This is part 3 of the “Neighborhood Expert” series of posts. I am an agent that lives and works in Scottsdale. I’ve been selling real estate in the since 1983. Below is one of my stories about out-of-area agents against a local Realtor®. It is in response to an article in Inman News speaking against self-anointed “neighborhood experts.”
The Scottsdale Townhome Sellers That I Saved Thousands
I took a listing for a Scottsdale townhouse for sale. It was a beautiful place with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. We got an agent from Gilbert that had an interested buyer. In an era of technology, she insisted on presenting her offer at the table with my sellers. My sellers obliged (many won’t) and the agent proceeded to state that the townhouse would not appraise at our asking price. This was to justify her buyer’s low offer.
But it was a bit more than that. She was derogatory, she was adamant, and she was dead wrong. I didn’t know how my sellers were going to respond to her negative offer presentation, but they were very polite and let her know that they wanted x amount of dollars and that was it. After much negotiating, and her continually complaining that it was overpriced and I was to blame, her buyers accepted my seller’s counter-offer. She might have even told her buyers that it wouldn’t appraise and hopefully the sellers would come down to appraised value. That's a "trick" that some agents use, and it often backfires.
As you can imagine, the townhouse did appraise for the contract price and I had very happy sellers that were able to move on with their retirement plans. It was a difficult transaction all the way to the closing table because of the attitude of this know-it-all, out-of-area agent. By the way, she had sold 2 houses the prior year and 2 that year. While writing this post I see she sold 2 within the past 12 months. You really don’t keep up-to-date with the market with such part-time numbers, but I graciously did not mention her lack of sales. I was just happy to be proven correct with my value for this Scottsdale townhouse for sale.
This brings me to being a "neighborhood expert". I knew Scottsdale real estate values. An agent that works in Gilbert might not be up on other areas that she's never actually had a sale in. In this case, without realizing it at the moment, my expertise helped my sellers stand firm and get what they wanted so they could move on with their lives.
I wonder if this agent's buyers were upset with her if she told them the townhouse wasn't worth what they were paying. I hope she didn't make them think it wouldn't appraise and they would then get a lower price. I've seen that happen, but not in this case, and not with me as the listing agent.
Thankfully, I never had a transaction with her again, and I didn't expect to because I believe the two sales she did have were in Gilbert. I'm not even sure she if stayed in the business.
Bottom line, if I wasn’t experienced in Scottsdale and let this agent walk all over me my sellers might have accepted the lowball offer. I knew the prices, educated my sellers that I felt good about their price appraising, and convinced them to stand their ground.
If you’re interested in buying and/or selling a Scottsdale townhouse or any other area real estate, give The Judy Orr Team a call at 480-877-1549.
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