The inventory of homes on the market in the Palos Verdes is only 40% of the inventory last year; therefore, some homes are getting multiple offers at present. If you find a home you like, make an offer. My listing partner and I recently put a very desirable home on the market and held it open to the public the Sunday after we took the listing. We did not advertise in the newspapers, but we put out ten lead-in signs. We opened at 1PM and planned to close at 5PM. We had so many people viewing the home that we did not close until 6:30 PM; definitely one of the best open houses ever. One couple came through and said they wanted to submit an offer through their agent. They said the house was over priced and asked me what they should offer. I told them to talk to their agent, as I represent the seller. Their agent called me and said they might make a low offer or simply wait until the price came down. I told the agent, “That won’t happen with this property. It will be sold by the end of the week.” Another couple came through who really liked the home. The wife is an agent and I told her not to wait and to make the best offer they could because there were other people interested in the house. They wrote a good offer and the house sold for near the asking price. The couple who were waiting for the price to come down were very disappointed and their agent called me urging me to let him know if anything went awry with the accepted offer. Again, if you find a home you love, make the offer.
I had another listing recently where a prospective buyer asked me to find out what the sellers’ bottom line was because he did not want to go back and forth with offers and counter offers. I got the sellers’ bottom line and relayed it to the buyer, but he continued to dally. Another offer came in and I called the dallier. The bottom line is that he ended up paying a hefty sum more for the home than he would have had he made the offer before another offer came in.
I know that there is still a lot of fear about paying too much for a home in today’s market, but remember that a home is more than just an investment. Your home is where you will live and not just any home will do. When you find the home that you love, make an offer.
