09/23/2026
Money Losing Strategy | Burning Questions Real Estate Series
Buyers sometimes think they’re smarter than everyone else.
“I’m getting this house for $30,000 less than everything else in the neighborhood!”
Great—but why?
Sometimes the huge discount you negotiate today is the exact same discount the next buyer will expect from you when you sell.
Here are four common examples:
1. Bad location.
An apartment complex looks into your backyard. You back out onto a busy street. There’s a noisy commercial or industrial property next door.
You may be willing to overlook it for a discount—but future buyers will probably want that same discount.
2. Weird floor plan.
You might love an unusual layout, but if only 10% of buyers agree with you, you’ve dramatically reduced your future buyer pool. Less competition usually means less money.
Either fix the floor plan or understand that you may have to discount it when you sell.
3. Big house, tiny parking.
If a house is built for seven or eight people but only has parking for two cars, that’s a problem.
A circle drive, extra garage, carport, or additional parking may solve it. Parking everyone on the street doesn’t.
4. The wacky yard.
I once watched someone buy a house at a huge discount because the backyard had about a 45-degree slope and was basically unusable.
Years later, he couldn’t understand why his house wouldn’t sell while everything else in the neighborhood did.
Eventually, he sold it at—you guessed it—a huge discount.
Here’s the lesson: If you’re getting a massive discount because of an obvious problem, and you don’t fix that problem, don’t assume the next buyer won’t notice it.
They probably will.
Sometimes the discount you get when you buy is simply the discount you give back when you sell.
Jason Pound
Jerica Pound Realty Group
Keller Williams Mulinix
jericapoundrealtygroup.com
Greater OKC | Norman | Moore | South OKC
