Four Hours or Four Days?

The Immutable Laws of Supply and Demand

Yesterday, I ran into my neighbor out walking her dog.  Here's our conversation:

Neighbor  Hey, my daughter just sold her townhouse in Chapel Hill.  It sold in four hours; isn't that great!

Me  Hmm, four hours?  That seems irresponsible to me.

Neighbor  But, she got more than she expected.

Me  Well, I wonder what she could have gotten if she gave it four days instead of four hours?

Neighbor  But she was in a rush.

Me  What's the difference between four hours and four days?

I know the real estate market has gone crazy.  But people seem to have totally forgotten the fundamental laws of supply and demand.  If you limit demand, you simply cannot ensure that you will get the highest and best offer.  This is all the more true given the lowest inventory levels (supply) in recent memory.

The worst part of this is the seller has no idea what she could have gotten for her home.

Sellers:  You won't lose a buyer to another house, because odds are, there are no other houses.  Give it a week.

One point brought up in the Multiple Offer Madness post is that sellers don't want potential buyers traipsing in and out of their homes all day long for days on end.  No problem, make your agent earn their money.  Hold an open house for two hours a day – for seven days.  You might not get all the potential buyers, but you'll get most of them.

And you will have confidence that you really did accept the best possible offer.

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