When sellers feel let down, even though they won

Q: We are more than a little frustrated with the selling of our home. Late last year, our neighbors sold their house over the listed price, in one week, and with 11 offers. They also boasted of having over 100 visitors attend their open houses. Seeing that we have a superior property, we decided to go home shopping out of the area. We found a house under construction, nearing completion, and placed a deposit on it. We listed our present home with a highly regarded agent who had represented us when we bought it. We only received three offers despite 20 people expressing interest in making an offer. We were just shy of 60 attendees over three weekends of open houses to secure a full price offer. Since we are still in the same seller’s market, how is this even possible?

A: You presuppose that you are in the same seller’s market. The term “late last year” can be a lifetime in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. There’s a sage Bay Area real estate attorney who teaches agents. In every class, he’ll reference “all the moving parts of a real estate transaction.” That artful description unquestionably also applies to real estate presentation, marketing, selling, negotiating and particularly market conditions. It appears you hired a “decathlete” of an agent. I’ve always thought the sale of residential real estate is the decathlon of the sales profession. It’s understandable you might be disappointed on some fronts. On the other hand, the seller-friendly narrative of late in Silicon Valley is undeniable. It is part of the recurring cycle of property values, which have been leapfrogging upward. According to our excellent Multiple Listing Service (mlslistings. com): In Santa Clara County, the median price of a single-family home in 2013, was $777,000, and so far in 2018, it is $1,400,000. In 2017, the price per square foot ratio indicates $755; 2018’s year-to-date denotes $892. Your neighbor’s home sale was a solid gold trophy for the neighborhood. And in the real world, selling a property in three weeks for full price is placement in the winner’s circle.