The Easiest Way To Lose A Friend Is Overprice Their Home
My husband wrote this piece. We had a client who is also a friend of the family. Perhaps we haven't 'lost' them as friends, but things simply will not be the same. Mixing business with pleasure has it's consequences eh!
Tread lightly when mixing business with pleasure. We listed a friend's home for $800,000 at the beginning of our area's traditional slow real estate cycle last Fall. We advised them their home was overpriced but we were willing to put our marketing efforts into full swing with the hopes someone might take a nibble. And we made the assumption if we worked on marketing their home, the friends in turn would remain loyal to us. Wrong assumption!
A Lot Of Marketing Effort
We proceeded to take lots of pictures and video, then placed our efforts into making sure the address ranked number one in organic search. We then placed our "Google This Address" sign in the front yard alongside our real estate sign. We do not do print advertising as print advertising does not work, and we do not do open houses (unless the seller wants them) as these do not work either, but do pay for placement on websites like Homes.com, Trulia.com, RealBird.com, etc. We pay for placement where sites are receiving traffic. And of course, we syndicated their listing on all the other lesser listing websites. We blog the heck out of it, and we made sure when someone Googled "Kennewick Real Estate" or "Kennewick Wa Homes" etc., their (Kennewick) home was featured on the pages (ours) that rank #1 in Google organically. There are many other ways we market the home as well.We Let Our Marketing Do The Trick
As weeks turned into months, we were able to see the visits to our listing. On one source alone, our Google Analytics provided 129 visits with an average viewing time of 3 minutes, 20 seconds. Given all the places we marketed the property, I estimate we had 300-400 views. Essentially, proof the home was overpriced. Certainly half to three quarters of the visits were from folks who simply didn't like the home, neighbors, other agents, etc., but we presume 25% of the visitors to our marketing pages came and walked given the (over) price of the home.We Are Going With A "Big Office" Agent
As the listing expired, the friends informed us they are going with the "Big Office" agent. The same ol' story,- the home didn't sell so it has to be the listing agent's fault! The friend wouldn't even consider letting us show them our marketing efforts and analytics providing evidence of our marketing. Kind of a slap in the face. To top things off, the "Big Office" agent didn't even bother to take his own pictures, he simply re-used ours. No video that I'm aware of, no posting to Homes.com or other paid syndication services, blogging, or the other syndication websites that receive tons of traffic. The price was lowered by 10% and the house still sits on the market. Now the house is still overpriced, AND not marketed. I think this home will sell when pigs fly! With our marketing, and a lower price, we would have sold this one by now.The Moral Of The Story
We all know not to take an overpriced listing. They simply do not sell and you have sellers thinking it is your fault. Apply this principle to your friends. Remember, tread lightly when mixing business and pleasure, especially when pricing a home against your better judgment. Sadly, we should have never taken the listing at the price the sellers wanted to start at.
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