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We're very confused as to which path to follow. We have interviewed 7 realtors, second interviewed 3, and narrowed our choice down to 2 (final decision is another saga all together) but the CMA's have been all over the map!
We feel like we can dismiss the lowest listing suggestion because the realtor did the CMA based on a drive by and public record without ever stepping foot in our house. Her other listings seem extremely low for the market and I feel like she is a volume lister looking out for a quick sale for her own interests (these realtors exist, no?).
A friend of my mother's friend, who has been looking for a home in our community, came over to see the house and although the house won't work for her (she wants a very large formal dining room and ours is a little smaller), she told us our house showed better than any of the houses she had been viewing in the price range 50K higher than most recommendations we have been given.
We certainly believe it would be fool hardy to attempt to list that much higher than the majority of realtor recommendations, but in this market is it foolish to consider the very high end of realtor suggestions based on that comment and our interpretation of the CMAs? Market seems to be improving in our area.
Firstly, there may be nothing wrong with a "drive by" CMA, but I have to tell you that the "volume listers" generally do a whole lot of things to get a whole lot of listing and CLOSINGS if you do go with such a person you may very well get the benefit of their EXPOSURE and THAT should help to sell both QUICKLY and for a good price...
Secondly while I like the idea of "winnowing down" the potential listing agents I think you have to really consider price and agent somewhat separately. Honestly I can right now easily recommend that SOME folks might want to list above SOLD comps if the comps were mostly distressed sales AND I HAD THE ABILITY to judge the likelihood of fewer distressed properties coming on the market, but that is something that even in the MOST TRANSPARENT jurisdictions (legally...) it would be VERY hard to do...
In some cases I would definitely pricing a property against ACTIVE comps, even though I know that in NOT how lender's will appraise the property . The deciding factor may be the SELLER'S circumstance -- if I knew exactly why you want to sell NOW and what you are willing to do to get the property sold I can (and have in the past) recommended that the seller put some money into really staging their property to get maximum selling price possible. If there is some increased demand /reduced supply in your local market this might be an excellent strategy, but it will NOT work if there is still too much inventory.
Finally, no offense to your mom's friend, but sometimes "helpful" suggestions like the one offered are not going to work to your advantage. It is possible that she has a better handle on the competing listing that the agents you have interviewed, but it is also possible that her personal view do not reflect the generational desires of the buyers that are most common. Hopefully the agents you have interviewed have a very good understanding of the type of buyer that is most common in your area, their financial situations, and the likelihood of your home / price point appealing to such a buyer in a timely manner.
We're very confused as to which path to follow. We have interviewed 7 realtors, second interviewed 3, and narrowed our choice down to 2 (final decision is another saga all together) but the CMA's have been all over the map!
We feel like we can dismiss the lowest listing suggestion because the realtor did the CMA based on a drive by and public record without ever stepping foot in our house. Her other listings seem extremely low for the market and I feel like she is a volume lister looking out for a quick sale for her own interests (these realtors exist, no?).
A friend of my mother's friend, who has been looking for a home in our community, came over to see the house and although the house won't work for her (she wants a very large formal dining room and ours is a little smaller), she told us our house showed better than any of the houses she had been viewing in the price range 50K higher than most recommendations we have been given.
We certainly believe it would be fool hardy to attempt to list that much higher than the majority of realtor recommendations, but in this market is it foolish to consider the very high end of realtor suggestions based on that comment and our interpretation of the CMAs? Market seems to be improving in our area.
Choose the realtor who sells your particular area regularly - not one from another part of town. THAT realtor will know best how your home should be priced.
Base your price on SOLD comps only, not active sales prices in your neighborhood.
If you just do these two things you'll sell your house in the shortest amount of time
Many sellers choose the agent who gives them the highest price. Seller's fixate on price and often times ignore marketing, compatibility and communication.
All agents know this. Some agents suggest a price that feeds the seller's expectations. They do this because they know it increases their chances of getting hired. They also know that if they do not do so, another agent will. And they are right.
They let time and the market beat the seller down to a point where the property sells. Or they get fired and another agent comes in and right prices the property and it gets sold.
Back when home values were appreciating, the longer it took to get sold, the more net monies, the seller made. Interestingly, most sellers reacted opposite to that market and sold quickly.
Home values continue to decline in most areas, right now. The quicker a property sells, the more likely the seller will net more. It's all about the seller's net proceeds, not the listing agent's commission. No one gets paid if the property does not close.
Interestingly, most sellers are reacting contrary to current market conditions, and so they sit and sit and sit. When and if the property gets sold, usually after multiple repositions, the seller nets less than if they had priced it right, from the start.
Pegging your property to the asking prices of the competition (which, by the way, are not selling) is a loser's game. What did comparable properties close at, over the past 3 months. That's the number that works.
I am not reading anythng about what any of these agents intend to do to create excitement for your property, within your market. I am not reading anything about how any of these agents intend to defend your home's value, with facts.
Chances are, the high volume lister knows her market. Too darn bad that she did not get off her duff and see your home and what, if anything, makes it different than the competition. While her other listings may seem very low for the market....are these the properties that are selling, while the others are sitting?
She loses points, in my book, for arrogance.
Focus on what the agents proposes to do, not who gives you the best price.
Your mother's friend may have been polite and nothing more. I find that most people have a hard time walking up to someone and being blunt. Does your mother's friend have a blunt personality? If not, then I wouldn't give her comment much credence.
You have 7 opinions and essentially want to nix those based on a comment and your interpretation of the data? No offense, but if you are going to do that why not just go FSBO? What's the point of getting an agent's opinion if you think it has no value?
Don't confuse stabilization with improvement. We have stabilization in my market. I would in no way shape or form call that improvement. Skidding on the bottom for a couple of years is not improvement. Make sure you know if your market is skidding or actually appreciating. At least out here, where we seem to be skidding, sellers still have to be very competitive. There is no room for being "on the high end" if you actually want to sell.
I still don't get why you are listing with any of these agents. You don't seem to believe any of them.
I still don't get why you are listing with any of these agents. You don't seem to believe any of them.
Good point, Silverfall. If the OP continues to interview agents, chances are the OP will find one more than willing to tell them what they want to hear.There is an enormous difference between being told what you want to hear and what you need to hear, to get sold.
Market appreciation, stabilization or depreciation is subject to interpretation.
Prices range from $400K- $10MM in my zip code. How well or not, my area is doing, cannot be determined by averages. It does not take a heck of a lot of high end home sales to create the perception that home values in my market are appreciating. That a handful of very high end propeerties sold has nothing to do with what going on in the middle market.
Conversely, if the market is hot for the lower end properties ( as it currently is) those sales skew the averages when in fact a $400K property has no impact on the middle market.
What I am trying to say is that numbers can be manipulated to show results that are not typical. Averages are meaningless.
Someone has to get under the hood and interpret the numbers and relate them to the OP's property. Pegging your price on unsold inventory.... is old market think. What matters is at what price point, comparable homes are selling/closing at and if it's common for sellers to assist buyers with closing costs. It all matters.
In general, I would like to thank everyone for the prompt and thoughtful responses and perspective, although I have to admit, at least one of you jumped to some harsh and unwarranted conclusions.
We have winnowed down our selection of realtors to 2 from 7 because I feel strongly that a good realtor is necessary in this market and I wanted to know the range of style that makes the difference in the marketing of a home. I will address my final questions on realtor choice in another thread. A home sale is a major financial transaction and I want all the facts and information before me to make a sound decision.
We are not blowing off recommendations from 7 realtors. As I said, the range of recommendations from the realtors has been extreme.(70k from the low end to the high end). We feel like we can toss out the highest and lowest suggestions because they are so far off the price/square ft for comps sold in the previous 6 months as to be unreasonable.
That leaves us with the mid range of recommended prices. We have been told by all 7 realtors that we do not need a stager - the house is clean, well cared for, strong curb appeal, and well decorated. My mother's friend's opinion just helped to support that. I would have taken it as polite rhetoric except for the way it came about... I stayed out of the way while she looked at the house. She thanked me, gave me the usual perfunctory compliments and left. She came back into the house a few minutes later and asked how much we were planning to list the house for. I told her we had not reached a decision and she then said the price range she was looking in and that our house showed better than any she had seen in that range.
Again, I know that it would be fool hardy to try and jump to the range she was talking about, I just wondered if this sort of "free peek" at a viewers perspective gave more credence to pricing recommendations at the high end of the middle of the pack.
I can see why you think I was harsh, but I just find it interesting that someone that takes the time to interview 7 real estate agents, do second interviews, and narrows it down to 2, gives one comment so much weight. You are clearly being very thorough and the way you wrote your original post it makes it sound like you want to price higher because you have a nice house. You didn't say price at the high end of the middle of the pack in your original post, you said "is it foolish to consider the very high end of realtor suggestions based on that comment" and I clearly thought it was a bad idea.
Your home sounds great and that is good news for you in the selling of it. Your home may show better than homes that cost $50k more, but are those homes larger and have more land? You would expect a larger home with more land to be priced higher than a smaller home with less land, even if the condition wasn't as good.
Hopefully one of your two final agents has actually been inside some of the other comparable homes. The agent that has been in the most homes will give you the most accurate pricing. You have taken an enormous amount of your time picking an agent. Go with the one you trust the most and follow their advice.
Pricing a home is part art and part science. You'll drive yourself crazy and second guess yourself if you start listening to friends and family. Take the advice of the agent you trust the most. What did your final two agents say for pricing?
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