How many times have you seen it?
You are in the office eating the title company doughnuts and home inspector candies, and Harry Hot Shot, GRI, CRS, BOZO and let's not forget: all around nice guy, walks in. Oh by the way did I mention he was a Realtor®? No biggie, what is in a name anyway? Anyway Harry comes in high fives everyone in the office and announces his newest listing - just taken this morning! It is of course priced 25% over market, but who cares? Kudos all the way around!
Forget the fact that the home will never sell in a declining market. Forget the fact that the whole office will waste their time and gas visiting a home they will never show on office caravan. Forget the money that will be wasted on advertising this over priced turkey. And forget that if there is a stooge out there who wants to buy it, it will never appraise.
Let's focus instead on the fact that we will have a new listing in the office. The newbie agents will gain valuable experience every time they run an open house that no one comes to.
Wow! High five! Great Job!
In an industry that leads the world in turnover, Harry is a veteran - 5 years in the business. He should have prepared a CMA but that is too "old school" for Harry. Why waste the time on a CMA if you are just going to list the home for what the seller wants anyway?
Later you ask Harry why he took the listing. His answer - they have to sell, they will reduce the price later. Read between the lines - Harry knows the market value of the home, but hedges on it with the buyers, knowing that the home doesn't have a snowballs chance of selling at that price, and not telling them how hard he has to slam them for price breaks later just to take the listing. The real market value of the home will stay Harry's little secret until the time is right for him to pounce on the unsuspecting sellers.
Everyone knows that misleading sellers about the value of their home is a violation of the Code of Ethics, but Harry is a legend in the office, besides everyone does the same thing, and if anyone can get that home sold Harry can.
Oh well, time for a few more high fives and I have to get back to the coffee pot and finish our discussion about how Zillow is ruining our business with its Zestamates.
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