When the Shoe is On the Other Foot in Real Estate

When the shoe is on the other foot in real estate, it is not a good fit. As a busy Sacramento Realtor, I am often astonished at the reactions of others in this business, myself included. We are professionals and, as such, should know better. But sometimes that human element pops out when we don’t expect it. 

Like when my husband and I made an offer on our house in Hawaii. The listing agent told us they had a counter offer out. Although I sell on average one or two houses a week and should know better, you won’t believe what I said. I looked at Hella Rothwell, our buyer’s agent, and asked: what do you think we should offer? I wanted the house, too. It wasn’t a take it or leave it kind of proposition.

Hella just laughed. Basically said something like are you listening to yourself? I had, but for a brief moment, turned into a regular buyer. I was not Hot Shot Top Producer Sacramento Realtor with 40+ years of experience under my belt. Nope, in that situation, when the shoe is on the other foot, I was a home buyer. That incident made me laugh, too, when I realized what was happening. Of course I knew what to do.

I thought of this last month when I saw another shoe is on the other foot. An agent who moved out of Sacramento asked me to list and sell her mother’s house. They wanted to try a higher price, so we gave it a shot. When that did not work, we pulled a new MLS number, changed the price and reset the days on market. Almost immediately we received an offer. But the offer was really low. Probably close to 10% off the new sales price.

The agent blew a gasket. She said they would ignore the offer. And a few other choice words, too. She was appalled. Angry. See, the shoe is on the other foot. I had to say, you know, you are acting just like a seller! Go take your dog for a walk; go out to dinner. Relax. Take a break. And then we will write a counter offer.

What would have happened if I had been some other agent and told those sellers it was OK to ignore the offer? We came to an agreement at full list price and are closing this week. Just took a little bit of expert negotiation to get there. Sometimes the client is not always right. When the client is not right, it is my job to gently help that person to understand the error of her way.