Blame the Agent or Blame the Seller?

I have a little time to reflect on this year, not bad and based upon the the agent volume reports I see we'll finish in the top tier of our area. Toss in the appraisal side and we're not complaining at all. Well maybe a little...when sellers fail to execute on a good offer, do I blame the agent or blame the seller?

I'm not talking about short sales or otherwise complicated listings, I'm talking about vanilla listings that have sellers and or agents that refuse to acknowledge the data and want to argue in the face of it. And I'm talking about homes in the upper quadrant of home values, folks that aren't new to ownership and decision making. Do these sellers understand how to select a realtor?

A few examples:

• East Cobb home listed in the 900's in need of 50K+- updating, market support to the low 800's. Owner rejects a close in 30 day cash offer in the low 800's - my buyers acknowledging but ignoring my advice not to go that high because they loved the home. No deal, my buyers find something just as nice and that home sits empty into the second year
• Custom builder in Roswell, GA loses my buyers when he simply can't find time to meet and discuss a home they'd like to build....we chased him for a month. You're that busy?
• An appointment for showing a home for sale in Johns Creek is made, bell rang, door cracked open...owner didn't get the message we were coming. I explain these are out of town buyers, call your agent, blah blah blah. Owner slams the door, we look at one another, laugh and start walking down the driveway as the door opens. Owner is now effervescent and wants us to come in...we wave as we drive away.
• Buyers hit on a nice Sandy Springs home, I run the comps and find absolutely no value support for the list price...just ridiculously priced. Speak with the well known agent and she tells me how wonderful it is. I send her closed comps and call her back to discuss, she tells me I have no grasp on the market. We move on, the home languishes and forecloses.
• I speak with the listing agent for a home in a well known Alpharetta community that happened to be owned by an athlete. After a tortuous conversation on everything but value support, she cautions me not to "make an insulting offer". I send over the offer, with excellent recent closed sales and she calls me back and lambastes me, then hangs up. Four months later she calls me back to "check on my buyers" and suggests that offer "might fly this time". Click.

To be fair, I've had my share of sellers with little interest in the data. Often I can gauge how they'll be and if completely unreasonable, I don't take them on. I've had a few that just go south on me and I'll tell them that there's little I can do if they refuse to acknowledge the data. They have the final say, all we can do is be honest when they ask "what's my home worth?".

One thing I always do though, is level with the other agent. If my client isn't listening to me, I'm not going to have another agent waste time with a deal that isn't going to happen. Obviously my interest is to represent my clients's interests at all times, but if it's clear that a deal isn't going to develop then there's no point to continue. In my opinion, there's a difference between an agent being an advocate and an agent being dumb; professionals understand the difference.

As far as sellers...I find the best ones to be the ones that define success. That definition is best created with the Stones in mind - you can't always get what you want.

Hank Miller
Associate Broker & Certified Appraiser
Atlanta Communities Real Estate
678-428-8276 direct
hank@hounddogrealestate.com
www.hounddogrealestate.com