A few weeks ago, I had a client whose maximum purchase price was $370,000. I searched MLS for listings between $350,000 to $400,000 with a mother-in-law suite. My MLS search returned nothing, but I remembered a builder that built such a plan and told my client we should visit them. He grumbled it would be a waste of time since their homes were out of his price range. But I insisted and he reluctantly agreed. Well, they had exactly what he wanted, but at $412,900. To make a long story short he bought it at $376,700 with the builder helping with closing costs and including some appliances.
Luckily, all ended well, but this home had been on the market for a long time and might still be on the market except for luck. Luck that I just happened to know of a builder that built a home that met my client’s requirements. And luck that I was able to convince him to visit that builder.
Moral of the story:
Had the builder priced this home at $400,000 it would have been returned in my original search results. I’m confident other agents made similar searches that would have resulted in an earlier sale. Afterwards, my client commented on how happy he was that the builder had not priced home at $400,000 or it would likely not been available for him. Yes, lucky for him, but not so much for the builder that could have sold it much sooner.
