A while back a had an encounter with a nice gentleman, who contacted us about wanting to sell his house. It was an investment property he owned in Hampton, VA. He, let’s call him Mark, had owned the house for 7 years and had done some repairs on it, hoping to do a full rehab. Apparently this was a joint deal with a friend of his, but for some reason the friend did not keep his end of the bargain of putting the necessary time and money into fixing the house, so it had been left unfinished for several years. Moreover, the owners’ ages started to “creep up” and Mark decided it was time to cut ties with this house and sell it.
Mark decided to sell the house to a local cash buyer, so he contacted several of those companies, including us, in late 2020. We went out to look at the property and did a thorough evaluation. Mark was impressed. He stated many others just took a quick look and seemed to make price offers as if they “pulled random numbers out of a hat”. Our offer was not the highest. Mark told me he went with a different buyer. I warned him that some buyers will offer a high amount, just to get the deal, and then they will ask the seller to reduce the price later based on “certain issues they found later”. Feeling hooked and under an initial agreement, the seller may feel pressured to continue with the same buyer and agree to reduce the asking price…
Several months went buy. Then one day out of the blue, Mark called me and said, “Alex, you were right, these guys offered me a high initial price, but then asked me to reduce the price because they found “unforeseen issues”. That actually happened several times in a roll, so he finally decided to cut ties with them. “I want to deal with you, Alex”, he said, ” because you are a house buyer who did his diligence and I want to see if you will work with me”. At that point Mark understood the reasoning behind our numbers and why our offer was lower. We stood behind our numbers and came through with the cash during closing. Needless to say, Mark was thrilled and happy with the outcome. So, sellers beware – not everyone who offers you the highest price for your house will come through. Do your own research and work with people who keep their word, from the first contact with the buyer through the last. Trust is priceless.