Marietta, GA Home for Sale or for List?

The past year and especially the last few weeks have been interesting, but not in a good way. As many of you working this site are in the process of working with sellers, selling homes or maybe contemplating it, I want to share a few thoughts. We'll do one at a time so no one falls into a coma...

First and absolutely foremost: Don't list if you don't plan to sell. As stupid as that sounds, I had a listing that received TWO CASH offers with 30 day closes, ZERO closing costs and no crazy requests. BOTH were 96%-98% sale to list price ratio. Done deal, right??

The first was rejected as my seller felt they needed an additional 0.01% more. Just that simple, no real other sound reason. No need to look at the couple of pounds of data I provided endorsing this deal, no need to understand that in this community less than 10% of the homes are getting offers, no need to understand that the real estate Gods were smiling on them. Nah...just call Mom who lives several states away and let her influence and ultimately make the decision. That decision was "ask for more". The response from the buyer (which is completely understandable) was "see ya".

Lightning struck again just a couple of weeks later. Unbelievably, I received a call from their agent, they still wanted the house. Knowing my sellers I worked the buyers into an offer netting my sellers $3,000 MORE than the figure that they hung up on last time. Another call to Mom, another NO for me. The problem this time, "We have to close in 30 days, where will we go?" Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice shame on me. Those buyers have since moved on and so have I as we were both fooled twice; I declined the opportunity to relist their home.

Why did these people even list? They had two outstanding opportunities to do what very few people are doing - sell their home for a profit and do it quickly - and they rolled over on both chances.

I'll dive into this more, but here are a few points to remember starting with Be committed to SELL if you LIST

• Negotiate and pursue EVERY buyer opportunity
• This is a buyer's market - expect what you perceive to be "insulting" offers. These offers are usually more in line with the data than with your opinions
• Remember that insulting offer you received, keep that in mind when you become a buyer
• PLAN AHEAD and LISTEN to your agent! I walked these folks through the most efficient method of finding out about new areas: VISIT THEM! Go wandering around on the weekend, eat lunch in different areas, and see where everything is! No agent can fully understand your personal desires, we are experts at collecting, analyzing and explaining data - you're an expert on "do I like this area".
• LISTEN TO AND TRUST YOUR AGENT. Why are we here? I know there are mavericks out here that want to do things themselves, that's great as our paths won't cross. RESEARCH, interview and hire a solid agent then please allow us to do our job! A good agent will support positions with data and explain everything to you. Mom doesn't always know best, especially when she lives several states away!

I'll continue on this situation in future posts along with others that have occurred this year. I know many other full time agents will agree; I've had deals fall apart this year for reasons I couldn't possibly think up.

I welcome you comments, I'll respond to everyone. I invite you to visit our site at www.hankmillerteam.com where you'll find a wealth of topical and useful information.