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Sins of omission An
asking price is supposed to reflect the market value of a
property -- and in enough cases it does or, at the least, isn’t
too far
from it. There are, though, exceptions,
and it’s part of my job as an Exclusive Buyer Broker (which means I no
longer
list properties but work solely for buyers) to recognize them. Recently, in fact, I ran across three good
examples of
prices that were way out of line with what they ought to have been. One was an industrial building listed at
$600,000 when its value was two thirds of that figure.
Another was a lot with an old (sort of
tear-down) house on it that was being offered privately for $550,000,
even
though it was worth no more than $350,000. And
the third was a house with a value of +/- $120,000
that came on the
market with an asking price of $147,500. The problem, of course, is the prevailing
habit in the real
estate business of seeing vendors as clients but treating
buyers as customers. This
involves a fine distinction between
what people are and aren’t told. On the
one hand, a client is entitled to what the law calls “full disclosure,”
whether
it’s asked for or not. On the other
hand, a customer will be given honest answers to questions, but only
if they get put forward. I cannot help wondering what the out-of-town buyer’s agent knew -- or bothered to find out -- for what I have to hope was a customer and not a client! If you'd care to call and discuss any of
these points with
me, I'll be only too pleased to hear from you. Duncan Pollock, Real Estate Broker, |