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Straight Talk on Tuesday Morning

Tough love with a bite of reality for Sellers in New London County serious about getting their home sold.

Ledyard Real Estate

It happened again this week. An agent listed a home in Ledyard and gave it a Mystic price. I hate when that happens but unfortunately it happens quite often when agents from higher priced areas like Mystic or East Lyme don't make the price adjustment necessary when evaluating Ledyard properties.

Over the years, I've lost listings to agents who swoop into Ledyard with little knowledge of the area and list homes at grandiose prices that have little chance of selling. I'm not sure what bugs me more, agents who pull this stunt or sellers who list with the highest bidder.

Here's the typical scenario in 2009: Experienced Ledyard agent suggests a listing price of $275,000. An agent who needs map quest to find the listing, suggests a price of $300,000 and obtains the listing from the seller, who is thrilled at the potential selling price.

And the winner is... no one. Experienced Ledyard agent loses the listing. Map quest agent never sells the overpriced listing. And worst of all, duped seller doesn't sell their home that has now fallen in value to $260,000.

Sellers Beware! Be sure to consider the experience of the agents you interview. List your home with an agent that knows your neighborhood.

Here comes the straight talk: You might not like the price I give you, but I'd rather disappoint you now than let you down later.

Straight Talk on Tuesday Morning is an ongoing series for sellers in New London County who are willing to listen, roll up their sleeves, and do what they need to do to get their home sold. If your aren't serious about selling your home, then move along. There is nothing to see here.

Linda Davis has been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for 32 years. You'll find Linda's profile on her Online Business Card.

Posted by Linda Davis on 08/04/2009 09:32 AM

Comments (29)

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29 Comments on Straight Talk on Tuesday Morning

AUG

Linda:

One would think and hope, that after so many months of economic difficulty that these agents would learn that this strategy, if one can call it that, does not work. We see it here too, as they cross town and county lines. Seems to me it also violates the COE when they are deliberatiely misrepresenting the value of the home to the sellers.

Have fun at Inman/BloggersConnect

Jeff

Some listing agents just never learn. If they're with a mega, I believe they are too anxious to put that new listing "on the board".

Short lived pleasure followed by a lot of pain.

Yep, the "4 P" approach is still alive and well all over.

4 P approach to home selling

Put a sign in the yard
Put it in the MLS
Put an ad in the newspaper
Pray someone sells it for you.

Unfortunatly for those agents savvy buyers and savvy buyer's agents are putting a stop to this practice.

You are sooooo right. Love your "Mystic Price" I normally use Fantasy Land when showing the sellers what is active in the market, but your wording is just perfect!

Linda:

This is a classic example of what it takes to write a great Active Rain Post. I was delighted that it was yours. Where did you your apple picture?

Gloria: Mystic is a rustic little place in Connecticut and then there is Mystic Seaport, a place I remember from my childhood.

Linda - Well said, I'm not sure what bugs me more either "agents who pull this stunt or sellers who list with the highest bidder." As you mentioned the seller usually loses.

Like apples, listing agent can be rotten. BromaCleanse Flexarite

This applies not only in Ledyard, but also in the Greater Waterbury area. And as usual, the house will sit, and sit, and sit, and not get sold, because someone unfamiliar with the market bought the listing. I see it as an opportunity for validation, and when the listing expires, I'm in perfect shape to get it.

Good thing about this market is that the new agents are thinning out quite abit. As a buyers agent I look at the newbies homes first b/c I know they can be negoiated. Doesn't matter what they price it at, matters what gets to the closing table. cw

Linda, this is great advice for sellers all over the counrty. Although I confess to taking an occassional listing that I need my little navigation device to locate. But I think that I'm even more careful pricing those than listings in my own back yard.

Linda, it seems we have more and more of these agents everyday. I am candid and blunt with my listings. Most appreciate the honesty and realize that I am going to be straight with them. On rare occassions they listen to an agent who "buys" a listing, on those occassions I am probably better off.

Linda,

I sell upscale luxury property on the beach in Naples FL. My sellers have usually paid cash and so when they price their listing it is an "ego" thing. I lost a listing a couple of years ago to an agent who priced the listing at 1.9. I recommended 1.4. So a year later, with no showings they came to me. I told them in the current market it is now worth 1.2. They were upset but listed with me. They had my full attention. I sold that listing for close to the price in less than three months in this market. They learned their lesson and sent me two more listings. They told their neighbors I might not tell them what they liked to hear, but I would sell it. Hang in there. You will probably get the listing.

I doubt this is a matter of an out of the area broker not knowing the values in your area. More likely a listing strategy of overpricing and telling the owner what they want to hear just to get listing, You will have to deal with this with local agents also

No wonder sellers think they can do a better job on their own. With agents like that who does need them!

It is a problem that happens with local agents as well. I have begun explaining to Seller's that if I list their home at unrealistic price in the end we will both be disappointed. Them- beacuse I couldn't sell it, and Me- because I'll never even recoup my advertising costs.

Linda - I just love your straight-talk! And I happen to say the same thing at my listing appts - I'd rather disappoint you now, then several months down the road and a couple of price adjustments later! Way to go!

What is amazing to me is why the listing agent didn't do a cma... especially in an unfamiliar area!

but I'd rather disappoint you now than let you down later.

Love this line Linda !! And I believe in it entirely. I'll give you the truth - whether its what you want to hear or not.

Good points :o)

Linda-

You've taken the right, honest, approach. Whether you call it karma or reciprocity (in a non-real estate sense), your actions will come back to you and your honesty will be rewarded.

Linda -- great blog! We call it "buying the listing" -- agents suggesting a listing price that is NO WHERE near what the market will bear. There was a property on the market for 258 days, priced at $275,900. When the house three doors down went on the market for $237,900 -- Hmmm . . . which home is priced for the market? If the $275,900 would have been priced for the market 258 DAYS AGO . . . my clients wouldn't be buying it at $234,900 today!

Time is MONEY folks!!

well said. I like the experienced Ledyard agent/ mapquest agent comparison. I hope you get good readership with a selling customer base.

We see the same thing with out of area appraisers swooping in and putting seriously wrong prices on houses they appraise. They don't know the neighborhoods, the nuances of the school districts.... etc.

Nothing infuriates me more than when I see it.

You are right, no one wins.

Time, money, decling market, chasing the market.

Gee aren't you in San Francisco?

Have fun.

Linda

All so very true. More than once I have done a listing presentation and put my cards on the table. I have told the sellers that the good the bad and the ugly of listing their house for a higher price.

Yes, many times I lose out to that agent that wants to win the listing contest for $500 but I smile a knowing smile 6 months later when the house hits the expireds and there was never a reduction in price.

AUG

The seller decided not to give the local agent the listing and you assume it is about the price, maybe yes maybe no. Big jump to assume that. I have seen new agents who are local in an area give a seller a high price as well. The assumption is that a local agent, all local agents, know how to price correctly, don't think so or that all agents "from out of the area" don't know how to price correctly, don't think so. It is a changing world and no matter what the seller is the one to make the decision even if you all disagree with that decision.

You are correct Miriam. A seller always has the right to make a bad decision. Sadly, that house will be on the market for a very long time due to that decision.

AUG

it is a bad decision in your opinion, maybe the seller understands that the house will be on the market for a longer period of time and is willing to market it that way - fully informed. Not a bad decision for him.

It's called buying a listing for a reason. It happens everywhere. 10 to 1 the agent that gets the listing doesn't know the market and hasn't give the seller the absorption rate either. I'm a lister and when I give the rates to people the amount of blood that drains from their face is a clear indictation that anyone that has interviewed before me was inexperienced. Period.

What's that old saying? It's always better to be the second wife and the second listing agent.

I don't take overpriced listings because I'm a professional and I'm just better than that.

SEP

A friend once told me the following:

Best to be the:

FIRST BORN

SECOND WIFE

THIRD AGENT

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