We have all heard the old cliche' "when you are dealt lemons make lemonade". It is very hard to sell lenonade when you have a tomato stand. Many homes have set on the market with seller's wanting to sell following the market prices down, down, down and still nothing.
I took over a listing that has been on the market for nearly two years. The sellers are more than anxious. They moved, are living in half the home they moved out of and renting in another community. The original listing agent did not promote the property but they liked him and stuck with him. He had a great presentation, long time in the business and most of all he told them what they want to hear.
Well the lip service came to the point with the seller's finally realizing it was only lip service, after a two year market stalemate. So they decided to make a change...they were given my name...we interviewed each other and I can actually help them. They want to sell....but from the third day the smiles went to daily phone calls...wanting immediate updates....I was very understanding these people are anxious...they want to sell they want something to happen! They are not going to have the same thing happen twice! Lip service that is...
I went over the process and the "how to" section of the marketing process along with what it takes. Not 
everything can happen immediately. They felt like they were lead along so now they are going to do the leading...anyway that is what they intended to do.
After two weeks of this along with daily emails....I asked for another meeting. This time I explained how and why I operate the way I do, what is takes to help them. I can not be micro managed, I can not get anything done for anyone if I had all my clients calling and sending me emails everyday!
I offered them some choices...if they believed I was the Realtor to sell their property let me do it...I will keep them informed with weekly email updates. They can certainly call me if they have questions but....let me do my work for them and my other clients. They laughed when I plopped down the emails and phone log records. I didn't see the humor, it was an impressive stack for such a short time.
The point is we have to be allowed to do our jobs. We have more than one client but we have to balance the clients so they know we always have them on our minds and want to sell their property too!
We also have to understand that many homes have been on the market for months with no activity. We must accept the sellers frustration of not selling and help them understand the market with facts...not lip service. It is not all because of price....even though that may be many agents only salivation to explain the lack of showings. Sometimes it is the lack of agent promotion that promotes the in-activity.
Reality is hitting many seller's right between the eyes. The home they had their eye on to purchase may have sold to someone else! They have resolved themselves to "maybe" we'll still, maybe. I find the market to be sporadic...even with a very positive guy like me...the truth is we have to do more to get results....status quo is no-longer acceptable to seller's and shouldn't be to us either.
Is this the market or the reality real estate? Many areas are still doing quite well we even have pockets of consistent sales...but it is pockets. I understand the cycle and am working hard to make sure to help my sellers stay positive....with realistic pricing and marketing efforts to match. What are you doing? Want to share?
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