The Money Pit Post

I recently purchased a new home and I feel like all I have been thinking about for the past month is price and cost/value.  During the walk through with our realtor, hours before our closing, I had to make a quick decision on price…I have thought about this decision many times over the past month and my question to you is, what would you have done? 

Here is the scenario:  During the contract negotiation process, the seller of the house informed me and my husband that she had an old washer and dryer that she would leave behind for us.  They were both still working but on their last leg.  As this was our first home purchase and we didn’t have a washer/dryer on hand, we accepted her washer and dryer in our contract, but noted that if either of the appliances were not working when she left the house then it was her responsibility to dispose of the appliance.  The contract was signed by both parties and we moved on to other more pressing issues.

On the day of the closing we had our final walk through of the house. This is when my husband noticed that the washer and dryer had been removed from the laundry room.   Confused, we asked the seller if they both broke within the past month.  She informed us that no, both the washer and the dryer had been removed from the home because she was under the impression that we did not want either of the appliances since they were old.  Obviously, she had either misread or had been misinformed of the terms of the contract.  So here we were, hours before our closing, and we were left with two options.  We could either simply accept that the washer and dryer were removed, move on and close on the house, or we could inform our lawyer of the miscommunication and try to negotiate a price for the missing washer and dryer and postpone the closing until the issue was resolved.  What would you have done in this situation?

We decided to go with the easier, quicker and hassle-free route and decided to just suck it up and move on. 

There were a few factors that led to this decision. 
Number 1:  We didn’t know how old the washer and dryer were. 
Number 2:  We didn’t know the brand of the washer and dryer. 
Number 3:  We didn’t have quick access to resources where we could find out how much the appliances would be worth. 

And Number 4, possibly the most important factor in our decision:   The seller was a messy, disorganized, and cluttered individual and my husband and I decided there would be more value in spending $1500 to buy our own washer and dryer than to deal with the mess that hers would have left behind or the hassle of negotiating with her.

When we price our products, services and portfolios we like to think that we are setting price based on the value of the product or service we provide.  But unknowingly, we may be missing certain deals because of factors that we overlook or remain hidden from us.  For example, is a customer doing business elsewhere simply because it is the easier option for them?  Are you making it too easy for them to walk away?  Are your buyers not fully informed of the full value that your products or services provide? Is there a quick way for your buyers to compare the value you provide versus your competitors?

When I initially posed this question to you, did you make a decision regarding what you would have done?  Did your opinion change after you were presented with all of the other factors involved?  Now think about your own business:  Is there a customer who has walked away from you in the past that, when presented with new or more information about the value of your products or services, may be willing to take a second look?  To me this sounds like a good place to start digging up business.

Kathy Mammon, Associate Marketing Manager, Vistaar Technologies