Stand your ground on pricing. Confidently, respectfully, politely. But firmly.
You're not doing anyone any favors when you take a listing you can't sell. Not you, not your seller, not your market.
You may be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
You could be the best thing to ever happen to that seller.
(GO, YOU!)
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The Daily Seduction
Tips & Inspirations to Generate Business from the Very Important People Who Know You
I love this perspective! I think those agent who stand their ground will be around long term.
Christina
Short, sweet, to the point, and all truths...
This is a lesson I have been learning alot with the correction in the market. I agree with
you 100 percent.
It's amazing what happens when you stand your ground. The seller looks at you a bit differently... as do YOU!
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! Stand firm and show your confidence, it is the only way!
I just posted the rock climbing pictures from last week... What a great time!
Doing a proper CMA and then standing your ground is the right thing to do.....
Thanks for reminding the membership, Jen...
=-)
I agree with you 2345% Jennifer. I think when we, as agents, don't do our best we are more of a detriment to the seller than a benefit.
AMEN! Overpriced listings are of no benefit to anyone. And they only hold the seller back from achieving their goal, which is selling their property!
Jennifer, I think one of the biggest things we have to offer our clients is our credibilty and our honesty. In a profession where reputation can make or break us it is always best to stick to doing business with those things in mind. We may not get every listing or buyer but we will keep our integrity. With that, I can sleep well at night.
Jennifer, I learned the hard way about standing firm. I came into the market in the "Golden Years." You listed a home at any price the Seller wanted - because time and again I'd heard agents say, "These Sellers are crazy!" and then the home sold at full price on the first day. Then, the market turned and I had to learn to actually say, "That's not going to work." I had to learn to give tough news, and stick to my guns. I lost some really great clients on my first transaction during the "turn" because I didn't stand firm, wasn't honest enough with them regarding their situation. It made me look like I didn't know what I was doing - I was gently saying "Maybe we should try a price reduction after this open house?" instead of standing up and saying, "Your house isn't selling because the market changed and you're WAY overpriced. We need to reduce the price. A lot. "
Jennifer,
Thanks for the reminder. We get paid for the quality and validity of our opinions. I think when we back down we are actually saying, "I don't really know".
I was inspired to write this pithy little post by a story my dear Ronda told on my private SOI forum... she interviewed for a listing - a $500kish spec home that the builder wanted to overprice and underpay. She was put off by his attitude and stood her ground (although since this was her very first listing opportunity, she was pretty nervous about it) and whaddya' know? He came around! Maybe not ALL the way around, but last I heard, he was willing to price much more reasonably and pay a decent commission.
But standing her ground didn't just help RONDA get a bigger paycheck; it's also exactly what it took for the seller to see the reality of the situation. She may be the best thing to ever happen to this guy!!!
This post hits the nail on the head. I remember when I worked for a big franchise and they always touted, get as many listings as you can even though they were often overpriced. What a waste of my extremely valuable time. Now I only take listing's that i'm confident are priced fairly for the buyer and seller.
Thanks Jennifer :) I'm glad I was an inspiration for this post!!! Yeah, I learned a lot during that ordeal, but it was really because of something YOU said - at one time you wrote something like "having my sign in the yard of a house that isn't selling is NOT good advertising for me" And that stuck.
And like you said, his attitude was a put off and I sure didn't want to start my career being pushed around. Plus I did spend ALOT of time working on the CMA, and it is in my neighborhood, so I felt really good about the market.
Hi Jennifer. Get your homes priced right, and they will sell.
Great post. Short and sweet.
Ken
I agree completely. Great post.
Jennifer, you hit another one out of the park!
I hope she gets the listing.... being persuasive about what is right is sometimes a difficult thing.....
Jennifer, Thanks for the boost. I just did a listing appt last night, and even though it will be a bit high priced, I'm hoping to get it. It's a beautiful little house, and well maintained. It just might go for the higher price if the right buyer comes along.
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It is good site that can help with selling your house, but I prefer Fizber, I didn’t see any addtional services at you site, like Drive score at http://drivescore.fizber.com / or real estate forms at http://www.fizber.com/real-estate-forms.htm . That was very helpful to me.
We explain to our clients that we want to price our services as agressively low as we can without sacraficing service... BECAUSE.... If we cut our fees, we have to cut some of our services. If we cut some of our services and effort, the outcome is rarely as good. Then you (the client) will not be very happy with us and where will that get any of us. We want to each project to be successful for both of us.
I love it. It feels so good when you confidently set the price and 'dont barter' with the seller on the higher price. You barter...you lose. Set it and they will accept it.
Utah Homes for Sale
Utah Dave
Very true - great post. Working with a lot of buyers, it's very hard to handle all these ridiculously overpriced homes in my market. When a buyer is interested in a home, I always perform a CMA as if I were listing the house to see what a fair offer should be. It's amazing to me how few agents do this. To me, you're doing a dis-service to your buyers/clients by skipping this relatively simple step.
PS - Love the new logo!