Contract on the condo

A week ago Monday I had a three hour meeting with Realtor Jim and signed papers to put my condo on the market. He said the local real estate market is softer than what it used to be but prices are still holding up. Gone are the days when you put a unit on the market and can expect to receive multiple contract offers the next day.

Realtor Jim entered the listing into the computer on Friday and held an open house on Sunday. In fashion that is typical of what I would expect from Realtor Jim, he conveyed to me in colorful and vivid details the different groups of people that showed up at the open house. There was the family that really liked the place but would rather pay more for a townhouse with a backyard. There was what he called the oddest couple he's ever seen in more than twenty years of selling real estate; a man who showed up with his pregnant girlfriend and mom. The man had money and was obligated to buy his girlfriend (and their baby) a house as some type of child support. Realtor Jim said the girlfriend and her mom liked the place but it was obvious the man was trying to steer them to something cheaper by pointing out its shortcomings.

We finally received a contract yesterday afternoon. The offer was for $4,000 below the asking price and we had until 3pm today to accept or make a counteroffer. I left last night's Kenan-Flagler reception at the Carolina Club early to receive the 15 page fax at Kinko's, discuss the offer with Jim, and fax back my counteroffer of a $1,000 discount below the asking price. This was around midnight and we immediately got a message from the buyer's agent asking if I would agree to a $2,000 discount. We decided to keep the counteroffer as is, to inform the buyer's agent that I would be participating in a team building exercise today and would be unreachable by phone, and to wait for either the contract to expire at the 3pm deadline or for a counter to my counteroffer.