I spoke to an agent the other day that told me he went on a listing appointment where the owners wanted to ask as much for their home as several other homes in the neighborhood. Though the houses were nearly the same square footage, that’s where the similarities ended. Each of the other homes had tens of thousands of dollars in upgrades that this home didn’t. Upgrades like finished basements, decks, hardwood flooring, maple cabinets, granite countertops, brick facades, landscaping, and more. In addition, the home needed work, which was an issue itself. By the time he had left, he had stated his case. He recommended staging the property and pricing it accordingly. In the end, it’s up to them if they want to spend months on the market at an inflated price or take his advice. He will politely refuse to work with them if they want to list at the higher price. They can waste their time, but not his because he will listen to his years of experience. Bravo.
Times have changed. Instead of over zealous buyers frantically scrambling to buy up real estate wherever they can we are seeing apprehensive buyers shopping for months prior to writing low-ball offers on even the best listings and rightfully so. If you’ve been in the business long enough, you’ve seen it before. But, even the experts are surprised at the market climate that we have today and sellers need to take heed.
Anyone interested in selling a home needs to know that price and condition are more important than ever before. Buyers are taking their time to find the best deal. Predictions of even more depreciation in the coming months could make buying now a losing proposition. As agents we have insight into the psyche of the people that are purchasing homes in this volatile market. If as a buyer’s agent we couldn’t recommend our purchasers buying the home, then how can we list overpriced homes and expect that people will buy them?
Sellers should understand the following before putting their houses on the market:
1. We have an obligation to tell them the truth about market values.
2. Buyers and their agents are well educated and in-tune with property values.
3. Home prices have to be factually substantiated to buyers and appraisers.
4. Even in tract housing communities there can be differences in values of homes due to the vast array of building materials, appliances, and options that each home can possess.
5. Staged homes that are priced properly sell for more money in less time.
Even though the aforementioned statements seem like common sense, we still see overpriced listings in bad condition that haven’t been staged. I think we can take a lesson from my associate and listen to our instincts when it comes to working with sellers that want to overprice. Our inventory is too high as it stands. Why add to it with properties that aren’t going to sell and will skew the statistics even more?
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