What is keeping some Buyers out of the market, or at least very upset, is the over-priced listings of owners with unrealistic expectations, and unwilling to listen to reason.
These Sellers, and their agents, look so absolutely foolish to those viewing the properties, or at least to the majority who understand the reality of the market.
Today's Buyers are savvier and aren't going to pay more than market value, but trying to negotiate a reasonable price is almost always an exercise in futility.
Lender's aren't going to finance a property beyond it's value, not unless there is a substantial downpayment, and what is the chance of someone happening by with cash?
Personally I'm fed-up of trying to deal with over-priced listings, and the irrational excuses being proffered are pathetic. To give everyone a good laugh I'm going to blog the worst top ten soon!
Almost all over-priced listings end up as expired listings, wasting everyone's time, and as a result Buyers and agents are righfully offended, as in pissed.
Sellers who think they know better than what the market dictates, and can't grasp the fact that the goal is to sell not to list, should be left to sell their own home.
So in fact some Sellers (and their agents) are keeping many Buyers out of the market.
I am a big fan of what Matt has to say; I generally agree with his commentary and regularly recommend him to others.
I have attempted the following précis of this post to focus on one of Matt's main points.
According to management guru, Peter Drucker, "defining what the task is and what it should be" is the difficulty in determining what exactly to measure.
Applied to real estate, the task simplified is to fulfill the customers goals. So what precisely is the customer expecting to achieve in a real estate transaction?
The goal is not to list, but to sell.
So why do so many listed homes expire and not sell? For the Seller this question is at the root of what measurement is most meaningful to them.
How effective is a REALTOR who has 100 listings in a year, 10 of which expire? A 90% efficiency rate is hardly effective in my opinion, but I'll let you be the judge.
Is a REALTOR who has only 18 listings in a year and sells all but one, less effective? If the goal is to sell then this REALTOR with only a 5.6% failure rate is considerably more effective than our top listing REALTOR example.
In Matt's words, "It is wholly irrelevant to measure the number of ‘available listings' by a particular agent (or firm), unless we measure success by the number of listings taken".
Unfortunately for the public, ‘listing volume' is a common way for defining successful REALTORS. If the professional obligation of a REALTOR is in fact to work in the best interest of a client then perhaps we need to do some serious navel-gazing on how we define success.
The failure rate (of expired listings) is not a measurement commonly used in the real estate industry. Now we must change this so we know how successful we are as individual REALTORS and as an industry in fulfilling customer expectations, and our professional obligations.
The task defined is to sell 100% of listings and all REALTORS should be measured against this standard if we are going to improve our professional perception.
The way the North American residential real estate industry is widely structured today it is common practice for the Seller to pay the total commission for the sale of their property. I acknowledge there are a few exceptions and they can be discussed in other blog posts.
Last year Richard Robbins of Richard Robbins International published the following research.
It takes on average 32 hours of time to complete a Buyer sale, and 8 hours to complete a Seller sale. I believe similar statistics are available from other sources.
These findings tell us that on average Realtors spend 4 times longer representing a Buyer than they do representing a Seller.
Is there any doubt now why the majority of Realtors are so fixated on getting the listing?
If the job of the Buyer's agent requires more time, it follows then that they should be compensated more than the Seller's agents; in reality however this is uncommon.
Even the expenses of working with a Buyer can be equal to that of working with a Seller, and some Seller's agent charge extra for things such as newspaper advertising.
The Seller's decision on what commission a Buyer's agent should receive is based mainly on what the listing contract dictates, and as we know it is the Seller's agent who prepares and controls this. I'll ask the question again, "Is there any doubt now why the majority of Realtors are so fixated on getting the listing?"
So why is the Seller's (listing) agent discounting the worth of the Buyer's agent when preparing the listing contract?
By doing this, what is the Seller's agent telling their Seller client to convince them that the hard working Buyers agent with serious qualified Buyers is worth less? Even if nothing is said, surely discrediting of the Buyer's agent is implied?
So I'd like to hear how this is working in the best interest of the Seller?
City of Port Moody Council Meeting, May 12, 2009 - Public Input
Your Worship and Council:
My West End neighbours in the diverse areas of College Park, Glenayre, Seaview, Seaforth, East Hill, and Harbour Heights, have told us for many years about taking their business out of Port Moody for goods and services which cannot be found within walking distance of their front doorstep; we all know this is wrong.
It is also a major reason why Moody Centre West needs its own Evergreen Line Station at Barnet and Clarke to fully integrate all Port Moody neighbourhoods and make revitalization a certainty.
We are talking here about thousands of Port Moody households up the hill that are seeking the attention, support and leadership from this Council.
...The condo liquidation phenomenon I am referring to here is likely to become more prevalent as more buildings realize that their short-sighted focus to keep the condo operating fees low is in fact destructive.
The concept of a longer-term (20-25 years) maintenance plan with a capital budget is not widely practiced by strata (condo) corporations in BC, when in fact it should be required by law to protect owners.
More strata corporations with artificially low fees will soon be discovering that the cost to restore their buildings will be beyond, or close to, the value of selling to recover land value (if they're lucky). An extra $25 to $50 each month per suite would probably have covered all costs and kept the building in great shape...
...With the lack of adequate legislation (Strata Property Act) and supporting regulations, I believe we have known the collapse of strata corporations was inevitable. These inadequacies have led to poorly prepared and insufficiently supported owners trying to work within a broken government imposed framework...
...The consequence is that many more British Columbian families will be losing their homes. [...]
Vancouver is regarded as one of the most desirable places to live in the world and as a result we have a net in-migration that exceeds 35,000 people each year.
While the Vancouver pre-2010 Winter Olympics real estate market slowed down, the over-supply is dwindling and has returned to levels not seen for about 18 months.
So with local supply decreasing and demand going up I remain quite positive as we see the initial signs of a rebound.
My business as a Realtor is to help people find the home that best suits their needs, or assist them sell a home. Helping clients, including new Canadians relocating, avoid the risks associated with real estate transactions is something I take very seriously.
I've already been able to help people of many nationalities, and by viewing my full profile here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/realtorca you can read some recent recommendations.
Prudential is recognized as a world leader in real estate and relocation services and I am personally networked to well over 200 Realtors in our North American market. My international real estate network, which includes: immigration lawyers, translators, job search companies, etc., is even more extensive.
It would be an honour for me if I could ever help you, your family, friends or business associates find a home here in Metro Vancouver, or elsewhere through my network.
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic dates are February 12 to 28, followed on March 12 to 21 by the Paralympics Winter Games.
Visitors to the Olympics are already starting to organize their trips to British Columbia and many will need to consider accommodation options in Vancouver's surrounding areas such as the Tri-Cities of, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody.
This area is located at the eastern end of Burrard Inlet, which flows from Vancouver, and is one of the city's fastest growing regions. Port Moody in particular is an outdoor lover's dream and boasts beautiful mountain and maritime vistas.
Those interested in the beauty of the local wilderness will find Buntzen Lake recreation area open all year round. The lake is surrounded by forest-covered mountains, which contain many well-maintained hikes of varying difficulty.
Port Moody is also the self-described "City of the Arts" and has numerous galleries and arts facilities, as well as a diverse mix of restaurants, cafes, boutiques and markets. It is a vibrant community with great shopping and dining, and several spas and wellness centres in the historic Moody Centre and the modern Newport Village.
Visitors seeking the convenience of indoor shopping will find over 200 stores at the nearby Coquitlam Centre mall.
The Tri-Cities' artistic talents are on show at the dozen or so local art galleries; the Port Moody Civic Centre, which hosts live artistic performances, special events and theatre; and at the Port Moody Arts Centre, which has four galleries and a gift shop.
Ski/snowboard buffs should visit the North Shore Mountains' excellent ski facilities. Mount Seymour, Grouse Mountain and Cypress Mountain, the latter which will host freestyle skiing and snowboard during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, are located less than an hour's drive from the Tri-Cities.
I've already had an inquiry from Janne in Finland so I need to clarify that my Metro Vancouver residential real estate business, based in Port Moody, does not include finding rental accommodation. If on the other hand you wish to buy (or sell) then you've come to the right place.
Generating traffic to an open house means that I must be aware of what audience it will attract, and in my opinion a correlation generally exists between the type of property and the homebuyer.
The public remarks used in a listing must therefore be designed for the target buyer, and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) research findings confirm that the "Gen X & Y" demographic will account for over 75% of home buying.
I am finding that remarks describing a lifestyle (with action) seem to get more of a reaction from this segment than the customary features, advantages and benefits formula used for "Baby Boomers" and "Traditionalists". Besides, the online visuals (a picture is worth a 1,000 words) will often show the granite counters and stainless appliances anyway.
One of the most important answers I want from attendees at an open house is how they found out about it. As well as the conventional Realtor.ca (formerly MLS.ca) website, more often my listings and open houses are being found through other online media marketing resources that I use, and only about one in every five attending open houses is (guestimated) a "Boomer".
What is really interesting is that by the second half of 2008, rarely were there any open house visitors or inquiries stemming from newspaper advertising efforts.
At the start of 2009, one of the two free local newspapers in my community went back to being twice weekly. I suspect that readership is down, as is the advertising revenues which are probably migrating to the Internet.
The "Gen X & Y" get almost everything they want online, as I do, and I believe this is becoming even more common with Boomers I connect with online at LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/realtorca
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Everything you need within blocks: grocery, produce, drug, video, liquor, & dollar stores; restaurants; banks; insurance; post office; clinic; salon; night club & bars; casino; a wired library and college for the intellectual; or, you can always stroll the Quay or head Uptown to Moody Park. Enjoy the flexibility and mobility of Skytrain, a bus, cab, or drive from the New West Downtown: MetroTown in 10mins, Richmond or Tri-Cities-25mins, and Vancouver-35mins. You can have it all for less than the rent. Find out how by calling John today: 778-878-0778. To see more click here [...]
...skilled writing about an unimportant subject, or is that unskilled writing about an important subject?
Well I don't know so as things unfold please judge for yourself...
...don't forget to leave a comment, and thanks for visiting.
John Grasty is a REALTOR® serving the Tri-Cities (Coquitlam - Port Coquitlam - Port Moody) real estate market.
Please check out John's website: http://www.RealEstateEvolved.com
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