Karl Lueders - Denver Realtor

You heard it here first: Unless a Steeler superstar is arrested/found in Mexico/passes out the night before the Super Bowl and misses the game, Pittsburgh will win 27-17 (next best guess 26-17).

The game will be close until the end of the game when Arizona turns the ball over which is returned for a late Pittsburgh TD.

Let's hear it.

Having not been in this business very long, I was at odds with feedback right out of the gate. I was trained to ask for feedback as a listing agent (“going above and beyond!”), but never quite understood the value when I was asked for feedback as a buyer’s agent, because I heard what was coming out of my mouth when asked for it: “No, my client isn’t interested… Why?... Because of a, b and c... No, they wouldn’t be interested if you corrected a, b and c... Because you asked… And the price is too high. Good luck.”

I think the analogy that works best for me with feedback is that of what old college football coaches used to think of passing the ball - three things can happen and two of them are bad – except in the case of soliciting feedback, all four of them are bad: 1) you get lied to so the buyer’s agent can get off the phone and you’re left with misleading opinions 2) you continue to get lame feedback which the seller interprets as you not asking the right questions to get “valuable information” 3) you get honest feedback which you know will tick off the seller, making you look bad, 4) the buyer’s agent will grill you on motivation, desperation and price flexibility.

Plus, when I’m a buyer’s agent and I am asked to provide feedback, I doubt that I will say anything to any listing agent that will show my buyer’s hand if we’re planning to make an offer. The fact is that 99% of all feedback probably wastes more time than helps the cause, which means you need to prep your clients for that. But what that also means is that you need to build a better mousetrap.

As a buyer’s agent, I do provide honest feedback when it’s asked for, usually over the phone. It took a while to realize that this is business and I’m talking to a Realtor, not a seller, but even so, I still provide honest material, especially when I get the chance on email forms. Email feedback questions are generally lame so you have no choice but to provide lame answers. Exception: If I remember that a house has a particular issue, and there is a “short answer” comment box in the email form, I will point out the issue. Example: the house is generally in good shape but there is mildew staining on the backsplash behind the kitchen sink, I’ll let them know to clean that up.

It’s too bad that so many agents misuse email feedback forms, because if the questions are posed correctly, you’d get considerably more honest feedback than if you made phone calls. The majority of the Realtors I’ve dealt with are too scared to tell you what their buyers really think (unless they’re planning to make an offer): “Love the house, but we just started looking,”… “It’s in our top 3,”…. “Don’t like the paint colors” (comments similar to this last one are the lamest, to which I’ll answer, “Did you really just say that?”)

However, if you get caught on the phone (“caught” is the proper term) being asked for feedback a day or two after showing a property, and you remember the house in question, don’t blow it off by saying that you have to “refer to my notes and I’m driving right now.” You’ll remember the house. You made the appointment. Don’t be shy. If you’re 100% certain that your buyers won’t be pursuing a house, which is pretty easy to tell for any buyer’s agent, then tell the other agent what they don’t want to hear. I think it’s wrong to sabotage other listings with lame feedback; what’s the motivation? Are you really going to get that listing when it bombs out with another agent? Doubtful… in the end, you want houses to sell, especially in your neighborhood. Supply down, demand up. Duh. Don’t worry about hurting the listing agent’s feelings, either. Maybe they missed something or they need some sort of obvious sign that the stager they’ve been using is hurting, not helping.

Recap:

1. Always act in the best interest of your client.
2. Promise your listings that you’ll always request feedback over the phone and email. There are loss leaders all over business and in our case, feedback is a time loss-leader, but you have to do it unless your client doesn’t care. Then prepare them for how lame the feedback will be. Then, be a hero and explain how you’re going to attempt to improve the feedback process. (See #4).
3. Do what’s right if you get caught on the phone (again, “caught” is the right usage here). Better to be respected than liked in business.
4. When you list, take advantage of the email questionnaire (that woman from Idaho had good ideas). Find out if there is significantly bad curb appeal that you’re missing or if there was a logistical issue with seeing the house. Don’t ask about price, condition, interest because the answers are too high, ok, and none. The wonderful veil of the Internet is enough to elicit responses you normally wouldn’t get over the phone.
5. If your feedback will help a listing get sold (albeit not to your clients), why would you not give it? Seriously. Be part of the solution.

Yes, I picked OU, Texas and USC before the bowl season began and at this point, I'm 2 for 2. (Yes, Ohio St., fan, they didn't get blown out.)

But I'm buying into Tebow mania and selling the 60+ points per game OU has been throwing on the board for the last three months. Go Gators...

It's like not getting any new snow in Colorado for two weeks in February. I hear there is a professional brand of football that is available on Sundays to satisfy any withdrawls you might experience waiting for the post-Christmas rush of college bowl games.

For the record, I like Oklahoma, Texas and USC in the three relevant bowl games. (Big 10 team = rented mule.)

And now that I have that off my chest, I can submit an inspection notice.

Perhaps we never stop to think about it much, but did you ever notice what an odd couple (or couples) that the buyers and sellers of a specific house really are? Seriously, if it were up to sellers (preaching to the choir here) neighborhood demographics would never change. "Well, I think this is a perfect house for a couple with young kids because that's us; oh, and it has to be a family that eats out a lot, like us, because our kitchen is tiny and the stove doesn't really work." That's the polite way of saying, "If we think our house is worth $400,000, then there has to be someone like us who thinks the same way." Yeah, in Haiti. Fortunately, through the glorious free-market capitalism of homebuying can a family of 4 buy the crash-pad of a washed-up rock drummer (or vice-versa).

I don't know what the percentage of sellers that understand the true value of their home - and if you do, please tell me - but how is it possible that every house currently listed is impervious to the nationwide price slump and outrageous demands of buyers that really want gutters that work? "I could have spent $10,000 on remodeling the kitchen, but I decided tiling the entire basement floor was a better idea."

Even in the best of markets, buyers don’t want to spend more than they should on a house, whether it be keeping the monthly payments low or making sure they don’t overspend on a property. And in today's market, it’s pretty easy to determine fair market value from the buyer’s end.

Sellers, however, tend to have a different opinion of fair market value. Granted, they want to net as much as possible out of the final sale. They’re likely going to fund their next purchase with those proceeds or simply cover their closing costs. The challenge is making sure that sellers understand what goes toward their final sale price. Actually, a better way to put that is to make sure that sellers understand what DOESN'T go into the sale price.

Things such as:

• What they need to make
• What you want to make
• What you owe against it
• Recent appraisals
• Personal attachment to the home
• Sales prices of neighboring homes from last year.

So here's the survey question for Active Rainers: Of those bullet points, which adds more false value to a home, in a seller’s eyes?

A logical guess is what a seller owes against the property, but in many cases that I’ve experienced, it’s the personal attachment a seller has to his/her house.

Most home-owner bonds are as unique as fingerprints. People buy houses for their own reasons: location, number of bedrooms, backyard size, garage size, brick color. And because the buyer that’s looking at the seller’s home might be interested in most of the conventional aspects of a property, their ultimate reason for buying - or, in most cases not buying a house - can be completley counterintuitive to why you love your house so much.

Yes, you can profile who might buy the house all day long, but in my experience, that’s a bad idea. I’ve seen rock stars move into suburban neighborhoods; I’ve seen retirees look for downtown lofts. You know that cute vaulted ceiling in your living room that reminded you of Paris so much that you bought the house for that reason alone? The next buyer might drywall it off to save on heating bills.

If you’re looking to find out what your house is really worth on the open market, you can be sure that location, physical condition and the buyer’s ability to get financing will be your deciding factors. Yes, neighborhood comps are a good way to determine list price, but those buyers aren’t in the market anymore and you get to work with someone you’ve probably never met before, and probably have very little in common with, except for the mutual admiration of a property that you need to sell and they would like to buy.

I'd love your feedback on this, because it can give me some perspective on sellers in Denver.

Karl Lueders is a Realtor with The Kentwood Companies in Denver, CO. To read his blog, Denver Real Estate and Beyond, click the link.