We all know that lots of people don't listen very well. It's also true that sometimes others talk about things without knowing much about the subject. And sometimes, you may know more about something than the person who is trying to educate you. However, most of the time when you hire an expert, you do so because you are interested in what they have to say about their field of expertise. Part of why you have engaged them is so that you can benefit from their knowledge, even if all you are doing is confirming your own hypotheses.
As Realtors, our job is to give people the best advice and information we have about how to sell or buy a property. What we tell others comes from experience, from "inside" information from within our companies or our industry, and from the collective wisdom of those in our firms and contacts. It may not always be correct, but it usually has some data points behind it, and it is gathered and disseminated with the best of intentions. Often it is more up to date than what is available through public records, or even appraisal firms.
Therefore, it's always surprising to us that people who come to us for help then ignore advice, or even argue with us. I've been working in real estate for a long time, and the following have all been said to me within the fairly recent past:
"I'm going to tell you what we should do, that I heard from a person next to me on a plane yesterday, but I don't have time to listen to your answer";
"You might learn something about your field from me";
"Do you have anything to say that is worth my listening to? I'm busy doing something else right now." (This from a person who picked the time of the call).
"I hear you, but I'm depending upon the statue of St. Joseph that I buried in my backyard". (This house did sell.)
And the most common: "This isn't what happens in Austin/Boston/Charlotte/Denver...." or "I've done this before, and you need to ask more and leave room to bargain" or "offer less, and leave room to bargain".
You get the idea. One of our key tasks is to listen closely to your wants and needs, so we aren't asking you to do anything we shouldn't also be doing ourselves. We don't claim that we are infallible or that we have all the answers, but it's usually worth listening to your Realtor, and being sure that you heard what he/she said, and not what you wanted to hear, before you decide that you know better. We do have recent market data and statistics, lots of experience, and are clearly vested in the success of the transaction, since that's how we get paid. The final decision is always yours, but it's best to make it with the most professional input at your disposal.
Showing posts with label experienced agents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label experienced agents. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Time to Reprice that Listing
There's a term in real estate called "chasing the market down", and it refers to people who start out by pricing their listings too high, and then continue to lower them month by month. It's a strategy that many sellers employ, and we agents are not immune to it ourselves, but the results are almost always poor. We can cite example after example of buildings and houses that sold BELOW what they would have sold for, if they'd only started out at the correct price. Now, I realize that "correct" is a term of art, and subject to disagreement. I also realize how tempting it is just to "test the market" at a high number. But you have to understand how the selling process works in order to see what a mistake it is.
A listing receives most attention when it's new, for a number of reasons. We notice signs when they're just erected. We notice pictures in ads when they're different from prior weeks. The same is true of the website. Also, agents and buyers who are receiving notifications of new listings are focusing on the ones that they haven't seen before. Most mailings are done on new listings. Most showings come as soon as something comes on the market. Everyone is motivated to see, consider, and buy something before it gets snatched up by someone else.
What that means for sellers is that you have wasted the most valuable exposure that your listing will receive. It's the same principle as the old saying that "you only get one chance to make a first impression". Every time the price comes down later, agents and buyers will have a subliminal impression that your property is overpriced, or that there's something wrong with it, since it's been on the market for so long. Why would you risk that, when our experience shows that people whose homes sell quickly for a lower price ultimately receive more than people who start out high, in order to "leave room to negotiate" or "see what they can get".
The moral is clear: If you're serious about selling, be serious from the start. Don't waste your time, your agent's time, or the attention span of the buying public. Consumers now are far more educated about prices, with the advent of the Internet. They'll know when you've entered the market with an attractive price, and your chances of selling, and selling quickly, will ratchet up. Take the money and move on. Buy another property while rates are low. Time is money.
Right now, our agents feel that almost 90% of our listings are priced too high to sell right away. Some of that is because, with declining prices, what was a good price 90 days ago may be too high now. Some is because there's just not enough selling right now (for example, only two houses closed in Madison in November). However, a great deal is because people don't understand what I just described above. You will have an advantgage--one you need in a difficult economy--if you do.
A listing receives most attention when it's new, for a number of reasons. We notice signs when they're just erected. We notice pictures in ads when they're different from prior weeks. The same is true of the website. Also, agents and buyers who are receiving notifications of new listings are focusing on the ones that they haven't seen before. Most mailings are done on new listings. Most showings come as soon as something comes on the market. Everyone is motivated to see, consider, and buy something before it gets snatched up by someone else.
What that means for sellers is that you have wasted the most valuable exposure that your listing will receive. It's the same principle as the old saying that "you only get one chance to make a first impression". Every time the price comes down later, agents and buyers will have a subliminal impression that your property is overpriced, or that there's something wrong with it, since it's been on the market for so long. Why would you risk that, when our experience shows that people whose homes sell quickly for a lower price ultimately receive more than people who start out high, in order to "leave room to negotiate" or "see what they can get".
The moral is clear: If you're serious about selling, be serious from the start. Don't waste your time, your agent's time, or the attention span of the buying public. Consumers now are far more educated about prices, with the advent of the Internet. They'll know when you've entered the market with an attractive price, and your chances of selling, and selling quickly, will ratchet up. Take the money and move on. Buy another property while rates are low. Time is money.
Right now, our agents feel that almost 90% of our listings are priced too high to sell right away. Some of that is because, with declining prices, what was a good price 90 days ago may be too high now. Some is because there's just not enough selling right now (for example, only two houses closed in Madison in November). However, a great deal is because people don't understand what I just described above. You will have an advantgage--one you need in a difficult economy--if you do.
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