Selling YOUR Long Beach Home - It's TOUGH out there!

Laurie - This post will provide well needed education for the public.  So many are having a hard time breaking away from the traditional way of selling a house whichno longer works, but is very costly.   Long Beach consumers are fortunately to have someone like you in their marketplace.

Laurie, you're already providing a valuable service to potential home sellers in your with this post and you haven't even met them yet.  Nice job!

WOW!!!! 

Telling it like it is.  This article took a lot of guts.  Appealing to home sellers by telling them the facts about the real estate market is unheard of in my area. 

One thing for sure, if a seller hires you to sell their property, they will know that you will give them the facts and not tell them what they want to hear. 

If every agent in the country would follow the advice in this article, our housing market would stabalize in short order.  Unfortunately, in my area, agents are still buying listings. 

This gets "flagged".

Nice, it has loads of information and should be very educating for your future sellers.

Hi Laurie,

Love, love, love this post and all it has to offer and show the public your top notch Blogging skills!  Thanks for sharing such great ideas always!

Laurie,

Excellent article jam packed full of excellent advice. I love it!

Laurie,  You could go through and take out Long Beach and fill in the blank with just about any city in the country!  So, this is great advice for anyone trying to sell - and thanks.

Beautifully done!  You hit all of my own key points and come across as the knowledgeable professional that you are!

Laurie,

It doesn't make sense to offer false hope in this market...at least you are willing to show the consumers the fact...it is very hard to keep up with prices ass they are changing daily.

Laurie, You are excellent at telling it like it is. If I had a property to sell in Long Beach, I would certainly be choosing you.

Laurie - It's easy to see why buyers and sellers of Long Beach homes and condos call you first when they need to buy or sell.  You are not only an expert in real estate, you are a real student of market trends in Long Beach.  Excellent post!

Laurie - Great job in pointing out what works and what does not. In a softer market pricing properly is a significant part of putting all the pieces of your marketing efforts together. If you don't get the price right, most of the rest of your efforts will be wasted. I am a firm believer in never telling a perspective client what they want to hear but outlining the facts/truth.

Jennifer, It is my hope that this article will reach out and touch future sellers and give them a glimpse of what is happening here in Long Beach.  The objective is to have less sellers failing to sell.  Thank you. 

Kris, Thank you, that is my objective.

Lenn, I find it hard to believe that telling sellers the facts is unheard of in any area.  I know that YOU tell them the facts all the time.  Isn't that what we are supposed to do?  Does blowing purple smoke achieve the sellers goals?  Yes Lenn I give them the facts, they either get it or they don't.  Many of the would be sellers that spoke with me this year decided not to sell, taking us back to if you don't need to - don't.  It is really tough out there right now.  I agree that if all agents told the truth it would assist in stabilizing the markets.  The agents who are 'buying listings' are condemning sellers to failure right out of the gate.  Getting price reductions too late and are responsible for the sellers 'chasing the market down'.  It is almost criminal.  Thank you. 

Keith & Robin,  Thank you, I just hope they really hear the message.

Lisa & Robert,  Thank you.

Monika,  Thank you, I KNOW you understand the importance of this message.   

Patricia,  It is very true that this article could be written for any market in the country.  Using SEO tactics and directing it at Long Beach to drive it to the top of the engines in my market is part of what I discussed in the article.  The objective is to reach the consumers in each of our given markets.  Thank you.

Diane,  Thank you, the message must get out there.  Pricing and presentation are everything in this market.  

Neal,  It doesn't make sense to offer false hope in any market.  The fact is that if it isn't priced right it isn't going to sell, no matter what anybody is telling you.

Jill,  Thank you.  I believe it is our responsibility to tell both sellers and buyers the absolute truth about the local markets.

Marlene,  Thank you.  I find comfort in knowing that the ethics board has members of high caliber, such as yourself, participating.  Marlene, you are a real treasure.  Any buyer or seller in your area would be blessed to have you represent them. 

Bill,  You just hit the nail right smack on the head.   If you don't get the price right, most of the rest of your efforts will be wasted.  And that is the absolute truth!  Thank you. 

Laurie...that was excellant. I sure wish I had thought of it!

Thank you Joan.

Laurie, you are so right about the first two or three weeks that a house is on the market.  My next door neighbor put his house on the market with a Realtor that told him that she could get him more money for his house than the other Realtors were telling him.  As a result he listed it to high, but got a number of initial showings.  But because of the price no one even made an offer.  When he finally lowered the price to where it should of been, no one came back to look.  He finally took the house off the market and is still living in it.

This advice applies to every market. There are way too many overpriced listings in our MLS. 

George, That is exactly what I am talking about and it is the story of many a home seller.

Lisa, Yes this advice does apply to every market. There are way too many misinformed sellers out there everywhere. Agents giving the wrong advice and sellers who believe that the media knows more about selling real estate than the professionals. 

Laurie, may I first compliment you on your HTML skills. I'm not worthy! :)

Secondly, your point about SEO is 100% dead on. About 70% or more of consumers today start their home search on the net and I, along with most others, are just starting to get that. I've had my properties on TV, National Publications, I've received hundreds of leads from various sources but the traditional methods of marketing property have been passed by. The net is now the king of the hill in Market exposure and growing our business in this brave new world requires us all to get more tech saavy. You're an inspiration.

Todd, 

Recognizing the need to find new avenues to promote our clients properties and connect with the shopping consumers is necessary in todays market.  Continuing to utilize dated methods that no longer work is a waste of money and time and is a lie.  The internet is the new frontier in Real Estate, just having sites without actively doing everything within your power to promote them is a complete waste of time and effort.  In order to move forward and continue to properly represent our clients we all must evolve.  Best of luck to you.  

Laurie,

How many actual Realtor websites do you find when you place realistic search terms into a Google or Yahoo search engine? The answer is few.   This is what makes the difference between an agent who knows the local market and some commercial site.  If you want to sell in this market working with a knowledgeable agent is the key... I can't think of anyone in Downtown Long Beach who knows the market better then you...

Kaye,

For years now the first 5 or 6 pages of Google have been jammed up by directories and search sites that sell leads to agents.  The glass ceiling is cracked now and blog sites are able to get up to where few have gone before.  Still it takes skill and continued work to stay put.  It is a constant battle to remain there.  Thank you Kaye, the same is true of you up in the South Bay area.   

Laurie, Thank you for telling it like it is. Texas is softening more slowly than other markets but we're getting there. The strength our market holds is the fact that waterfront properties are always in demand. I do have a few in my inventory that are over priced. Thanks again, Debra