Signs and Selling

We have a few sellers who don't want signs on their properties. Sometimes, they also want us not to mail to the neighbors announcing the listing. Usually, they say that this is because they don't want their neighbors to know that they are selling! Since signs are the number one tool that agents have for selling property, and since many properties are sold to someone who already lives nearby, this is an odd reaction. Would you look for a job, but refuse to give out your resume? Would you try to get a part in a play, but not allow your agent to send information about you? Exposure is the key to successful selling in most cases. Especially since, when you think about it, once you sell these people won't be your neighbors anymore anyway!

The other misconception I find less surprising is that sellers think that they can sell their homes without benefit of a real estate agent and get more money. While it can be true that a seller could get lucky and know of a prospective buyer, he or she is not going to get more money if they do what is often the case. They advertise the property as "x dollars without an agent". In that case, don't you think that a buyer will expect that the money otherwise dedicated to the commission will go to him? Obviously, real estate professionals aren't helped by people selling their own properties, so I'm doubtless biased, but I find the approach unlikely to get more money for the seller. Plus, empirical evidence collected around the country suggests that most independent sellers get too little for their properties.

Now that I've vented, I should end by saying how busy the real estate market is this week. Let's hope it continues unabated!

Hello from Sunny Arizona

We arrived last night in Scottsdale, where it's almost 70 degrees and very sunny. I wanted grapefruit for breakfast, so I went out and picked a couple. I went running for a long time (with a few stops at new retail areas) without worrying about snow and ice. There are lots of real estate signs here--it's pretty much ground zero, along with Nevada and Florida, for the distressed real estate market. Inside my father's gated community, there are signs for the first time, and today there were multiple open houses. The median sales price in Arizona was $232,000 at the end of 2007, and $150,000 at the end of 2008. That makes Connecticut look pretty good!

We had our company holiday party at our house the night before we left--100 people for dinner. It was festive and fun, and spirits were high-enough so that those not in real estate were surprised. I'm not really, because people who come to parties tend to be a self-selected group of those who are going to have a good time under all circumstances, plus real estate agents in general tend to be resilient and optimistic. As Winston Churchill said, "I am an optimist. It does not seem to be of too much use to be anything else." Amen.