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I don't know about your market but here open houses, magazines and newspapers are useless and magazines and newspapers are pricey to boot.
The most recent survey I saw was 37% of buyers found their home through the agent, 36% found it on the internet, 11% yard sign, 6% through a friend, 3% print, .01 open house.
So that was national and I hear open houses are successful in some markets but nationally not so much. I'd agree with your agent. If you've had sparse showings you're probably overpriced by 5-10%.
I agree. What's a newspaper? Here in Houston, people rarely read it because it's considered a poor quality source of news (because it is now a monopoly) and because it is very expensive, even by normal newspaper prices. Open houses are pretty uncommon as well. Most homes are sold online via MLS and HAR.com.
We may be taking the "price does not matter." statement out of context.
For example:
I told a seller that there is a market value price ( a price where other buyers have recently paid other sellers) and a marketing price. It does not matter if we list it at the marketing price as long as we get offers at market value. A market value price may be $245,000, but the marketing price is $250,000. At $250,000 we get looked at from brokers and buyers who are looking to $250,000 AND from $250,000 - we want and desire more eyeballs. More eyeballs, more showings, more showings more potential offers.
Send him an email politely stating you said "price doesn't matter" can you explain that further to me. Could be useful to have it in "writing" from the broker.
Also, where is the broker advertising your home? Which sites, etc?
See where your neighbors' homes are being advertised as comparison.
Well, if he doesn't want to do an open house on Sunday, he can darn well do one on SATURDAY. Good grief.
Forget newspapers. Complete waste of time and money. The sellers like to see their house in print -- but no one else is looking at it. Most of the metropolitan newspapers have on-line home search functions that feed off of a MLS. According to 2014 Realtor.com figures (they do a survey every year), Internet search is HUGE -- at least 92% of buyers used the internet at some point in their search, and 50% of those were using mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. 43% of first-time buyers used the internet to start their search.
Did the agent use professional photography, or are the photos rotten little blurry iPhone photos, dark and dreary? Rotten photos will not intrigue buyers.
Open houses may not be great home sellers by themselves, but just the process of marketing the open house is part of the marketing of the home, to raise awareness of it.
My real estate agent does not do business on Sundays (due to religious reasons), but before I listed w/ her I was assured that if the need arose her broker would sub in for her. Since showings have been sparse, I asked to have an Open House w/ the broker; he refused. In addition to the OH refusal, he refuses to advertise in newspapers or magazines saying that these don't bring in buyers. I feel that he is not doing all he can to sell our house. Do I have enough justification to cancel the contract? We are 'wed' through August. Thanks.
I agree that magazines and papers do not bring in buyers. If you do want to do a little bit of print you're better off with an ad in the local Pennysaver (or similar).
Most people shop for their own houses online. I can go to Zillow and type in all kinds of criteria. That criteria varies slightly between Trulia or Redfin and other sites, but it's basically the same. Basically I tell my realtor what I want to look at and all he does is unlock the door.
The thing about realtors is....they're becoming irrelevant (but don't tell them, they'll have a hissy-fit) and are mostly just there to do the paperwork and put the home on the MLS for sellers and to unlock doors and negotiate (not really, the buyer makes the offers) for buyers. These things definitely do not deserve thousands of dollars in compensation.
Do open houses sell homes? I don't think so. I've been to a few toward the end of their showing and they've been empty. Since they want me to sign the guest log I can see that others have not been showing up either. Is an open house a good idea? Maybe, maybe not. If anything your agent gets to use the time to meet potential buyers and offer their services to be their buyer's agent.
If you price it right....it'll sell. Most of the houses I see sitting for long periods of time are advertised at obnoxious prices or are at a moderate price but in incredibly poor condition. Inevitably these people come down on price and often the home sells within a week after a big price drop (sometimes two or three).
We may be taking the "price does not matter." statement out of context.
For example:
I told a seller that there is a market value price ( a price where other buyers have recently paid other sellers) and a marketing price. It does not matter if we list it at the marketing price as long as we get offers at market value. A market value price may be $245,000, but the marketing price is $250,000. At $250,000 we get looked at from brokers and buyers who are looking to $250,000 AND from $250,000 - we want and desire more eyeballs. More eyeballs, more showings, more showings more potential offers.
Additionally, lets say you're using that same fair market value price of $245,000, but you're marketing the house at $290,000. Why bother? As a looking buyer it's not even worth looking at, investigating further, or making an offer on homes where sellers or agent are that out of touch.
Firstly, I agree that printed media advertising is a waste of effort nowadays. People prefer to use search engines and databases to screen potential properties rather than wade through books of useless advertising of properties that have nothing to do with their specific wish list.
Open Houses are a great marketing tool for agents to expand their listings, but terrible for actually selling the house. I worked open houses for a builder and we got all kinds of contracts for custom homes, but never actually sold any of the homes in the shows.
If you really feel that holding an open house will generate any benefit, there is absolutely nothing preventing you from holding your own. Have the agent provide you with contract forms, marketing materials, rate sheets, whatever they can make to hand out. You can certainly conduct a showing, answer any questions and then refer any potential buyers to the agent to write the contract if they do not already have an agent that can write it for them. Most buyers already have an agent of their own already and are just out looking in between showing appointments.
As to the price. Request your agent to show you the market value analysis so that you can see if their judgment is valid or not. If the comparables are valid, then perhaps your price is not out of line. If not, then you have a better argument for re-assessing the price point. In any case, your choice of price is the only option. You tell the agent what to market the house for and if they do not they are in breach of fiduciary responsibility to you.
A: Not every home that goes on the market, is going to get sold. What are the odds of your home selling. The short piece at this website is very direct, and to the point. It is what long time Realtors have known for many decades.
Facts as any Long Time Real Estate Broker, knows about the real estate market. Remember that 20% of the Realtors sell 80% of all real estate.
B: Open Houses. This article gives the true facts about the value of open houses. The odds of selling a home that has an open house, are 1% or less. They are used by agents, to find potential buyers to work with, taking advantage of the property owner making it look like they are trying to sell the home , when what they are really doing is trying to find buyers they can sell other homes to.
Your agent has told you, that open houses are worthless and won't hold one. That is the first sign, that the agent knows what they are doing and you have a knowledgeable agent.
C: Reasons homes may not sell.
#1---Price. If the property is not priced to sell, then it will not sell. It is very important, that the right comps are used. Example: Agents may not include foreclosed properties in their comps. If there have been foreclosed properties recently sold, and there are several foreclosed properties for sale then if these foreclosed properties are not considered when setting your price, you will be considerably above what homes are actually selling for in that particular part of town. You have to be in the real world, and consider what is really happening, not what you would like it to be. If in doubt hire an appraiser, and find what the home will be able to be sold and financed for. If the home sells, and appraisals say it is worth $50,000 less then the sale will not close. Price your home without emotion, for the real world value. If a home is priced very much above the what the real world sales including foreclosures, etc., it is not going to get shown very often and will not sell.
2:---Inspection. Go through the home with a fine tooth comb, looking for faults an inspector will find, or hire an inspector to inspect the property. If an inspector finds problems after the sale, buyers will demand you fix any problems or cancel the sale. It is best to get rid of any problems before putting the home up for sale. If there are problems, people will be turned off by those problems and not buy and if sold the inspector is going to find those problems and you are going to have to take care of them before closing or adjust the price to cover them. Fixing them in advance, makes the home easier to sell.
3:---Condition. Make your home look better than the competition.
Curb Appeal. First how does the home look from the street, compared to other homes for sale. If the lawn, flowers, shrubs do not look as good as the other homes for sale in the same price bracket, fix this problem. An old trick to increase curb appeal, is a new coat of paint on the front door to make the entry stand out. It has been found, that painting the front door a deep red, turns on buyers. If the door looks dull and does not stand out, paint it to stand out which will draw the buyers eyes away from some other problems.
Is the paint, and trim at least as good as the other homes for sale. If not, it will turn off buyers. Be wise take care of this problem before putting the home on the market.
Is the interior of the home, as sharp as other homes on the market. If not, paint, etc. Is the carpet and other flooring in as good condition as other homes on the market, if not replace, or cut the price considerably. Otherwise it will not sell.
4---Personalization. Is the home overloaded with excess furniture, decor, and very personal. This will keep buyers from being able to visualize the home as their home. Get a storage locker, and take out excess furniture, and decor so the buyers can see the home, not your personal possessions everywhere they look. You may love the look of a wall covered with family photographs, but distracts buyers from feeling it as their home. Stage the home to look nice, and as bright, clean, and as neutral as possible so they can imagine it after they move in.
5---Location. If the home is in a poor location for any reason you will have problems selling it. The best way to compensate for a poor location is to reduce your asking price or offer attractive incentives such as seller financing or a lease option with rent credit.
Take each of those things into consideration. Look at the home as a potential buyer will, and evaluate it against the competition. If you want to sell fast, and at top value, you have to beat out the competition that your home is competing against. This is true, even in a hot real estate market. It is even more true in a slow real estate market.
Quote:
Go Back To Point A at the start of this posting.
Compute the % possibility of your home selling. The lower the number, more important that you look at the rest of his posting. Doing these things, can get a home with a low probability for sale, sold.
Not having an open house and you'd like one? Yes, good reason to be upset. Although, truth be told, open houses rarely sell the home. But it depends on your area; in my area, they are huge and everyone has one. Not advertising in print ads? It depends. Is there something unique about your house; acreage, luxury home, horse property? If not, there is little reason to do print ads. Over 90% of buyers find their home on the internet. It's on Zillow, Trulia and Realtor; yes? That would be my biggest concern as a seller. What is their marketing plan aside from putting it on the internet?
We are overpriced due to my broker's insistence, not mine! He told me that pricing does not matter?! HUH?
Wow, that's something you don't hear everyday...
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