Listing Trickery! (market mis-informants)

I recently picked up a copy of a magazine titled "Greater Tupelo" which is labled as a lifestyle magazine for Northeast Mississippi. A really nice, quality printed publication printed on a bi-monthly basis. The May/June edition (2008) is the issue I am commenting on. An article titled "Luxury Homes Stay HOT In soft Real Estate Market" has some of us in our profession steaming because of the ongoing mis-information that some Realtors and agencies continue to tout to the public. Since the downturn of the national real estate market, our market also has felt the pinch and I will be the first to admit that our market here has softened, but NOT to the extreme that somes areas have been hit. I will go on record and state that our market is "soft but stable." Yes, we have been hurt by the shortage of mortgage products available as compared to the past. The numbers of buyers we have enjoyed in the past just aren't there.

The aforementioned article that will undoubtedly create confusion among the consumer and anger amongst the hard working Realtors starts out by saying that upper end homes in our market were showing and selling. One Realtor was quoted as saying interest rates wer dropping. On the contrary, rates have steadily climbed over the spring, albeit not by much, but they are on the upswing. Here are the facts: Our MLS as of 6/30/08 lists 52 homes active on market with price tags over $500,000. During the last year, over 60 homes in this range have gone expired, withdrawn, cancelled, etc. There have only been 4 (four) sales of homes in this price range since 1/1/2008 and these sales took place over a 25 mile radius of Tupelo. Now, call me ignorant, but my math is not that bad. When you take the number of homes in this price range that have gone off market and then look at average days on market of the current listings, anyone would be a fool to believe that one could call this "Hot" and get away with it.

The bad information that is being disseminated is designed to be a feel-good to the consumer and causes problems for most Realtors. The ones that are using this tactic are doing so for personal gain at the expense of their peers and, in the long run, their company. Discussions with other Realtors haved concluded that we have been placed in a positon of damage control with our clients, almost on an ongoing basis. Clients read all this "good press" and want to know why their listings are not showing or selling. Thank goodness I inform my seller clients upfront that they must think more long-term (normal) vs short-term (lucky). Other agents are involved in an ongoing customer service exercise that involves this ongoing damage control effort and it is getting old.

This especially is hard to swallow at a time when one could be easily fooled into believing that they could list their home and get it sold in short order. "Listing Trickery" is what I call it! In all my years, I have learned to be informed. I level with my clients and tell it like it is, and I have always informed my clients of the exactness of it all. By the way, that would be considered in their best interest, wouldn't it?

Tricking the public into a false sense of security may get you listings, but the statistics don't lie...you won't get the sales!