It's So Easy When You're not Selling. Listing Consultation with a Friend.

I enjoy being a consultant as opposed to acting like a salesman. The sales talk and techniques never came natural to me. I instead feel comfortable sitting down with a potential client and discussing things as I would with a trusted friend or family member.

I had one of those easy going consultations a few weeks ago. A friend called me up and told me he was probably going to be selling his townhome. He was planning on buying another home with his fiance. He wanted to talk to me about market conditions and what he needed to do to get the best price for his home.

We set up an appointment to meet at his place and discuss things. I emailed him all the sales in his complex so he could study them a little before we met. He mentioned to me that he thought similar units like his were going for around $370,000 to $380,000. At first glance it sounded it fairly reasonable.

I began analyzing the data. I knew what he paid for his unit when he bought it new 7 years ago. I found other units that had sold recently and got a feel for how fast things were appreciating.

The more I studied the data, the more it became clear to me that instead of $379,000, we were probably looking more like $339,000. I hoped that I was missing something and that when I saw his home in person, it would have something I didn't know about.

Unfortunately, when I got to his place, I knew that $339,000 might even be pushing it.

I've always found that it was much better if I could help a client figure out things for themselves. Instead of telling him what I thought right off the bat, I wanted him to come to his own conclusion about a listing price. He pulled out all the information he had about all the units in the complex. He had the floorplans for each unit and what they all originally sold for. We went through each recent sale and began getting a feel for how things had appreciated over the last seven years. The more we analyzed, the more disappointed we became.

There were 6 units currently on the market, most of them vacant. I suggested that we take a quick tour of our future competition. It was an eye opener. We looked at each unit and made head to head comparisons with his unit. We put on our home buyer glasses. Some units were decorated like a model while others didn't look too good.

It was easy to show him what he needed to do to get his place ready to show. Just make it look and feel better than the best looking unit currently on the market. Seeing an example of a well staged home is so much more effective than talking about it or letting him read about it.

When we got back to his place, I didn't have to tell him a thing. He saw the numbers on paper. He saw the homes in person. He was smart enough to read the writing on the wall.

He asked me what I thought about a listing price of $339,000. I just had to agree with his evaluation.

I didn't have to convince him or sell him on the idea. He came to the conclusion himself. I just helped him figure it out for himself.

I went over the process of getting a home on the market. I discussed the options that he had. The advantages and disadvantages of going FSBO, limited service discount broker, or a full service broker.

He told me he'd think about it over the weekend and call me in a few days.

He called me a few days later and told me the things he was going to do to get his unit in shape so he could compete with the others currently on the market. After he got those things done, he would call me to come and list it.

It's a nice way to do business. No pressure. No sales talk. Just friends sitting down and figuring things out.