I've gotten into the habit of makin glow-ball offers on overpriced properties with clients. Works well especially on first offers... cause people new to buying houses seem to want to fuck up their first offers anyway.

We came in low, and it seemed to work out okay. We got lucky I guess.

My favorite part was staying up drinking wine with you while you wrote the contract. 4am. I don't know how you made it the next morning to present the offer to them.

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Prime, well priced properties always demand a higher price and sell quickly, even in November and December.

When Buyers see their 1st choice home sell, it causes them to act quickly on the 2nd choice home, perhaps paying more for it than would have otherwise occured.

When the market softens a bit, the 2nd choice homes remain on the market a bit longer and buyers have an opportunity to make choices that they didn't get when the market was superheated. Unless there is duress, their "deals" are all relative. $1,000 - $5,000 off a home in the $200-$400,000 price range might seem spectacular when others sold for $5,000-$30,000 over the asking price. There are so many factors that determine value there's no way to judge what was a deal and what was simply a fair price.

There certainly are exceptions at this time of year when someone wants out and gets panicked when their home stays on the market more than 2 weeks. They just might accept a lower offer. If one was to take an average market time over the past 20 years, I have absolutely no doubt that it would be more than 30 days. My advice is often to wait for more buyers to enter the market place. On the other hand, if it is Really important to sell quickly, than the choice is easy.