WHY I WORSHIP THE GROUND THAT LISTING AGENTS WALK ON.
Why homes in Montgomery County Maryland may not be selling. Or, homes in Lovettsville, Virginia where homes are on the market for "how many months?"
THE OTHER REALM, PHOTO COURTESY NASA
SCOTT DANIELS posts today about his success with listing and selling "EXPIREDs" in 2006. Since Homefinders.com is a brokerage specializing in finding homes in Maryland or Virginia for buyers, we don't look at the expired updates. We do, however, show homes to many home buyers over the years and the feedback that we have is interesting. There is a reason why a home listed for sale in Montgomery County Maryland didn't sell. The reasons are listed below. The Number 1 reason a home in Maryland or Virginia doesn't sell is PRICE. There IS a buyer for every home if the price is right. That is true for real estate in Montgomery County, MD or homes in Lovettsville, Virginia.
Scott sold 20 expireds in 2006. My hat is off to him. Scott does what most successful listing agents do, he thinks. Which, is probably NOT what the original listing agents did.
Listing agents who pursue expired listings have my unending admiration and gratitude. THEY BRING HOMES TO MARKET SO I CAN SELL THEM. What did you say?? "That home was already listed. It just didn't sell and went to EXPIRED." No, it wasn't really listed. That property was under contract to be entered into the MLS, but the listing agent apparently had no intention of selling it, otherwise, the MLS entry would never have GONE TO EXPIRED, which gives smart agents like Scott a bite of that apple.
Now, enough of you Active Rainers know me well enough to know that I am a dedicated BUYERS AGENT. I don't pursue listings. I don't want listings. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that I don't know how to list and sell homes for my seller/clients. I listed for many years before limiting my practice to BUYERS ONLY for 12 years. At this time, Homefinders.com is a single agency company. We don't practice dual agency and don't sell our own listings, except to customers. In fact, we only list properties for our friends, relatives, current home buyers and past home buyers who are moving up or out of the area. So, the last thing we are likely to do is have any interest in expired listings. HOWEVER, I KNOW THAT THERE'S GOLD IN THEM THERE LISTS.
HOW DO I KNOW THE LISTING SIDE OF THIS BUSINESS? Goodness, if one of my buyers gives me a list of reasons why they would never buy a house, don't you suspect that other buyers have the same reasons? Of course, they do. In fact, I can look at any house that has been on the market for more than 60 days and tell you EXACTLY why it hasn't sold. RASH STATEMENT, YOU SAY?? Nonsense, I'm sure Scott can do the very same thing. So, why didn't the first listing agent do what had to be done to make the home attractive to buyers?? WELL, IN MY OPINION, some folks are just not mentally equipped to be listing agents with any degree of success.
PRICED TOO HIGH? Is the agent confident enough, experienced enough, articulate enough to educate that home owner about pricing to sell or pricing to sit? If not, sellers are greedy. They want what they want whether the house is worth it or not. They do not understand comps or SOLD trends. They need to be educated. Quite often the agent who educates a seller about the market will NOT get the listing because they told the truth but didn't have the confidence or experience to say what had to be said without incuring the wrath of a seller. Now, folks like me don't worry about things like that. Many agent do.
CLUTTERED INTERIOR? Again, this goes to the effectiveness of the listing agent to make the seller aware that a cluttered home is hard to sell because all folks can see is the clutter. What is clutter selling for these days?
EXTERIOR NOT INVITING? Does the trim on the house say to a buyer: "Buy me and you can spend the summer painting me"? Is the storm door hanging off one hinge? Is the grass dead in large circles letting buyers know that the landscaping is going to be costly and labor intensive for the next 3 years? Can the listing agent tell the seller that they must either do the landscaping on the house or "discount the price for exterior condition"? If not, then the house will probably go to the dreaded "expired" update.
CAN AGENTS EVEN GET IN THE HOUSE TO SHOW? Mr. and Mrs. Seller, "FOLKS CANNOT BUY A HOME IF THEY CANNOT SEE A HOME." So, you don't want a lock box on your house. So, your dog doesn't like to be put in the pen. So, you want your agent to show your home. So, you don't want to be bother with folks in your house on Sunday when you have company. Then, in that case, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I suggest that you may want to sell your house, but you really do NOT WANT ANYONE IN IT.
I'm sure that Scott and most listing agents reading this have heard it all before. Sure, but did they convince the sellers to change their ways and cooperate with the agent in order to sell their house?? If not, why not?? And, if not WHY DID THE AGENT TAKE THE LISTING?? Surely, if the seller didn't change anything from the first listing that DID NOT SELL, it is not likely to sell now.
I WOULD BE WILLING TO BET MONEY that Scott did not simply take those expired listings and re-list them with the same price, condition, access, etc.
So, my hat is off to Scott for converting those 20 EXPIREDs to SOLDs in 2006. That was 20 more homes that I and buyers' agent like me had an opportunity to sell.
Bringing homes to market is a listing agent's job. Selling homes is a GOOD listing agent's job.
There's a lot more to selling a house than putting up a sign.
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