In our business, there's a saying that all the exposure (meaning marketing) in the world won't sell an overpriced home. People are savvy today, it's a buyer's market, etc., etc., etc. You've heard it all, recently. One of the best articles I've read to illustrate this point lately was written by Elizabeth Weintraub, a contributor to About.com. Her article, entitled "The Worst Home Selling Mistake" are words that are echoed in the halls of real estate brokerages everywhere - in the best and worst of times, by the way.
I met with a builder recently to ask him to reduce the price of his listing with us. His response was about par with most home sellers when confronted with this request: "If selling my home is just about price, why do I need you?!" Good point. My first response to him was, "Maybe you need me to tell you the truth." Sounds bold, perhaps, but I stuck by that answer because I believed it. Home builders, and home owners everywhere are proud of their homes and very, very attached to them and the value they perceive that home to have. Therefore, by human nature, it makes it almost impossible for them to see market value clearly in my opinion. It's their home, for goodness sake! They should be proud of it. And, oh by the way, they need the money!
So, where do good agents make a difference? First off, and most importantly, they tell you the truth when setting price. (Mary makes a great point about who really sets the price - the market.) When properly priced, a good marketing plan works well. Why? Because people are looking for homes in that price range! If improperly priced, you might as well be invisible. Believe it or not, this can be by as little as one dollar! It is far better in my opinion to not put your home on the market at all, than to put it out there and "just try for a while" to get an unrealistic price. Now, not every seller has a choice in whether to sell or not, and that's when choices get hard. By the way, that's why so many foreclosures are happening right now. They can't sell. Or, can they? Many, many lenders are accepting short sales as opposed to outright foreclosures. Make sure your agent can help you if you are in this position. It's not easy, but it's worth the effort.
Home staging, advertising, broker opens, open houses, internet marketing - all of these are important and do make a difference in eventual sales price, and should be carefully orchestrated by your agent. But, there is a magic point in home pricing that will allow you to truly know the market value of your home, and that has to do with showings. Realtor driven showings tell the real story. I want to leave you with a rule of thumb we use here - first showings are function of price and second showings are an indicator of your home versus the competition. We evaluate weekly the number and types of showings going on in our listings. We're looking for 15 realtor driven showings in a given 30 day period, with 2-4 of those being second showings. If we get that, we're looking for at least one or two offers, soon. For more in-depth questions about this formula, and what it indicates, email me, or give me a call.
Posted by: |