Over the years I’ve been asked to do a lot of strange things regarding real estate sales. One of the least enjoyable of these requests is when a buyer I am working with asks me to approach a homeowner and inquire if they would be interested in selling their house. To be quite clear, the potential seller is not someone I have a relationship with, or perhaps is someone I have never met before. I get dressed up, knock on the door, put on my best smile and begin with an apology.
It is appropriate to show a bit of humility when you are about to ask someone if they want to leave their home. And in all fairness, I have received every kind of response to this somewhat insensitive question, including a door slammed in my face, a polite “no thank you” and, surprisingly, “We were just thinking of calling you! Please come in and let’s talk.”
The most compelling answer, however, comes from those homeowners who immediately don a big smile and say, “That’s so interesting! We weren’t planning on it but why not make us an offer?”
It feels like we are entering a period where everyone who owns a home is pondering the exact same question: What exactly is the “tipping point?” There are days I am sitting at my desk thinking about who I can call and say, “Are you aware how much your home is worth in today’s market?”
I am sure for many of you the answer is quite simple: It’s not about the money, and that’s not why you moved to this area in the first place. If your goal was distilled to a good deal on a house or simply a piece of land, there were other towns from which to choose. But it was well worth paying a premium to live in a very special community with top yeshiva day schools and a guaranteed play date for Shabbos afternoons.
As time goes by, however, there are many among us who now have other needs or requirements that naturally come with getting older. In addition, Israel and Florida are calling our names. If this rings a bell and you might want to sell, then, quite frankly, now is the time to do it. As Bill Cullen so famously announced at the beginning of his show: “The Price is Right!”
Nechama Polak is the broker of record and owner of V&N Group LLC, located at 1401 Palisade Avenue in Teaneck. Send your thoughts and comments to [email protected] or call 201 826 8809.
