I recently went on a listing appointment at a high end home in Wayne. I did my due diligence. I pulled the solds and pendings for the last 6 months, added the active properties in the area so the Seller could see what their competition was and put it all together in a nice little presentation package along with a picture of their home on the cover that included all the bells and whistles of how I market properties and of course, what makes me different from everybody else out there. I showed up at this beautiful home dressed very professionally (if I may say so myself) and was immediately taken through the home by the Sellers.
After the tour we sat down and started going through the information. We went through the consumer notice immediately, (which I found out none of the other agents before me had done) and went over how I would be marketing their beautiful property should they choose me over the other 3 agents they interviewed.
Then we got to Pricing.
Among the solds I provided were two almost duplicate properties including square footage, acreage, bedrooms and baths. These sold at $1.6 million and $1.7 million respectively. There was also another sold with twice the land, an additional bedroom and 2 baths that was remarkably finished on the inside, leaving nothing to chance as far as top of the line everything that went for $1.9 million. I suggested that their home should be listed around $1.9m and would sell in the $1.65m to $1.7m range.
You could hear a pin drop in that room. I waited,.... and I waited,... and I waited,.... until finally Mrs. Seller said "But our home is much nicer than those others and one of the other agents told us we could get so much more." We talked another 20 minutes or so about where I got my numbers and I was interested to find out where the other agent got hers, but they couldn't really tell me.
I never got the listing.
One of the other agents listed it for just under $2.4 million. By the way, I just saw a flyer from the same agent that was advertising another listing they had in the area that proclaimed a "$500,000 PRICE REDUCTION!!!" Hmmmm. Maybe I'm just going about this all wrong.
Any thoughts?
This is actually my first "blogging" experience. I'm a little nervous. It is kind of like writing a song in that you are putting your thoughts, ideas and experiences out there for the world to see and part of you is thinking man, I hope someone will read this, and another part of you is thinking, I wonder if I said something stupid. Hopefully, I'll get better as I go along.
In many of my listing presentations in the last few months, I have come across Sellers who are considering going the For Sale By Owner route. They remember what Mary's home down the street went for 2 to 3 years ago and the fact that it is"Wayne or Radnor Real Estate" and know that by selling their home on their own they will save the commission and make themselves more profit than if they used a Realtor. To top it off they "know" that since Mary's house went for $795,000 then mine is worth at least $850,000. It takes a while to get through to some of them but eventually they see the light. Sometimes though they have to test the waters.
Selling a home can be a confusing and complicated process - especially in today's market. If a Seller doesn't have a seasoned professional by his or her side, knowing how much to ask for and being able to successfully market the home, understanding which home improvement projects are worth making, getting it ready for showing and knowing how to negotiate are all vital tools needed in the home selling arsenal.
Hey, that was kind of fun!
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