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Home seller agreed price reductions, buyer’s agents interest, prospective sellers, priced right listings, stimulate home sale, real estate agency, lower prices, stimulate home sale
Why did you put your house up for sale if you did not want to sell it? If you know so much about how real estate should be done, why didn't you ask your friend what she was doing to market your home? Why did you agree to sell the home to these buyers? Because you were forced into it? Really?
You make it sound like the buyers were trying to trick you out of your 'only asset'.
To me it sounds like they made an appointment to view a home that was for sale. They put in an offer and it was accepted. They had an issue with their financing and you used a loophole to get out of the deal, as was your right per the contract.
Sad for the buyers and I still don't get how you are the poor innocent in all of this.
Middle Aged Mom does sound extremely generous as a realtor which is lovely. I do every single thing that she does - but if a house is totally empty and needs to be staged, the seller needs to pay for it as it costs around $4000 - $8000 to stage an average 2 bedroom home in my area. That is not something I am willing to pay for - but I include a staging consultation and advise people on what (and what NOT) to do prior to selling. I have taken pictures off my own walls and rugs off my own floors to put in homes to help them sell.
I also do not pay for either inspections or warranties, but do advise clients of their availability.
I market my homes furiously both online, by open house (public and brokers) and in publications, e.mails, letters, blogs, newsletters, etc.
I normally chat to my sellers daily and have close personal friendships with many former clients, who use me again and again and who give me the referrals off which I built my business.
But the previous poster had a good point about why he would hire Rankin as a no nonsense, tell it like it is realtor. There are so many agents who tell their clients what they want to hear and then fail to deliver.
Much better to have someone who tells it like it is so you know the REAL state of affairs up front.
I know you consider yourself to be something of a real estate expert. I happen to diasgree with a lot of your points - but there may well be other experienced and successful agents who have the same opinions as you on price reductions etc. Everyone has different ideas on how a listing should be managed, and that is really ok.
But please don't assume just because I disagree with you and think that your story is twisted to show realtors, attorneys etc as the bad guy and you as the victim, that I am a bad agent. I am a great agent, and I can say with honesty that I have NEVER advised a client to do something which I did not believe to be in their best interest. There have been a few clients who did not believe that at the time - but seeing the results, they learned.
My suggestion to you is that you look within before so firmly placing the blame on everyone elses shoulders.
Why did you put your house up for sale if you did not want to sell it? If you know so much about how real estate should be done, why didn't you ask your friend what she was doing to market your home? Why did you agree to sell the home to these buyers? Because you were forced into it? Really? You know I have answered these question on another post and I am not going to repeat myself.
You make it sound like the buyers were trying to trick you out of your 'only asset'. I think the buyer were most likely lied to and did not know they were dealing with a "Remorseful Seller" but I do not know that for a fact. I would really be curious to know if the would have let me out of the P&S if they knew 8 hours later I wanted out.
To me it sounds like they made an appointment to view a home that was for sale. They put in an offer and it was accepted. They had an issue with their financing and you used a loophole to get out of the deal, as was your right per the contract. Thank you.
Sad for the buyers and I still don't get how you are the poor innocent in all of this. I think both the buyers and I got hurt. No sale the buyers got more hurt than I. If the house had sold I would have been the one hurt. I still can't believe I got my house back through what you call a loophole. To me it was a GODly miracle! I was ready to close, I even went above and beyond to get my house cleaned out because the house became infested with fleas and I had it exterminated. The agent knew I had pets but didn't think to include that in the P&S. I didn't think it was fair to give the buyers a flea infested house! The contract also stated "Property to left debris free". They most likely meant "Property to BE left debris free" and if I want to be a HOSTILE remorseful seller, I would have dragged all the debris from the left side of the house and put it on the right side! And I am sure there are realtors here that have LOTS of crazy stories about remorseful sellers and or tenants.
The last hour came and I had surrendered to the fact that I was going to loose my house, which was my 401K, my child support, my retirement, my nest egg. But guess what? That is NOT what was meant to happen! IT'S A MIRACLE!!!
Middle Aged Mom does sound extremely generous as a realtor which is lovely. I do every single thing that she does - but if a house is totally empty and needs to be staged, the seller needs to pay for it as it costs around $4000 - $8000 to stage an average 2 bedroom home in my area. If I want to put my house back on the market (which I don't) I would now have a totally empty house which I realize from reading what is said here that my house won't show as well. I personally would not spend the $4,000 - $8,000. you suggest to stage the house but rather I would refinish my hard wood floors to make a grand entrance and I would put a fresh coat of paint on the walls and add BEAUTIFUL warm cozy paintings on the walls. Granite counter tops would make sense too and all these things (even the paintings) will benefit the buyer! Just my UN-EXPERT opinion. That is not something I am willing to pay for - but I include a staging consultation and advise people on what (and what NOT) to do prior to selling. I have taken pictures off my own walls and rugs off my own floors to put in homes to help them sell.
I also do not pay for either inspections or warranties, but do advise clients of their availability.
I market my homes furiously both online, by open house (public and brokers) and in publications, e.mails, letters, blogs, newsletters, etc.
I normally chat to my sellers daily and have close personal friendships with many former clients, who use me again and again and who give me the referrals off which I built my business.
But the previous poster had a good point about why he would hire Rankin as a no nonsense, tell it like it is realtor. There are so many agents who tell their clients what they want to hear and then fail to deliver.
Much better to have someone who tells it like it is so you know the REAL state of affairs up front.
I know you consider yourself to be something of a real estate expert. I can't help what you think. I am FAR from an expert! But I certainly know more now than I did 6 months ago.... I'll give you that. I happen to diasgree with a lot of your points - but there may well be other experienced and successful agents who have the same opinions as you on price reductions etc. Everyone has different ideas on how a listing should be managed, and that is really ok.
But please don't assume just because I disagree with you and think that your story is twisted to show realtors, attorneys etc as the bad guy and you as the victim, that I am a bad agent. If you support the 2 agents I had ... I would NOT hire you. That's what I said.I am a great agent, and I can say with honesty that I have NEVER advised a client to do something which I did not believe to be in their best interest. There have been a few clients who did not believe that at the time - but seeing the results, they learned.
My suggestion to you is that you look within before so firmly placing the blame on everyone elses shoulders.
My suggestion to you is that you look within before so firmly placing the blame on everyone elses shoulders. My suggestion to you is maybe you are wrong about me.
I invest my time and out of pocket, in my listings. And by out of pocket, I mean above and beyond advertising. Each seller's situation is different and so are my solutions. Figuring out what it's going to take to make the place stand out from all the others is my job.
Does it make sense to get the home inspected, pre-sale? I'll pay for it, at closing.
Are mechanicals/appliances in so-so condition or beyond their expected life? I'll pay for the warranty, upon closing.
Is the house vacant? I'll move in my own stuff and stage it for pictures.
Does the room need just a little extra something? I'll loan it.
Is the house cluttered with a lifetime of memories? I'll have it staged and arrange for for offsite storage.
I hire professional photographers. If the sellers want to be a part of selecting the best pictures to use, we do it together.
If the sellers want to see ad copy, we review it together.
I hire someone to do a floor plan.
Every feature is listed in the brouchure that passes the thud test.
We are going to talk or email at least every 48 hours, till the deal closes, unless the client was more or less frequency.
I meet and mail the neighbors because they sometimes know someone who wants to live in the area.
I host broker tours with the goal of getting at least 100 agents in. If I do not, I'll do another one.
I choose to work an area where the average sale price is in the mid $600's, which allows me to do some of the things I do. My point is that there needs to be more going on than sticking a sign out side and the data in the MLS and waiting, waiting and waiting. It's gorilla marketing. end of quote.
You read what you wanted in my words .... I didn't say ALL professions stick together. I make my living from advertising/marketing/publishing. I am a high school drop out, barely made it to my junior year. How did I learn about advertising? Pick up a dam magazine, newspaper, flier, brochure, turn on your computer, turn on the TV .... WHAT DO YOU SEE!!! WHAT STANDS OUT? AND WHY??? The top notch professional advertisers & companies spend MILLIONS/BILLIONS of dollars on advertising and they can not hide their secrets! They give it away EVERYDAY! They can't hide it because it's called ADVERTISING!!! THEY HAVE TO PUT IT OUT THERE! It's so dam simple that there is no excuse for these realtors to NOT do a better job with their advertising!!!! If I can do it ... why can't they? And then the second education is the library! It's FREE too! And before you hit me with why didn't I go to the library before I put my house on the market? Because my closest friend was my realtor and I thought she had MY best interest at hand. I was WRONG and it almost cost me my only asset! I still can't believe I got my house back! Every time my phone rings, my stomach is in a whirl and my heart stops because I think they will take it somehow! On my Father's Soul, I still have nightmares that they are going to take my home!
And if you think I am hiding that I am smarter than the poor victim you say I am trying to portray, maybe I am smarter from those 60 nights I laid in bed 4 am thinking about what I could have done differently! When NOT under pressure, I can think clearly and come up with ideas because after all, that IS what advertising is. It's easy to say and do just exactly what I want when I am here typing, deleting, typing, rereading ... preview and then post.
I am a whole other person if you hand me a legal form and sit over me with my 4th grade reading comprehension and then needle me to sign on the dotted line! I do feel sorry for the buyers if the seller didn't tell them that they were dealing with a "Remorseful Seller" .... but am I to blame for the mess? Do I deserve to have my only asset taken from me for cheap money? And who is going to help support my fatherless child? Ooops! There I go again sounding like a victim. That's right, do you think anyone was thinking about her???
My expertise has nothing to do with real estate, it is healthcare. I make no judgment on the validity of your experience in selling your house. However,
if you don't begin to put it behind you, retaining and revisiting the anger will injure you more than the experience.
In our area, you have reacord to the sales prices through the county website. RE only get comps that were on the MLS. THe county website has ALL sales, including many "by owner" which, in our area, brings the average up quite a bit. It's frustrating these "by owner" sales prices are never used by RA's, especially in this market!!!!! Even when we asked our agent to point these 3 very important comps, where all three were newer and sold for more $, they still went back to the last MLS comp that closed last December!!! What's with that?
A price has to be defended with facts and a sale is a sale. I look at all sales and all the competition, regardless of how it is being or was sold.
Having said this, most agents do not see or know the homes sold by owner. There is no record or pictures in the MLS to give them a clue how a home sold by owner, compares to the subject house, other than the obvious, location and square footage and property taxes.
I do my best to preview as many FSBOs as I can in my area because I need to know. If I miss one or it flew under the radar and it sold for more or less than what seems reasonable, I want to know why.
If I need a FSBO comp to defend by client's position, either as buyer or seller, I use them. I know that the agent on the other side has probably not done his/her homework and therefore does not have all the facts.
FSBO comps can work for against either side. The highest priced home may have been the best value on a per square foot of above grade, finished space just as the home that appears to have been given away might just be the highest priced sale on a square foot basis. There are so many variables and ways to slice and dice this.
I have no idea why your " top" agent chose to not use the FSBO comps and no idea why you allowed him/her to not respond to your request to do so. If such comps support your position, it makes all the sense to use them.
My expertise has nothing to do with real estate, it is healthcare. I make no judgment on the validity of your experience in selling your house. However,
if you don't begin to put it behind you, retaining and revisiting the anger will injure you more than the experience.
You are absolutely, positively, 100% right about that and thank you for caring enough to point it out.
So then a question for all those real estate agents out there.....in regards to a reply from a few pages ago....
Say the house is priced at 150k, the lowest in the neighborhood, and no bites. The seller is willing to part with 5k. Would you suggest lowering the price 5k or advertising 5k paid in closing costs?
I'm a buyer and I'd have to say I'd agree w/ some of the other posters, that 5k in closing costs is tempting....why wouldn't this be actively advertised? And wouldn't this tactic let the agent keep more commission?
At the $150K price range, help with closing costs may make more sense than reducing your price. Having said this, there is probably a 50-50 that it could be necessary to do both, to get sold. I feel for you.
The problem is, the seller doesn't have access to the sales in the area, just listing prices. If you have an agent that is honest and open to show you the actual stats on homes sold then you most likely don't need an unbiased appraisal.
Appraisals are usually good for 6 months and OK in this market maybe more like 4 months. But I'm just more willing to trust someone who doesn't have a stake in whether the appraisal comes out high or low.
There are only a few states in the U.S. that do not disclose sale prices. I am willing to bet that you do not live in one of those states.
If an agent is unwlling to show you the MLS and county tax records of recent sale prices on any home I think you might want to find a different agent who will. Agents who know their area can do a substantially better job of positioning your home because they know the competition and recent comps. They have been inside those homes and know how they compare to your home.
Appraisers rarely see the insides of the homes they use as comps. Square footage, lot size and general momentum or lack there of in the area are primary drivers.
FMV- Hear Hear!! Bowing down to your greatness....
This is what is baffling to me. We have our home back on market, remember our story I'm sure. Shows great, everyone confirms price, we've had 3 offers- 1 we took and fell through, one was at that same time and they've purchased something else and one was last week and it was contingent upon them selling so we didn't take it. That isn't the point though.. i'm baffled at how our agent, with a large large local brokerage hasn't brought a single client in either herself or any other agent at the brokerage hasn't either??! I don't get it? I can see our agent not having many clients in that price range but NO ONE else from her own office???? Someone enlighten me on that as well?
There a myriad of reasons. The short answer is the marketing leads to showings but it's usually showings by other agents. There is no way to quantify where each showing comes from. I do a lot of marketing. I've taken over listings that aren't getting showings and I know the agent didn't do any marketing. I market and showings will double in amount even at the same price. Typically in today's market the consumer looks online (or newspaper or drives around looking) for homes but is already working an agent or knows who they want to work with. When they find the home they want to see they call their agent and go look. Or they get set up with an agent and the agent finds the property on MLS and shows it.
The exposure makes a difference which is why it's critical to know what the list agent does. If you get typical or better than typical # of showings the agent is probably doing a good job. MAM was pretty spot on the get a great listing agent. Buyer agents actually don't need some of the skills the list agent needs because the listing agent has the more difficult job. It's one of the misnomers about real estate that buyer agents do more than list agents AS LONG AS there is an exceptional agent and not a list 'em and leave 'em agent.
I probably average about 5 leads per listing before it sells. A lead can be a phone call, email, whatever inquiring about the property. Of the 5 there are normally about 2 that won't divulge their information or get prequalified in any way. I have agreements with my sellers to only show qualified buyers the property and if they are serious qualified buyers they'll share that. It leaves 3 leads, 2 of which are willing to be qualified but are unable to purchase for financing or whatever reason (if they were able to purchase they'd probably already be working with an agent and the showing would come from MLS). That leaves me about 1 qualified buyer that contacts me directly on a home and about 90% of the time the one buyer who contacted me directly elects to purchase another home that they prefer for one reason or another.
middle-aged mom wrote: Agents do not sell homes. Repeat, agents do not sell homes. An agent may be one of the reasons a home sells, but they certainly don't sell homes.
Are you kidding me? Look at what you wrote above!!! Of course you are SELLING homes! And you are doing it by savy marketing and making sure ALL the features of the home is STANDING OUT!!! Ok, yes, I understand you are selling high end homes which allows you more available marketing tools to you than say selling $150,000 homes, but look over your list. Most of what you do to SELL a home doesn't require much more than energy and sweat .... not money.
My hat is off to you! An agent who can SELL homes!!!
MAM is spot on. Agents don't sell homes. The home has to sell itself. Great marketing creates more exposure. More exposure creates more potential buyers but the buyer will only make an offer if the price, terms, condition, and location are what they desire. Agents have no control over any of those things. Therefore, the home sells itself.
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I happen to diasgree with a lot of your points - but there may well be other experienced and successful agents who have the same opinions as you on price reductions etc. Everyone has different ideas on how a listing should be managed, and that is really ok. 
That's right, do you think anyone was thinking about her???
