We seem to be in a slow real estate market where the number of sellers outnumber the number of buyers. 

I recently spoke to one of my sellers to tell them that we were expecting an offer.  He told me to relay to the purchasing agent not to bring him a “low ball offer”.

I had to tell the seller that it might be, because they have been reading the same newspapers and watching the same news – they know that the buyers seem to be in the driver’s seat at the moment. 

The offer came in and it was less than he wanted, but we were able to negotiate the sale – the buyers ended up paying a little more than he wanted to pay and the seller ended up taking a little less than he wanted to take. 

In a slow real estate market I think it is interesting that a seller expects someone to make an above average offer.  Why would a purchaser pay retail in a slow market.  They have to step back and take a look at the market through a buyers eyes and ask what they would do in that same situation.