If you are a "motivated seller," then lower your price! (appraisal, 3%)

[koalamott]

I am sooooo sick and tired of seeing the following in listings:

"seller wants all offers"

"motivated seller"

"bring all offers"

"all reasonable offers wanted"

If you are really, truly, genuinely MOTIVATED, as in, you actually want to sell your house, then you need to lower the price! If your house is overpriced, I am not gonna take your listing seriously. It's all about the price! Price your house right, and then we can negotiate.

While I am at it, I wonder why so many agents still tend to use the same old cliche pet tricks. Do listing agents think that buyers are stupid?

Here's a glossary that could be useful for some buyers:

"priced below market": (definition: if that were true, it would have sold to a realtor before you even saw it)

"please make an offer" (definition: there may be something wrong with this house)

"price reduced" (definition: price is still not low enough)

"needs TLC" (definition: it's a shack and needs work)

"property being sold as is for seller's convenience" (definition: there is something majorly wrong with this house)

"this is not a short sale" (definition: house is overpriced and they are trying to trick me into thinking it's not)

"open floor plan" (definition: no formal dining)

"this home was just treated for termites" (definition: major infestation)

"this is a great value home" (definition: needs 100-200k in upgrades/work)

"home priced below appraisal" (definition: home is still overpriced)

"create your own paradise" "amazing potential" "great investment" (definition: it's a tear-down and you better get it cheap)

"look no further" (definition: keep looking)

"was worth [insert number here] dollars in the boom" (definition: it's overpriced)

"needs lots of work" (definition: may have structural or other major issues; you better get it cheap because it's close to being a teardown if they put that in the listing)

"priced to move" (definition: priced to sit)

"freshly painted": (definition: has hidden issues)

"cozy" "charming" "cute" (definition: too small)

"lots of character" (definition: needs rehab)

"several recent upgrades" (definition: house needs a lot more upgrades than that)

"owner is a licensed agent" (definition: beware!)

[Rakin]

The one that gets me is "Hurry, won't last long" - that's the curse of any house. After being on the market 280 days, you would think an agent would remove that phrase.

Or better yet, it's the middle of August & there is a pic of the house with snow on the roof.

[Delron]

LOL so true on every count. You missed a couple, however, that are similar to various ones you listed:

"minor fixer" = the shack might just collapse on you as you're doing the walkthrough/tour

"cosmetic fixer" = most of the body parts/blood/bodily fluids/fecal matter from the crime scene was removed, it's only spray paint, and the whole place needs to be gutted.

[le roi]

Originally Posted by koalamott

Do listing agents think that buyers are stupid?

Well, there's plenty of evidence out there to support the assertion that buyers are stupid.


Regarding the catch phrases, my personal favorite is when they say, "PRICED $X UNDER MARKET VALUE!"

[LCMT]

Great Post....exactly what I've been saying the past few days!

[Rakin]

We agents are pretty good at getting creative. I'd love to see something like

"This piece of junk house smells, the carpet is wasted and the foundation only leans 15%. The pool needs major repairs. Please overlook the Termites otherwise it's a darn nice house"

Yes many buyers come to us wanting to see these homes that they have found on the internet. Stupid is not the word but maybe ..gullible ??

[DMenscha]

Since the listing agent works for the seller, what sort of phrase(s) would you have us use? To borrow from Rakin, yes I could put that description on marketing material, but how long do you think the seller would like to keep his listing with me?

We try very hard to price a property correctly, yet sometimes the sellers don't want to listen to us, or are in denial about the true value of their homes. Phrases like "make an offer" are intended to have a potential buyer tell the seller exactly what the buying public thinks their home is worth.

[poe8]

I agree with pricing right, but it seems in my area a lot of sellers just can't price it to what the market is dictating without losing tens of thousands of dollars. I am lucky and was able to price it very competetively, and it sold in 48 HOURS

I listed it for only a couple grand over what the same model townhomes were actually selling for (not being listed at) in my area. If you price what similar or the same homes are selling for, you will find a buyer. If you are listing just a bit under what other active homes are asking, then you will sit with the rest of them.

[Delron]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

Since the listing agent works for the seller, what sort of phrase(s) would you have us use? To borrow from Rakin, yes I could put that description on marketing material, but how long do you think the seller would like to keep his listing with me?

We try very hard to price a property correctly, yet sometimes the sellers don't want to listen to us, or are in denial about the true value of their homes. Phrases like "make an offer" are intended to have a potential buyer tell the seller exactly what the buying public thinks their home is worth.

Yeah, because heaven forbid we get a bit of honesty.

In terms of getting a seller in denial, then just walk. Of course agents/realtors want as many listings as possible, to generate further leads, but how about a bit of character, actually giving the seller the truth and reality of the value of their property, and walking? Otherwise you are just spending your or your broker's money on wasted advertising, because it will never sell.

[aneftp]

Originally Posted by poe8

I agree with pricing right, but it seems in my area a lot of sellers just can't price it to what the market is dictating without losing tens of thousands of dollars. I am lucky and was able to price it very competetively, and it sold in 48 HOURS

I listed it for only a couple grand over what the same model townhomes were actually selling for (not being listed at) in my area. If you price what similar or the same homes are selling for, you will find a buyer. If you are listing just a bit under what other active homes are asking, then you will sit with the rest of them.

I agree. You need to price your home appropriately. That means to try to find a similar home like yours that recently sold (like within the past 30-60 days) and not try to compare homes that sold 6 months to even one year ago.

In a declining real estate market (and if you are motiviated), you need to be priced right or else as the guy (mike aubrey?) from "real estate intervention says" "YOU DO NOT WANT TO CHASE a DECLINING market" That guy says you need to be the market setter. You will end up losing even more money if you overprice yourself.

I did that. I took a look at my "competition" and looked at what the builders were charging and compared that price to a home that sold 30 days ago. I set my price and ended up getting a contract within 35 days of list price (tons of foot traffic) but I was mainly competing with the builders who just dropped the base price of new homes by $100K. My resale competition listed for 25K more than I listed. They were crazy and they ended up pulling their homes from the market after being on the market for more than 200 days.

I sold my home in a pretty quick manner. Yeah, I ended up losing a ton of money (more than six figures) but it's either keep on paying an almost $4K mortgage (principal/interest/hoa/taxes) or eat the lost now and just reload in a few months.

Fortunately I can take a financial hit and recover quickly.

However, there are many sellers who did not put a large principal down payment and do not have thousands of dollars to bring to the table.

So you need to make the distinction between a motivated sellers with the resources to get the deal completed and a motivated seller who won't just "give the home" away.

I had one really low ball offer. The offer was 20% below the last sold price of a comparable home that sold within the last 30 days. I ended up selling my home for 3% less than the last sold home. So I was motivated but wasn't going to give the home away.