I recently went on a Standard Sale listing appointment in an area I specialize in here in Menifee. This was a referral from another
client where I had successfully sold their home in a neighborhood just across the street. I love referrals because clients talk and when a referral comes in I feel pretty confident. Afterall, I obviously did great job otherwise I never would have had the opportunity or received the phone call.
So I met with the sellers. It was actually the daughter and her mom had passed away a couple years ago. The house had been sitting non occupied but you could see when entering the home there were still many memories left in the house. It was heartbreaking because the daughter had not yet let go of those memories. Most of the furniture was left in tact, linens in the closet and china in the china cabinets.
I knew this was a moment where I could really help a daughter still in despair. So we sat down at the kitchen table and talked about the house and how hard it was for her to comes to terms of letting the house go. We also talked about her mom's life and her passing. I really felt for her. She than proceeded to give me a walk thru of the home and I could see the home was in need of repairs and updating but the house had great bones and was in a nice location of the neighborhood.
I spent 2 hours with the seller. I helped her understand the comps (she lives in Orange County) and explained our current market here in Menifee. The comps dictated a price and I showed her the numbers, raw data of exactly what was going on in the area. I only pulled the 3 most recent months so the seller could get an accurate reading. I showed her the properties that were in pending and those in back up. I explained that pending and back up does not reflect the actual sales price....
....so we proceeded with our meeting and as always I continue to add value. I contacted my estate sale lady for her. The estate sale lady came over and she was very much relieved that much of the burden of items in the house would be taken off her hands....So we parted...unfortunately I did not get a signed listing agreement....BIG MISTAKE on my part....you see, my tactic is never to push someone into signing an agreement. I could see she was still tormenting over the deicision and feeling a little overwhelmed. So we left it where I would meet after the estate sale....
....in the meantime and while the seller was getting ready for the estate sale an agent approached them and told them they can get about $15K more than what I had initially told them. As it turns out the agent was comparing their home to a property down the street and located on the lake. The house has a completely updated kitchen with granite countertops, a custom kitchen island, new cabinetry and lighting. The property is absolutely stunning. Mind you their property had all original appliances, no updates, needed repairs and the carpet needed to be replaced. The location was key. Although the property was backed up to the park it was not a lakefront property. One more thing, this property had not closed yet. It was still awaiting approval from the bank....and the price only reflected the 'list' price and not the actual sales price.......even though this was the figure the agent had given the seller as a comparison did the agent bother to disclose any of this important information?
So the dilemma remains,,,do sellers want the truth....or do they only believe what they want to believe? Do they want an agent that is truthful where sometimes the truth might not be what they want to hear but at least it is honest or do they just want to hear and believe the first guy that comes along and sells them on a complete fallacy? Can anyone weigh in on this for me please? I continue to scratch my head on this....the agent underminded my expert opinion and blatently lied and left out important information to get the business. The listing agreement hasn't been signed yet but I need to know if this is just an anomally or is this the world we live in today?
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