By Fred Turner
A seller’s market is defined as a market where the demand for houses exceeds the supply of homes on the market. A buyer’s market is where the supply of homes exceeds the demand for homes. The negotiating power can change drastically if it’s a seller’s market vs. a buyer’s market. If it is a seller’s market, houses may be selling in a few days and the seller often holds the negotiating power, possibly entertaining multiple offers and the selling price can sometimes be more than the asking price. If it’s a buyer’s market and houses are taking many months to sell, the buyers are often in the driver’s seat and have more negotiating power.
Let me give you a recent example of my daughter and her husband who sold their home in a suburb of Chicago in April of 2024 during a very hot seller’s market. They put their one-bedroom condo on the market for a fairly high asking price, especially for a one-bedroom condo in this area. The property had about 22 showings in a few days and 6 offers. They ended up selling for $17,000 over their asking price.
Now let me give you another example when my wife and I sold our 2-bedroom townhome also in a suburb of Chicago during a buyers' market back in 1998. We paid $95,000 for the condo and 12 years later sold it for $108,000. Fortunately, we sold the home by owner, or we would have had to pay nearly $6,500 in real estate commissions and would have walked away with only $6,500.
This is an excerpt from Fred's book, The Happy Homeowners HANDBOOK For First-time Homebuyers. Available on Amazon.com More details at: HappyHomeownersHub.com
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