handyman, Mike Sanepour, with first client, and called my painter, Pete, to make sure he was taking new business. 

In the meantime, Bronwyn  scheduled a house inspection for tomorrow and tried to track down a missing electrical permit.

Now it is 10 oclock  and I have finished studying high school chemistry for a test tomorrow that I fortunately will not be taking. I am going to end this first day’s effort so that I can respond to some more buyers on HomeGain. Hopefully there will be more business for me tomorrow!

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