Sellers: A Watched Pot Never Boils

What if you were selling your home and your agent provided some startling statistics? Say, that in one month there were 1878 available listings overall for one county and only 83 closed transactions? Closings are down 40% from last year, the average selling price is down almost 9% in the same period. What if you knew the average listing takes 143 days on the market to sell? What would you then expect of your agent? What would your expectations be of the entire experience of selling your home?

Have no fear, my individual average over the last 12 months is only 111 days on the market! As far as agents go, my statistics speak for themselves! 

But, would the first set of statistics convince you as the seller to not hang out by the phone waiting for it to ring? Why wait around for a showing appointment that might not happen today? Some people just need to let their guard down. Whoever said a watched pot never boils, must have been talking about selling a home! 

I like to put a positive twist on things. No matter how bad this market is, I AM GETTING RESULTS!

I once had a listing in a very remote area of the county that had only 3 showings in 10 weeks. Not enough activity to even get feedback on pricing. I was confident that the remote area was to blame. The third showing was a charm. Yes - fortunately it only took 3 showings to get the home sold! See, sometimes we don't need a revolving door of traffic to sell a house - we just need that one buyer. 

So, aside from sitting with these sellers everyday and holding their hands to soothe their anxieties, how can I make my clients feel assured that it will all work out? I believe I will get results for them, like I have for so many others. I only had one listing in the past year in which I did not get results - and that was because the seller lost interest - it was a distressed property (a second home) which they simply did not have the time to tend to.

If my clients want me to appear confident as the agent, I need them to feel positive that it will all work out. Reality helps too - the law of averages...homes rarely sell overnight in this market. A listing can go several days between showings. Anybody selling a home in this market must be prepared for a long ride and maybe a few price adjustments along the way. A price reduction is the first thing most agents will suggest to an overly anxious seller. You can't expect top dollar AND be anxious too - one or the other! Selling your house fast in this market usually means initial marketing that begins with a below market price.     

I told a seller today...

 "It's not your house, there's nothing wrong with it...

                                ....it's not me, and it's not the marketing - IT'S THE MARKET".

Sellers: Ease back and let things fall into place, go away for a weekend, have some fun while your house is being marketed, don's sit around waiting for the phone to ring, make yourself busy, take up a hobby, get a part-time job...just let your guard down (and for heaven's sake don't hold your listing agent accountable unless you have good reason, we all need to work together) - your house will sell when you least expect it. Remember, a watched pot never boils!