Welcome to today’s Word on the Street. As a real estate professional with over 37 years and over 5,000 transactions in the SW Florida real estate market, we have our ears to the ground. We know what buyers and sellers are thinking because we deal with them every day. Real estate is our passion and our career. We report stats every week, and this week we want to report what we’re hearing.
Word on the street
Buyers have waited long enough, and they want to buy. Their problem is that they are afraid that the market has not gone down. Buyers want to shop at the bottom, and until they’re convinced we’re there, they either protect themselves, or sit low. Reading negative articles about the SW Florida real estate market doesn’t help either.
We never know we’re at the bottom of the market until we see it in our rearview mirror. Buyers are inconvenienced by long waits. They wait for rates to come down, they wait for prices to come down, and sometimes both. The problem is, they never time the market right, and for one reason or another, it hurts them financially. After all, fear is a powerful emotion and can stop people in their tracks, even when they want to take action.
Sellers are disappointed
Sellers are less fearful and more angry. They are angry that buyers are being unreasonable and taking advantage of the situation. The funny thing is, sellers didn’t care how buyers felt about 4 years ago when the shoe was on the other foot. The reality is buyers and sellers never care about each other. They are on opposite teams. We have seen clients who are sellers in one home and buyers in another at the same time. They are transacting in the same market, and yet they have no qualms about changing their buyer/seller hats at a moment’s notice. They are protecting their interest irrespective of which side they are on.
We asked a buyer the other day if they would have been a seller if they had taken this offer. The buyer did not respond, if they were the seller they would not have taken their offer.
fear
Sometimes people need a little help to bounce back from a situation. The question we asked earlier made the buyer pause and reconsider. Fear rarely advances your cause. Your goal is to buy or sell a home. For most people, fear gets in the way, even at great cost. People become more afraid of pursuing and achieving what they want. Even when logic and facts prove that waiting can be costly, both buyers and sellers will do so out of fear. Fear is a great protector, and yet it is rarely protected. Until they get the facts, people should absolutely stop.
The facts scare Trump
To avoid being paralyzed by fear, it pays to get the facts. Facts help us make informed decisions that are not based on emotion. Fear is an emotion. There is also greed. Greed and fear stop more people from moving forward than anything else, and it’s sad because wealth and opportunity are lost when fear and greed are present. If we look back at times in our lives, we can all find situations when we let greed and fear prevent us from making good decisions.
The real question is, who are your reliable facts?
Strategy meeting
We at the Ellis Team would like to be your trusted source for the facts on the SW Florida real estate market. We don’t sell but present you with the facts and your options. If you would like to sit down with Brett or Sunday Alice for a private strategy session, give us a call 239-310-6500. If you’re not ready yet, keep our number handy, or visit www.swflhomevalues.com for an instant value on your home. It’s quick and free.
Good luck, and happy selling!
