Recently I was in the middle of two deals. One was a the listing agent and one as the selling agent. Oddly enough I was preparing comps to show both my buyers what to offer and I even consulted a local appraiser who was very familiar with the neighborhood and I took through the house with my eyes so that he could have a good idea of what was there. As things progressed with both these deals it became very clear to me that the other agents involved were not in the drivers seat, in fact they didn't even seem to be back seat drivers.
In deal one: the listing agent said to me "they don't have to sell". Well duh, I'm pretty sure no one HAS to sell. You can keep the house as long as you want, but of course our cash offer contains an appraisal contingency, so we're not going to pay more than it appraises for, it's just NOT going to happen. Your house isn't perfect and doesn't have the amenities that some other houses have that are on the market for less. Yes, my buyers like your neighborhood, but perhaps one of your neighbors will sell to us for less.
In deal two: my seller has done EVERYTHING I told them needed to be done in order to get the most for their home and have it look better than others on the market in the same price range. Again, we have the comps and my seller negotiated with the guidance of comps in hand. They are not asking for their "have to have" price, they are asking for a price the comps justify.
When you hire an agent you really should listen to their advice. We don't pull suggested prices out of thin air. (Well most of us don't). I work very hard to keep up with the market. I spend time every single day looking at what is selling and the prices and what is going under contract and the prices. If your agent isn't showing you what like comps have sold and helping to guide you in either where to price your home or what sort of offer to make based on other like homes that have sold in the past 6 months then perhaps you need to rethink that relationship.
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