SouthEast King County Market Comparison-Year to Date Prices

The chart below represents information for Single Family properties listed with a NWMLS Member and closed from January 1, 2007 through December 23, 2007. Average Market Times vary between 48 days and 88 days on market with Hobart having the shortest market time and Ravensdale having the longest.

 

If I can answer any questions about the South King County Market, please post them! 

Colleen Fischesser, Broker/Owner

www.ColleenFish.com       www.MapleValleyRealEstate.com

Colleen Fischesser has been selling and marketing Real Estate in South King & North Pierce Counties since 1990. She is the Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Select in Maple Valley, WA.

The Negotiation Dance….Lady, You’re Ruining Our Rhythm!

Another Agent in my office and I were both negotiating sales this week. The two experiences are different as night and day.

I am currently working with a very Professional agent negotiating an offer on one of my listings. It’s really amazing what’s been going on…..When he calls me, I either answer the phone or return his call. When I call him, he either answers the phone or returns my call. Pretty cool don’t you think? I can understand why this is so hard for some agents in this industry to aspire to this level of professionalism.

My Associate’s experience with another (experienced!) agent has been much different. My Associate represents the Buyers. The Seller’s agent does not return phone calls for days. When the sellers do make a counter, it’s verbally and the Seller’s agent tells my Associate she’s too busy to put it on paper and will My Associate please get it written up, have her buyers sign and then send it over. Long story short, after weeks of back and forth and long periods of no communication in between, the Buyers walked. It was just too difficult and they fell out of love with the house. Thanks to the Seller’s Agent who obviously doesn’t understand the Negotiation Dance.

This is an extreme example of an Agent getting in the way of a transaction, but it happens all the time, and I’m seeing it more and more. I wonder if it’s because many agents have had to get part-time jobs to support their real estate “habit”.

 You see, there’s a rhythm to the negotiation process. Once a Buyer decides to write an offer, he/she is emotionally invested (the exception being the investor). They have made their decision and they want their offer to work out…. Same for a Seller, who makes a counter offer to a Buyer. Perhaps their counter was not exactly what they would have liked to have gotten for their property, but if the Buyer takes it and they can be done, so be it. They are hoping it will work out.  But when the agents drag their feet, don’t return phone calls (sometimes for days) guess what? The emotion cools, the interest wanes and sometimes tempers flare.  

In all fairness, it’s not always an agent who is to blame. Parties to the transaction can sometimes stop the music as well. A seller, wanting to wait and see if a better offer comes in rather than responding to what’s on the table now…. Or a buyer, deciding to wait and let the seller’s counter offer sit for a few days past the expiration date just “to show them”. Both of these scenarios can and often will result in failed negotiations.

Of course it is always up to the client what he/she/they want to do in the negotiation process. But with the representation of a good, experienced Realtor, they will understand the benefits, risks and potential consequences of those decisions before they make them, and if the negotiations fail, it’s their choice, not because their Agent was lazy.

As for the unprofessional agent who just doesn’t get it….here’s some advice from a “Good, Experienced Realtor”…..learn the steps or get off the dance floor!

Enjoy the Ride!

Colleen “Fish” Fischesser

www.ColleenFish.com         www.MapleValleyRealEstate.com