The Wait Until Season Syndrome
There is a serious virus going around town affecting sellers of real estate known as the Wait Until Season Syndrome (WUSS).
The first symptom usually appears in the form of misguided belief. Misguided belief is best described in terms that the perfect buyer will arrive any moment after the first snowbird appears in the market. In addition to the first symptom of “misguided belief,” the second symptom kicks in which is known as delayed price modification. Modifying the current asking price of the property before the end of season does not make sense and leads to full bloom WUSS which results in loss of opportunities for contract.
What can you do to prevent catching this financially deadly virus?
- Decide if you can afford to sell at this time based on comparable sales from the last six months.
- Come clean with yourself and your agent and take the property off the market if you cannot afford to sell.
- Rent or refinance to buy time for the inevitable swing to the upside that will occur in the coming years.
The best agents in the market are immunizing their customers by having proactive conversations and giving the hard truth to those who are not in a position to sell.
Sellers and agents who think that the season will bring buyers and offers are putting their financial health at risk. Most of the feeder market to Sarasota and Manatee counties are just starting to experience the economic conditions that have been present in our area throughout 2006 and the seasonal buyer is not going to make a move unless they see true value.
Blogs were born out of a certain irreverence so it’s quite entertaining to see you get in the “spirit of things”!
I’ve been following a seasonal market in the Lake Erie Islands region of NE Ohio and have seen a similar phenomenon to what you describe only the seasons fall in different months.
In Lakeside, Ohio many sellers rode out the summer season bullish on their prices. Then there were few willing to negotiate aggressively during the fall “post vacation” selling season.
Now, it is late October and there is an overabundance of inventory. I would expect this to create falling values throughout the winter months when the transactional activity is generally the lowest.
I am sure there were many missed opportunities over the last 60 days that cannot be put back together at the values originally proposed.
Hindsight is a bittersweet beverage, isnt it?