I’m Good For Everything – Except Listing Your House?
A number of years ago a seller called me in response to an expired letter he received from me. His house had been on the market for over a year. After several price reductions and still now sale, the listing expired. It was easy to see the problem. The house was mauve everywhere; floors, walls and furniture.
It needed to be totally painted and carpet replaced. That and a little de-cluttering was all it really needed to get it ready for sale. We discussed the changes and he was to call me when the house was ready.
A couple of months later, he called the work was complete. By making these changes, I was able to actually increase the listing price by $75,000. He was thrilled but didn't want to sign the paperwork until he'd gotten the last bit of clutter out.
A week later, I saw the house listed with his previous agent with all the changes I had suggested and my increased listing price. It sold three weeks later for $775,000. Now, I don't give any advice to sellers until they sign on the dotted line.
I provide a valuable service. I have years of expertise successfully selling Franklin TN homes but if you contact me to come out and look at your house, I won't be sharing that knowledge with you until you commit to use me as your listing agent. You'll be happy with the results but you'll have to pay me to take advantage of my knowledge.
This is a bit of a twist on those situations where family members use someone other than a family member or friend who is a real estate agent to represent them in the sale or purchase of a house - and it is discovered on accident.
For the past four months, at his request, a realtor friend of mine has been helping her husband’s best friend obtain comps on his home and other info. Of course she was willing to help and she has put a lot of work into it – going to the house, making suggestions for improvements, going over comps with him and giving him a lot of input with so many questions related to the sale. And the friend had lots of questions from appraisals, to things that could go wrong, listing the home, characteristics of a good agent, etc., and they even discussion commission.
Then it comes time to list the home, and my friend hears that “he” has selected another realtor to represent him.
His response? “You are my best friend’s wife, if anything went wrong I did not want it to come between us. But I knew you would give me the best information, input and advice to make the house ready to list.”
Her response? “So I am good for everything that took my time and didn’t cost you anything, except the easy part – listing your house?”
I feel for her – especially when many discussions about “when” to list and “what was she going to list it at” occurred.
What would your response have been?
Buying or selling Tucson real estate, Mt Lemmon, Tucson bank-owned homes, Tucson rental homes, or Tucson lease option homes? Visit www.KGCPropertiesLLC.com .
This blog is written with my opinions and my opinions are presented with
accuracy but not guarantees. Please talk to a professional before making any real estate, financial or agency decisions. Gabrielle Kamahele Rhind - 2014. If you want to reprint parts of this - just email me for my permission: KGCProperties@gmail.com .
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