Why Buyers Will Not Make Offers on Overpriced Listings

Overpriced listings are not the best thing for a seller, yet some sellers are simply too close to the product to be objective. They struggle. Well, we don’t want to leave money on the table, is a common comment. Another: buyers can make any offer they want, right? And both of those ideas are myths. It is pretty much impossible to leave money on the table in a competitive bidding situation. Followed by buyers won’t offer at all.

In my 44 years of experience in real estate, overpriced listings can happen because the agent is watching for clues from the seller. Those clues might tell the agent if she doesn’t appear enthusiastic about the seller’s suggested sales price, the seller will list with some other agent. No wonder so many people do not much like real estate agents. Some agents only want the listing instead of what is best for the seller.

I’m not saying that this Sacramento Realtor never takes overpriced listings because I certainly do now and then. There are times I can show the seller all the comparable sales, invest a considerable amount of my time not only providing statistics but my reasoning as well. And sellers will still say, “I think we should start at XYZ price because we can always come down.”

Sure, but that strategy most often hurts the seller. Agents spot the price drops, the days on market, and they want to take advantage of the seller. Human nature. I always tell my sellers the price I believe the market will bear. Then, they can make their own decisions based on facts. If they choose to enter the realm of overpriced listings, at least they know they are going against my advice.

This keeps me from feeling too badly about overpriced listings because I know in my heart I have been honest with my sellers. I don’t ever want a seller to ask: why didn’t I tell them? Because it is my job as a listing agent to convey that information.

More often than not, though, buyers just won’t make an offer on any overpriced listings. They feel the seller might be unreasonable. Or stubborn. Plus, they don’t want to offend. It really is in the seller’s best interest to be priced appropriately. But I don’t shove that sentiment down their throats. Some already do a good enough job slicing their own.