Had a phone call a few weeks ago from a man who had a spec house for sale in our local market and I had been referred to him by his builder with whom I had made contact a few months ago.  The spec house is vacant and had been on the market for about a year already.  After a few calls, back and forth, he came to the mountains to meet with me and the Realtor.  I had never met this gentleman, and he is a gentleman, and had only once briefly met the Realtor.

I had been to the house  last week and checked out the exterior to note what was needed for curb appeal, and determined what furnishings would be required for the interior.  I took the pics, made notes, collected the fliers from the kitchen counter and went home to write the proposal. I also contacted my landscaper for an estimate. I had neglected to tell the homeowner the fee for my consultation was $250.00 so I gave him a call to make sure, before I went any further with the proposal, that he was ok with the fee.  He said he'd get back to me and he did, that was yesterday.  He is from out of town so we set the appointment at 11:00 am.  I was there about 5 minutes early.  The Realtor was to meet us at 11:00 as well.  Precisely at 11:00 the homeowner arrived and after the initial introductions we set about looking at the proposal and talking over the contract.  That took about 10 minutes , but still no Realtor.  The homeowner apologized, and told me he didn't want to waste my time ,and I told him I was fine, I had cleared my morning to work with him and assess with him his goals for the property and how I could fit into his plan to sell his home. 

We were getting along great ,with a question and answer session, and had  already developed a good working relationship. Then the Realtor showed up 35 minutes late and declared that was when the appointment was set and not his fault the time got mixed up. OOOOOOO-K.

The Realtor came in placed his notebook on the counter.  Homeowner asked the Realtor what was on Realtor's mind.  Immediately, Realtor said, "Price , thats what we need to do, drop the price into line with the rest of the market.  You know we used to have a lot of buyers and sellers, now we have a lot of buyers and they are shopping price."

Then the homeowner asked what the Realtor thought about staging.  With me sitting there no less, for once with my lips so tight, the jaws of life could not pry my mouth open.  I wanted to hear this answer. 

Inside my head my brain  was screaming" do not tell another seller to drop the price before even giving staging a chance, that is like going to Vegas, plunking 50K down on the table and never placing a bet." 

Then UNR ( unamed realtor) proceeded to say, "Well that would be cute and all , but without a good price reduction staging it won't do any good."  UNS (unamed stager) still said nothing.  CUTE????  Shades of the corporate world flooded my exploding brain.  Did I really hear what I just heard?

Then UNR set about to pick the house apart, citing crooked outlets, moulding that had 1/32 of an inch gap, the mulch that had to be renewed and on and on.  UNS asked the UNR if these defects had been previously listed and given to homeowner to correct before the potential buyer saw them and became objections.

Answer.  "No, I wait for the inspection and let the inspector find problems and then they are fixed."OOOOO-K. Let me recap, the homeowner had contacted me, not the UNR.  UNR was doing everything to get the price reduced and , in my mind, just ended up insulting the homeowner and the house.

Timing is everything so I packed up my stuff, said my goodbyes to the UNR and the homeowner and left them to talk it out.  I had done all I could do and more.  I offered to do an open house with UNR and was informed that UNR did not do open houses since it was "a waste of time."  UNR did say, "I'll get you some people."  UNR is definitely of the "old school" drop the price and get it sold mentality.

The homeowner already knew that I was willing to go the extra mile to get his house sold by adding extras and not charging for them, by having the  two open houses, with cookies baking, and serving mulled cider.  I am also saving the homeowner money by using my own furniture inventory instead of renting from a furniture rental company.  I would bring live plants for the house and maintain them throughout the staging period. Both a time commitment and a trip without a trip charge.  I really want to break into this area, it needs staging services because, like everywhere else, there are a lot of houses, occupied and vacant, that need showcasing.  Face it, this area is at least 40 miles, one way to anything. With gas prices going up, the economy jittery, home sellers around here need some advantage to encourage buyers to live that kind of distance from everyday necessities.  This area is also a second home area, and the high prices are now out of the realm of second home affordability.  Fewer people are now able to afford second homes nowadays.

In conclusion I am left wondering how  some Realtor's brains are wired.  Ok, drop the price, try staging, and try to get some offers to negotiate. There have been no offers in the year this house has been on the market. Around here price drops from 25K to 75 or 100K are not unusual, but why do that without even trying to see what the house could really bring to the table. 

Unless the homeowner is willing to pay someone to take the house,  a price reduction is not going to automatically change the potential buyers emotional connection to a house, and make them want to make it their new home.  Staging, again is a necessity, not an option.