“I got a great deal on this house.” This boast has been exclaimed throughout the land recently and is quite subjective in nature. What, exactly, is a good deal?

Jerry Patterson, highly regarded closing attorney with First Title and Escrow, says a true “good deal” is when both sides leave the closing table feeling as if they have been screwed. Yet, neither would ever proclaim they got a good deal, although they did.

Many buyers feel that good deals are on the occasions that sellers move a considerable amount from the list, or asking, price. In actuality, those deals mean the homes were overpriced. Often the best deal is achieved when a buyer pays list price or above on a property that was underpriced when it appeared on the market.

Many times seller receive a great deal when their houses sell quickly, yet will feel they left money on the table for underpricing their homes. The best sale for a seller is a quick sale since the price is going down every day the home is on the market.

Many feel “we can always come down, but we can’t go up” is a sound philosophy, but if you can go down, you will go down – and down and down.

Some among buyers search for their idea of a good deal and want to see nothing other than foreclosures and houses that have been on the market for lengthy periods. Foreclosures are homes that the sellers lacked the funds to maintain and borrowed more than market value. They were bought at an auction that drew one or two bidders, depending on whether there was a second mortgage, and sold in five to 10 minutes with usually a grand total of one bid. Good deal?

Houses that have remained on the market for months will sell for less as the sellers are forced to listen to the market. Usually there are logistical issues on these homes such as interstate highway noise, power lines, creeks that flood with regularity or bad neighbors – really bad neighbors. Research shows these houses always remain on the market forever and offer less for less. The fact that homes a mere two blocks away sell for 25 percent more is of no value. For whatever reason, these houses sell for less.

Sale of the week

There are a number of sales of the week this week, but none have closed, so the data will appear later. But, it is worthy of note, that the age old adage stating that a swimming pool adds no value to a house is now wrong.

For years, real estate trainers and educators told their students that adding a $40,000 pool to a $40,000 house meant the house would be worth $40,000.

That may be true in a $40,000 house on the corner of Dark and Scary, but not a $400,000 to $1,500,000 house in Brentwood. These houses are moving and moving quickly. Five hit the market in the past two weeks and sold within days for higher than the average price per square foot.

If you like to swim, build the pool. The water and the market are great.

Richard Courtney is a real estate broker with Pilkerton Realtors and can be reached at RichardCourtney.com.