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Overpricing a Home in today's market

By Bruce Mullen

Real Estate Agent with Carolina One Real Estate

September 17, 2007 06:12 AM

I noticed a listing come up in the neighborhood adjacent to mine this past week and it took me by surprise, so I stopped by the house to see for myself. It was an ordinary house for the neighborhood, and had no outstanding characteristics, but had a listing price of $400,000. Most of the homes in that section are brick, under 2000sf and built in the 1960's, and mid 250's is a good price range. If this house was updated completely, it could possibly fetch that price, but this one was a dud! No picture on the MLS, listing agent's number wasn't listed, it was beyond my reasoning why someone would list at that price point in this market, when no comp's would come close to that. Thankfully, I was able to email the listing agent, and he finally called me back today. He apologized for not having this listing information complete in the MLS. I just thought it bizarre. He went on to say that the seller told him what to list for after he gave him a price range, which was far lower than $400,000. The agent knows it won't sell. I would not list that house, especially if the seller wasn't going to be a reasonable person to work with. Sure there are overpriced listings, but this one really caught my attention. By the way, the owner doens't like yard signs, so there is no sign on the property. I'd laugh if I didn't think this was a sad situation. I'll be watching for the expired, withdrawn or HUGE price reduction soon!

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Rosario Lewis

DDR Realty - Newburgh, NY

GRI, SRES - DDR Realty - Orange County, NY

I'm with you. You know the seller will ultimately blame his agent when the property doesn't sell. This agent has doomed himself to failure.

Sep 17, 2007 06:25 AM

Bruce Mullen

Carolina One Real Estate - Charleston, SC

I totally agree!

Sep 17, 2007 06:28 AM

Andrew Trevino

ADT Real Estate - Wilkes Barre, PA

Wilkes-Barre Homes For Sale

Bruce,

I think this seller still thinks it's 3 years ago and the agent doesn't have the spine to stand up to them. When I first started, I would have taken the listing, just to get the exposure, but there's no way I'd do it these days. It's just a waste of time.

Sep 17, 2007 06:30 AM

Jason Romrell

Business Attorney and Success Advisor - Los Angeles, CA

And the huge price reduction will only hurt the rest of the market...and still may not move the property. Dumb!!!

Sep 17, 2007 06:31 AM

Anthony Stokes-Pereira

Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty - Nanuet, NY

Realtor

Hi Bruce,

Happen's all the time, some agents would not tell seller's the right price because they do not want to loose the listing, so here comes an overpriced house that sits until expired.

Anthony

Sep 17, 2007 06:36 AM

You are all right on the money. I can sort of understand if it is a newer agent, but thinking long term, it just doesn't make sense. I know agents do it all the time, the "listers", and they know they will get plenty more, even after this one expires.

Sep 17, 2007 06:41 AM

Stacey McCarthy

McCarthy Real Estate - Philadelphia, PA

@SmartGirlsOwn

I wonder how many agent he interviewed before he found this guy to sell his house. I would say alot probably.

Sep 17, 2007 06:46 AM

Chuck Willman

Chuck Willman - Alpine, UT

NewHouseUtah.com

I agree with Stacey. Interview enough agents and you'll find one "smart enough" to agree with your price.

Sep 17, 2007 07:02 AM

Gary J. Rocks

Juba Team Realty - Jefferson Township, NJ

Bruce

Home owners like these usually tell you that there are no showings in the mornings, afternoons and evenings no Sunday appointments and calls us for everything else so we can put the dogs outside.

Sep 17, 2007 07:44 AM

Gwendolyn Walton

Long and Foster Real Estate, Inc - Gainesville, VA

This is certainly something you would hope agents would not do given the current market. Not only is it a waste of time & money, it gives falls hope to sellers and also floods the market with inverntory we don't need. In speaking with several agents recently, many of them are saying they are no longer working with sellers who can't come close to market value.

Sep 17, 2007 11:03 AM

Vicente A. Martinez

Prudential Douglas Elliman Licensed Real Estate Salesperson - Woodhaven, NY

Realtor, Brooklyn - Long Island - Queens Homes

I absolutely agree with you... this one will more than likely be an EXPIRED (my favorite!!!). Sounds like the agent has No guts, No marketing plan and No knowledge of any objection handling techniques. I've walked away from plenty of listings in the past, my rule of thumb is: I'd rather turn them down now rather then let them down later. Does the agent really expect to get any one in your local MLS to sell this property? (I'd probably show it just to sell my own priced right listings). Unfortunately, (or fortunately depends how you want to look at it) there are so many agents out there that don't have the cojones to look the seller right in the eye and say "NO... I don't think I'm the Realtor your looking for" or something to that effect.

I recently walked away from the same listing twice before finally getting the ziggy the third time. They were an EXPIRED listing gone FSBO. I'll keep it short, here's what happened... the first time the husband (primary home owner) wanted me to list it for 639k when my comparables clearly showed 549k (on the high side), I politely said NO and left. A couple weeks later his wife called me to list the house and I said, "Sure If you're ready to get the ball rolling today then I'll be more than happy to stop by help you get your home sold." When I arrived the husband says to me "I'll give it to you for only two months and I'm not paying you more than 3%". Again I politely said NO and walked away. A couple more productive weeks had gone by when they both called me up and said "Vincent, we really need to sell the house". I said, "Sure, what time could you be in my office? Is 5 o'clock good for you or would 7 o'clock be better?" You guessed it, I wasn't going to waste my time with an overpriced listing, with no commission, and no time to sell. They came in to my office, gave me a full term listing (180 days), full commission (6%), and full accessibility (keys) and to make a long story short it took 2 weeks to them a buyer and into contract. I expect to close within the next two or three weeks.

Best of luck and keep doing what you do.

Sep 17, 2007 02:10 PM

Cindy Lin

Staged4more School of Home Staging - South San Francisco, CA

Host, The Home Staging Show podcast

What's the point of listing a home if you know it won't sell? Just to list it to say that you list it? It's not difficult to tell the agent's heart is not in it at all.

Cheers,

Cindy

Sep 17, 2007 04:38 PM

Overpricing a Home in today's market

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