I'm Excited About Listing Your Home - It's Your Price That Concerns Me

I'm Excited About Listing Your Home - It's Your Price That Concerns Me

I don't often spend time blogging about the listings I didn't get.  But this one is well worth sharing with you.

About two years ago, I met with a couple about listing their home in the Bayfield area of northern Wisconsin.  We had two listing appointments and things seemed to be going well.  Where we hit a snag was on price.  This couple insisted on overpricing their home, and it had already been on the market for quite some time. 

I must have had trouble disguising my concerns, because it soon became obvious to them that I was having trouble with the figure they insisted on as a list price.  I do a lousy job of concealing my shock when I hear a seller asking for so much more than the market justifies.

About two days after our second appointment, I contacted the couple.  The husband wasn't home, but the wife spoke briefly with me on the phone, commenting that they had noticed my discomfort with their desired price.  She said, "We need someone who's enthusiastic about our property".

I replied that I was definitely enthusiastic about listing and marketing their home.  But I was less than enthusiastic about their price demands. 

I didn't get the listing.  The property has been on the market ever since, and it hasn't sold.  The price hasn't moved, either.

Enthusiasm may get an agent a listing, but without sensible market advice and a willingness on the part of the seller to consider it, enthusiasm won't get you to the closing table.