The famous fairy tale ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears” first recorded in narrative form by British author and poet Robert Southey has applications to the real estate market. One of the key morals to the story is that of finding what is “just right”. For Goldilocks “just right” meant the taste and temperature of the porridge, the size of the chair and the comfort of the bed. For real estate buying and selling there are countless scenarios. The principle has application as well to economics, the Goldilocks economy is one which is sustaining moderate growth along with low inflation and is seen as having a monetary policy that is market friendly.
The Goldilocks phenomena is described by author Christopher Booker as the “dialectical three”, where “the first is wrong in one way, the second in another or opposite way, and only the third, in the middle, is just right.” In working with purchasers in the home buying process, Realtors see the Goldilocks story play out frequently. Buyers oftentimes will change directions and criteria in the middle of the process, often to just check out what the “opposite” would mean to them. It feels like they are all over the map, and then just as suddenly tend to come back to “center” to something somewhere between the two extremes that they have been exploring.
There is a saying amongst real estate professionals that “buyers are liars”. Part of the reason I believe agents say that is that they see buyers being all over the place, having a hard time making up their minds. They are often like Goldilocks, sampling all the porridges for taste and temperature, trying out every chair in the house for size and checking out the beds for how it feels to them. I have found that once a buyer has been free to do this exploring, that they find out what is “just right” for them.
An application I see for this fairy tale to Sellers is remember that if you want to sell your home for a market price, the market will determine what is “just right”. Remember the Goldilocks principle of economics is based on being market friendly. I have seen Sellers build a home that is just too large for the lot or has a kitchen that is just too small; maybe it worked for them, but there are very few people that size will be “just right” for. Or the Seller will build a home that has very specific taste, the porridge appeals only to a select few in terms of that style. Again, the market is the indicator of what is “just right”, not the Seller. The third example that comes out of the tale for Sellers is in terms of architecture and décor. In Virginia where I practice real estate, it is a land of colonials. The majority of the market considers a colonial to be “just right”. Will there be that one buyer that wants a well done contemporary? Yes, but it isn’t the majority of the market. Just know that as a Seller you may have to wait for some time before a Goldilocks comes along that has enough gold that will buy your home. And perhaps the buyer will not want to pay as much gold for your house as you desired because it isn’t keeping with the market trends and the buyers is concerned about resale down the road.
Fairy tales are classics because there is a kernel of truth to them. In this case, the aspect of truth for real estate is to understand what is ‘just right’ for the market. The best way to do that is to engage the services of an experienced, professional Realtor that knows the market well.
Karen Briscoe and Lizzy Conroy are Realtors ® in the Northern Virginia, Washington DC market place and would be delighted to assist whether for home buying or selling. The Huckaby Briscoe Group was recognized in September 2011 as one of the Wall Street Journal Top Real Estate Teams in the United States. Please contact via the means most convenient for you: www.HBCRealtyGroup.com, 703-734-0192, Homes@HBCRealtyGroup.com.
Karen is originally from Columbia, Missouri and graduated from Stephens College with a BA in Business Administration and Mathematics. She began her real estate career 26 years ago developing residential lots for the Trammell Crow Co. in Dallas, Texas. Soon after, Karen married Andy Briscoe and completed a Masters degree from Southern Methodist University. Andy’s career with public policy relocated the family to McLean in 1994. In the Washington metro area Karen worked in commercial real estate with The Staubach Company before becoming a residential real estate agent with the Sue Huckaby team. Karen is an Associate Broker in Virginia and represents sellers and buyers primarily in the McLean, Great Falls, Falls Church, Arlington, Vienna, and Alexandria areas. The Briscoe family is active at church in McLean where they became friends with Sue and Jerry Huckaby. Karen is on the Board of Lift Me Up! (the handicap horseback riding program in Great Falls) where their daughter Callie previously boarded her horse. Andy is active in Boy Scouts as their son, Drew, is an Eagle Scout. Drew is a senior at Southern Methodist University and Callie is a senior at McLean High School.
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