One of my bird dogs found a run down fixer that was sitting vacant and in a really bad area. The ARV on this houses is 45K on a good day. I located the owner who lived in a nearby town. He was an old black gentleman with a friendly country drawl. He said he needed time to think about what he wanted for the house. A week later he calls and says after thinking about it he wud let the house go for 300K I cudnt help myself, I burst out in laughter. He replies, you can laugh but that’s what I want. I tell him, Mr Jones your gonna just have to keep your house. He then tells me, well, that’s what I plan to do. I still feel bad about laughing at him and now I try very hard to keep that in check.
And just yesterday I get a call from an elderly lady that said she wanted 150K for her boarded up house in a bad downtown area. I tell her, I don’t think the houses in that area are going for that high. She tells me, the houses in my neighborhood are going for 90-120K I explain that to pay 150K for a house that needs lots of repairs that will only be worth 120 wudnt make good financial sense. Well, you can take it or leave it but that’s what I want. OK good luck with that, bye now.
And these are not scarce events. Happens often.
Another house I found was boarded up and I found out that one of the relatives had murdered his uncle in the front yard over an argument over drugs. This house wud probably be worth 50K after repairs. The owner tells me she wants 60K I tried to explain the house needed repairs and upgrades maybe up to 20K worth and then it wud only be worth 50,000. She says, OK thanks for calling. A week later it was on the evening news the shooter had been acquitted, self defense.
It can be aggravating. But I try not to dwell on these unreasonable elderly sellers, I think they still remember the bubble prices and cant get that out of their heads.
Let’s make some Money. Rando
:lol
On the one hand, they provide the humor in what we do. At least you had some good laughs.
Unreasonable sellers are not limited to just the elderly. I have found they come from all age groups.
I do a lot of yellow letter direct mail. When people get my letter, it is as if they think Britney Spears was driving down their street, saw their house and fell in love with it, and now will pay any price to have it. That only happens in the movies, and bad ones at that.