Residential real estate sale prices typically are a combination of two things:
- Comparable sales
- Condition of the home
Homeowners know what they paid for their home, and know what similar homes in the area recently sold for. But, they do not know the value of their home until it is sold.
As we’ve mentioned in other posts, residential real estate sales are highly ambiguous. No two homes are the same and all homes come with different specifications and in various conditions.
Naturally, this presents a lot of grey areas for both buyers and sellers. Both usually choose to believe what is the best-case scenario for themselves.
In the case of a seller, they might think their home is worth more because they see comparable sales of homes in a high price range, but fail to see that their home is falling apart. For buyers, they might think the fully updated home they want to purchase is not worth as much as the seller is asking because of the area it’s located in.
It’s no surprise two people on opposite sides of a real estate transaction may have different opinions given all the ambiguities involved.
Who is to blame for wanting to get the best deal? No one.
It is important for both sides to hear each other out as both usually have fair points. Typically, an agreement is not far away for either side!
