Sequim homes are selling at full price now, and they have been for quite a few months. So let me say up front, if you’re thinking about making an offer on a home that is, in fact, reasonably priced and probably listed at fair market value, don’t even bother making a lower offer, because it will sell out from under you, maybe on the same day. Let me explain why I say this so dramatically and with such conviction.
I write this not only because it is true, but because if I represent you as your Sequim Buyer’s Agent, you are entitled to know what’s happening in the Sequim real estate market, and I do not want to see you walk away disappointed because you made an offer below the listed price (and fair market value), and someone else got it at full price.
There are several reasons drafting an offer $5,000 or $10,000 below the full price could be a disaster for you. First, it’s a waste of your time to write a low offer when the inventory is so low that retirees cannot even find a decent home on the market right now at any price. Second, if you have sold a home in California, and you need to buy a home in Sequim so you won’t be homeless, is it a good idea to gamble in such a tight inventory? Especially if your trying to save a few thousand dollars in the negotiations.
But here’s the big clincher. You might say the first two questions are not important to you, but try this one. If you knew you would find the one perfect home for your retirement after years of planning and months of online searching and a couple of trips viewing homes in Sequim, but you would lose it to someone who offered the full price (and FMV) after you tried to shave off a few thousand, would you re-think how you would have handled your original offer?
What if I told you that some buyers who missed out on their perfect home, could not find another home they liked after another year of searching and living out of their motor home? Wait, it gets worse. I had a couple tell me they gave up on Sequim after missing out on their perfect retirement home and after searching for another year. They gave up in frustration and settled for another community called “Yuma, Arizona.”
Are you kidding me? I wanted to ask them sarcastically, “Have you lost your minds?” Why would anyone want to live in Yuma when you could live in Sequim, Washington. Granted, you can undoubtedly buy an older manufactured home in Yuma cheaper than a beautiful stick built home in Sequim, but we’re talking about the rest of your life. What’s that worth?
Sequim is one of the 10 Best Places to Retire in the United States, and has won that prestigious title multiple times over the past 25 years in various retirement magazines. The climate is incredible with no temperature extremes either way, and we have a blue hole with only 16 inches of rain annually compared to Seattle’s 45 inches. We have no natural disasters to speak of in the past 100 years. The only serious threat here is from earthquakes, but everyone else has those, too.
It’s no wonder retirees from around the United States discovered Sequim and plan for years to move here, buy a home, and live happily ever after. This is why our inventory is so low, and its precisely why the best homes in the best areas are selling at full fair market value.
When I represent you as your Sequim Buyer’s Agent, I write the offer the way you instruct me to write it. It’s your life, your money, and your home. But if the perfect home is listed at true fair market value, and I can help you figure that out, I recommend you discuss your offering price with me before you decide to offer less than full price.
Last Updated on September 22, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
