Clearwater Real Estate – It’s a Seller’s Market Now

Two Buyer Client Experiences

The first buyer has been looking for a house in the Palm Harbor area and a few weeks ago a new listing came to my attention on a Thursday afternoon (it had been just listed earlier that same day).  I sent the listing to my client and he liked what he saw but asked me to call the listing agent to find out how old the roof was and get back to him.  I called the agent and found out the age of the roof but she told me that they were expecting an offer in that evening.  I let my client know and he said he’d show it to his wife that evening and let me know in the morning if he wanted to put in an offer.

I told him I had a feeling it would go quickly.  The next morning I checked at about 8:30 am and it was under contract.

The second buyer was looking for a house in Safety Harbor and there wasn’t really much at all available in her price range that fit what she wanted.  A few days ago I saw something come on the market at about 8:30 pm and called to see if we could get in to see the house that evening.  The lockbox wasn’t on the house yet so I arranged a time the next morning to see it right after the lockbox would be put on the house and arranged to have the seller available to come over to sign a contract if my client liked it.  I got the paperwork ready for a possible contract and had the proof of funds for my client (cash purchase).

We arrived at 10 am and the house was exactly what my client had wanted to find.  I called to get the seller to come over and during the 30 minutes while we waited another agent came with a buyer.  I told them that we were just waiting for the seller to arrive to finalize a contract and the other agent asked “has he already accepted your offer?”.  Right then the seller arrived and that other agent went right up to him and asked him the same question and then insisted on seeing the house.

I went in with the buyer and waited while the other agent showed the house and as soon as they left we started on the paperwork.  When asked about the price he said that a friend told him that he should try to get a bidding war going but he didn’t want to do that and would accept a full price cash offer from my client.  He also said he had 7 calls already that morning about showing the house but that I was the only one that had called him the night before.

As we were completing the paperwork another agent came in with a buyer and told the seller that her client was ready to make an offer but the seller told her that we already had an agreement and that hers would have to be a backup.  She left in a huff.

We got the contract finalized and my client gave me the deposit check which I deposited at the title company that afternoon.  She was thrilled about the house and that we were able to get the contract on it despite the fact that there were people practically lining up to buy it.

These are both very recent experiences of 2 of my clients and I wanted to share these with you so that you have a better understanding of how you have to be prepared in this current market if you want to get a condo or house that you like.

Also, if you are ready to buy you should let me know so that I can set up a special MLS search that will let us know instantly when a new listing is entered into the MLS.  This was the only way I found the houses for these 2 clients as quickly as I did.

NEXT: What It Takes for Sellers to Sell Successfully