I have seen it time and time again over the years, too many horror stories to count. I have seen it in times when it's been a sellers market and certainly now when it's clearly a buyers market. YOUR FIRST OFFER IS ALMOST ALWAYS YOUR BEST OFFER!
I have seen this happen more times in the past 6 months than I would like to and have been on both sides (representing the buyers in some cases and representing the sellers in some cases). It's always the same old story, the sellers property is on the market, a lot of times for a short period of time (2 or 3 weeks), then in comes an offer, a lot of times a FANTASTIC OFFER! The seller then says, it hasn't been listed that long, it's the first offer, let's hold firm.........then weeks go by and sometimes months, price drops, and before you know it, the listing is priced WELL BELOW where the original offer was. In the past 6 months, the market has continued to go down, so an offer 6 months ago would be much higher than something presented to that same seller today.
As a realtor, I try to prepare my clients for every scenario, but ultimately it's a sellers decision on what to accept or decline. I study this market day in and day out, seven days a week and it's very difficult when you know something is a fantastic opportunity for a seller, especially in today's volitale market place. Remember, the market could be worse a year from now, we just don't know. If you are a seller in need of selling and you are presented with an offer, especially early in the game........you really need to consider it!
