Right now, just a few days into spring, we are right at the start of nation’s peak real estate selling season. I’ve always found it odd that you don’t hear much about it—but that also makes it the beginning of the buying season, too!
As a licensed team of Realtors®, throughout the course of the year we are privileged to act as the agent for both buyers and sellers in many different transactions. The details we’re called upon to manage do vary somewhat depending on which side we are representing in any given sale—but there is one very significant goal that I regard as identical, no matter in which capacity we serve (more on that later).
There are some generalizations that usually hold true about the difference in mindset between prospective buyers and sellers. For one thing, sellers automatically have in-depth knowledge about their area property. Gained through the years, they know the community; they know the most reliable local tradespeople; they know the ins and outs of getting around town. Sellers have a degree of confidence that comes with experience: and when it come to the property at issue, they’re old hands!
Buyers, on the other hand, find themselves to some extent venturing into the unknown. Even if they are already local residents, the prospective neighborhood may be largely terra incognita. And for sure, they can’t be positive about the details of the property—what are its strong points, and (worrisome, this) its unknown vulnerabilities, if there are any. In short, buyers automatically come armed with less confidence.
Bringing more parity to the two sides is one of the key services that will lead to the result both want. Whether our own clients happen to be on the seller side or buyer side, when the buyers gain confidence that they are as close as possible to the sellers’ encyclopedic knowledge of the property, the best result has the best chance of being met.
As a practical matter, that means digging in and working diligently to assemble and relate all possible information that can be gathered. It can also mean sometimes finding out where the buyers feel least confident, and laboring as needed to see that the gap is filled.
Before, I noted that there is one significant way in which my goal as representative for the area’s buyers and sellers is always the same. It’s this: the best result is always achieved when both sides come away fully satisfied that their interests have been well served.
For the seller, importantly, that means that they’ve received fair compensation for their home. For the buyer, likewise—with the added element of emerging with the gut feeling that no matter what the future holds, they know that they have been leveled with. When buyers and sellers each have confidence that the sale has resulted in fair dealing, the positive feeling lasts.
Whether your next area real estate venture is buying or selling, we hope you’ll give our office a call!