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Status quo? ActiveRain? I think not.

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Tutas Towne Realty, Inc and Garden Views Realty, LLC BK607690

I wrote a post a while back explaining “Range Pricing” and how it works. There are still many Realtors who don’t understand this technique and are hesitant to use it. But that’s ok, it is definitely not for everyone and quite frankly, if more Realtors used it, I probably would not have the same success with it, that I do. I have found over the years, that most Realtors do not want to think out of the box and are happy to stick with the status quo. This is actually one of the reasons why successful people do not mind sharing their “trade secrets”. The truth is, only a small amount of Realtors will take a good idea and run with it, anyway.

When “The Lovely Wife” and I opened up Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. we knew we were going to have to do things differently in order to compete with the “big boys”. Not only was it just the two of us, working from our home, but we chose a very small and difficult market to work in. At the time, Poinciana, Fl. only had about 6,000 people and was way out in the boonies. Not very many Realtors or Buyers were even willing to take the drive out there to look at properties. But that was ok, too. We didn’t have much competition and there was enough business to keep us busy.

We started by marketing to Realtors. Since we knew we didn’t want to work with Buyers, we had to find ways to get Realtors to make the drive. Se we were very active in the local Board of Realtors and spent a lot of time networking and making friends with other Realtors. Our slogan at the time was “Come on down to Tutas Towne, your Realtor friendly Realtors”. This was on all out marketing pieces and in all our MLS listing comments, MLS books of course, for those that haven’t been around that long. Our strategy worked, as Realtors started showing our listings and wanted to work with us.

We never thought of other Realtors as our competition, we always thought of them as our customers. This was an excellent strategy. I don’t think any other Realtors had this mind set, back then, so it really helped us to stand out in the crowd.

To add to this, we did things differently with our Sellers as well. One being “Talking Houses.” We were the only ones in our area that used “Talking Houses” and secondly, we were the only ones to use “Range Pricing.” These two things gave us the edge we needed when competing for listings. We could offer Sellers something different. We were thinking out of the box and it worked.

Now, ten years later, I (since “The Lovely Wife” has retired) still think out of the box. I still want Realtors to show and sell my listings. They are still my customers. My goal is, and always has been, to make their job as easy as I can. If they have a choice of similar homes to show, I want them to chose my listings first, knowing they will be treated fairly and compensated well for showing and selling my listings. This is why I participate in forums and why I blog. I want to help Realtors. Knowledgeable Realtors are easier to work with.

I don’t use “Talking Houses” any more, not quite sure why, but just moved on I guess. So, I  gave them all to Jonathan Greene, to hopefully help him in his business. I hope he uses them and I hope they help.

Now “Range Pricing” is still my ace in the hole. When I take a listing, I only have two initial goals, get Buyers through the front door and encourage them to make an offer. I have found no better technique to achieve this than “Range Pricing”. Now that the market has slowed, there is no better time, than now, to get out of the box and give it a try. I can assure you, that if this technique is used properly, your listings will get showings and Buyers will make offers. Now I don’t know about your market, but in mine, that is the whole point.

So folks, if you have listings that aren’t getting showings, try it. What have you go to lose? Maybe, just maybe, you’ll get showings. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll get an offer. Maybe your Seller will accept it. Maybe you will get paid. Or maybe, like most Realtors, you’ll just continue on with the status quo. Status quo? ActiveRain? I think not.

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 Tutas Towne Realty, Inc handles Florida real estate sales, Florida short sales, Florida strategic short sales, Florida pre-foreclosure sales, Florida foreclosures in Kissimmee Florida Short Sales, Davenport Florida Short Sales, Haines City Florida Short Sales, Poinciana Florida Short Sales, Solivita Florida Short Sales,  Orlando Florida Short Sales, Celebration Florida Short Sales, Windermere Florida Short Sales. Serving all of Polk, Osceola and Orange Counties Florida. Florida Short Sale Broker. Short Sale Florida.

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Comments (15)

Timothy Butterworth
Taking a break - Portland, OR

What a great blog, you give great advice. I have never heard of talking houses, but that was very nice of you to do for jonathan.

I love the idea of thinking out of the box, just brilliant.

Cheers

Sep 25, 2006 11:56 AM
"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

"My Brilliant Husband"

I like it. Perhaps others will try "thinking out of the box" and s-t-r-e-t-c-h their mind...and ask...Hmmm? Will this "Range Pricing" work? I agree...anything new is worth a shot if the old simply does not work. "Your Realtor Friendly Realtors"...if my memory serves correctly you did not like that slogan but agreed to try it...Look at you now...You mentor you. I am proud of you!

 by "The Lovely Wife"...Kum La Ka Lakka...ROAR!  

Sep 25, 2006 12:19 PM
Sara Lipnitz
Max Broock Realtors - Birmingham, MI
Great post.  You really have established yourself as a leader.  Not just in your market, but here on Active Rain.  I'm not sure if Range Pricing is the right thing for my market.... But I do think that thinking out of the box is for everyone who wants to succeed.
Sep 25, 2006 01:25 PM
Christopher Smith
TREGO REALTY - Cedar Rapids, IA
Bryant, loved the post, and read your blog on Range Pricing.  I think it's a great idea.  You sure you don't have family here in Cedar Rapids, so you can stop by and say Hi??!?!?!!?
Sep 25, 2006 01:37 PM
Susan Milner
Florida Future Realty, Inc. - Cape Coral, FL
Cape Coral Real Estate Broker, FloridaFutureAgents
Our MLS doesn't have an option for range pricing...am I missing something.I think our old mls did. I remember thinking 'how silly' everyone will just assume the bottom # is the price & offer less. But I can see how, especially in this market, it could work....thanks for your great blogs.
Sep 25, 2006 02:47 PM
Sharon Simms
Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS
We tried range pricing when we were with Prudential Florida years ago. The concept is good, but we were such a small part of the market and had serious resistance and non-showings from other agents. Do you control the majority of your market with your range priced homes?
Sep 25, 2006 11:49 PM
Bryant Tutas
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc and Garden Views Realty, LLC - Winter Garden, FL
Selling Florida one home at a time

Susan, not asll MLSs support Range Pricing. You can still use it just be sure to put the RP remarks on the fist line of the comments.

Sharon, when I first started using RPing, I received a lot of grief over it. But I stuck to it. Now is is pretty common in my area. It really is a simple technique and it works well. Remember the market determines what a home will sell for. If a property is overpriced the market will bring it down, if it's underpriced the market will negotiate it upward, if it's RP the market will negotiate it to the middle (assuming the middle is true market value). The advantage of the RP property is the listing price is below "market value". This brings the buyers in. More showings, more offers, quicker sales. It's a no brainer for me.

 

Sep 26, 2006 12:36 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL
Awesome idea, I will definitely try it with a listing that has had little movement.  How do you deal with other agents that call and ask "Why a range?? - you will never get a full priced offer that way!"
Sep 26, 2006 02:32 AM
Bryant Tutas
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc and Garden Views Realty, LLC - Winter Garden, FL
Selling Florida one home at a time

Rick and Ines, The way to handle it is to remind the other Realtor that negotiations are between the buyer and the seller. If the buyer is interested have him make an offer and I'll run it by the seller. From there, it's their decision not ours. No further explanation to the other Realtor is required.

Give it a try. It will work. Buyers and sellers have no problem understanding it. It's the Realtors that don't want to jump out of the box that pose a problem. But hey, they're not the ones buying the house, so who cares.

Sep 26, 2006 03:03 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL

We will certainly give it a try, thanks for the great advice.  It's unselfish and giving people like you that make it far, in this business and in life!   Ines

Sep 26, 2006 04:31 AM
Robert Rees - Austin Real Estate
Robert Rees Realty, Inc - Austin, TX

Once again Bryant, you must be my alter ego over in FL. I'm always trying to think outside the box, and I use Talking House and even before I used Talking House for Listings I always tell sellers at listing appointments that the best tool ALL agents have to sell their house is other agents.

For everyone else, I wrote Bryant last week after a previous post on Range Pricing, that I tried it on one of my listings and got 2 showings a couple of days later, which matched the showings for a two month period! I think it's worth a try. 

Sep 26, 2006 06:56 AM
Susan Milner
Florida Future Realty, Inc. - Cape Coral, FL
Cape Coral Real Estate Broker, FloridaFutureAgents

Bryant,

When you don't have the option to RP in the MLS do you put the listing price at the bottom of the range & then comment that the range is X to Y? Just curious what verbage may work. I can also see this working outside of the MLS on marketing peices as well - do you use it there as well?

Sep 27, 2006 03:27 AM
Bryant Tutas
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc and Garden Views Realty, LLC - Winter Garden, FL
Selling Florida one home at a time

Susan, Example: If your target selling price is $200,000 then Range Price from $190,000 to $210,000. $190,000 is the list price. The first line in the comments must say.

This property is Range Priced. The seller will consider offers between $190,000 and $210,000 with $210,000 being a full price offer.

I put this in comments and Realtor comments. That way they can't say they didn't see it.

Try it! You really will be amazed at the increse in activity.

Sep 27, 2006 03:42 AM
Dave Jones
Dave Jones Realty, llc. - Prospect, CT
Broker/Owner - e-PRO Dave Jones Realty llc Prospec
I see this is an old post, but the info is definitely relevant.  Our market here in Central Ct has slowed, and I came to active rain to find ideas just like this!  Thanks!
Mar 06, 2007 06:04 AM
D B
Quakertown, PA
e-PRO, Realtor - Bucks County PA - 610-952-3578

This is a great article on your blog.  I enjoyed reading it today.

Don Bradbury

Oct 05, 2007 03:01 AM