Can You Trust a Northern Virginia Short Sale Agent to List Your Regular Sale?

Can you trust a Northern Virginia Short Sale Agent to list your regular sale?

By the advertising that comes through my mailbox from Realtors® in the Bristow-Gainesville marketplace, you would think that Short Sale Agents are one trick ponies.  That we can only list and sell Short Sales.  That somehow we have fallen out of step with the pricing of the marketplace and marketing properties for sale.  Let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.

The notion that a Short Sale Agent is someone that throws a listing in the MLS (mutiple listing service) and walks away is untrue.  It's not the Short Sale nature of the business that makes listing agents act that way.  Some agents just don't do their job to the fullest extent.

As a Bristow-Gainesville Listing Agent, my business has grown to include Short Sales.  The by-product of that is I have garnered the title Short Sale Agent.  It's not a bad thing.  And it shouldn't concern you as a Seller with equity in your home.  Here's why:

1.  I don't underprice my Short Sales and expect that to be the strategy to sell them.  In fact, when helping my Short Sale Sellers discover where they should price their home, I'm looking at the same market comparables that I would be looking at if I'm listing a regular sale.  Price has always been, and will always be, a function of condition and location.  The type of sale doesn't impact price as some agents would have you believe.  In fact, some of my Short Sale Listings have sold for higher prices than regular sales in a neighborhood during the same marketing period.

2.  I market my Short Sales just as I do every listing I have.  I take loads of photos, touch them up if necessary and place them in the MLS and have a descriptive write up of the property.  I also advertise the property through Realtor.com listing enhancements, my blog and through numerous online sites such as Trulia, Zillow and many more.

3.  The expertise it takes to sell a Short Sale does not mean an agent loses their ability to sell a home that has equity.  In fact, Short Sale Agents like myself have super-strengthened their negotiating tactics.  Negotiating skills are a must for any agent. 

So selling a home with equity in Bristow and Gainesville you should not immediately discount agents that have been working with Short Sales.  What's more important when choosing an agent to sell your home is their level of experience in the market, how they market your home and their overall level of competence.  If there are Short Sales in your marketplace, as there are in Bristow-Gainesville, having a Listing Agent that also knows Short Sales will benefit you.  After all, who better to analyze your Short Sale competitors than someone who understands them?

 

 

Chris Ann Cleland, Associate Broker- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155.  To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com.  Or you can visit her website:  www.nvarealestate.net.

Header photo is the Bristow, VA community of Bramear, taken by Chris Ann Cleland during the blizzards of 2009-2010.