Full Asking Price

It’s been said that you make your money when you buy, not when you sell real estate. When we purchased our current home a decade ago last month, though, we found ourselves paying the full asking price. And, funny as it may sound, we’re glad we did. Here’s why.

We love the house. Much larger than the condo we were selling but still a manageable size, we got the three bedrooms and two baths we needed. In addition, there’s an open country kitchen and an inviting family room tucked at the rear.

Our boys were able to walk to their elementary school, and our eldest can now walk to his high school with ease. The local middle school is also walkable, but more of a trek.

At the end of our cul-de-sac is a small well-shaded park with a well-equipped children’s playground, a basketball court, and an open field perfect for Frisbee-flinging, football, soccer, or Wiffle ball.

The neighborhood is tucked just a bit off major thoroughfares so it’s quiet, yet convenient to key highways, shopping, healthcare, and other local attractions.

In addition, our home’s single-level ranch-style floor plan was well suited for two older-than-average parents who hope to age in place.

No more bidding wars. Unfortunately for us, at the time we were out house hunting, Redfin noted that our future community was one of the “hottest” neighborhoods in the country.

While we didn’t exclusively seek houses in that ZIP code, the types of single-story, larger-lot homes we preferred were often located there—and lots of other folks sought them, too. Our offers on two previous homes were snubbed amid the heavy competition.

By the time our future home was listed just before Labor Day that year, the market had cooled slightly. The change meant we didn’t feel we needed to make a higher-than-asking-price bid, but it was not enough to embolden us to make a low-ball offer. Foot traffic through the property at the open house was as strong as we had seen, so even though we thought the asking price was a bit optimistic, we went with a full-price offer. It did the trick.

Showing respect and reaping goodwill. When we bid on the house, our condo was far enough into escrow that we felt confident the transaction would close.

Then the condo buyer backed out of the deal even though contingencies were removed. Although this resulted in a windfall from the buyer’s forfeited deposit, and we could put the condo back on the market, our transaction timelines were now compromised.

Any completed sale transaction on the condo would come after we were due to close on the house we were now under contract to purchase.

Fortunately, the sellers agreed to extend our escrow and wait for our condo to close so the proceeds from the sale could fund the deal. We attribute this goodwill, in part, to our full-price offer and the respect it showed for their long-time home.

Even though we love a good deal, paying full freight had advantages of its own in this case. Sometimes, when you consider the bigger picture and ponder the long-term implications, it makes sense to resist the urge to optimize.

Quibbling over a few thousand dollars and making a smaller offer might have cost us the house we so enjoy. And its appreciation since makes the price we paid seem much less important in hindsight.