Toby

I beg to differ with you, experience is priceless! Nice puppy.

An experienced agent will no the market better, will know the insides of what recently sold not just pictures of the inside from some ml picture and will truly know the neighborhood.

An experienced agent will also know if you the agent doesn't have much time on the job and weather or not because of your lack of experience they can get a better deal for their client.

If your prices in your Board don't seem to differ much, you can bet the inexperienced agent is being coached by someone with experience!

Gary,

I'm not going to argue with you regarding experience being priceless. Because just like anything else, the more you do something "theoretically" the better you are at it.

But, I will say that the example you use to me is a sign of a lazy agent rather than an experienced agent. I have six months experience and when I go to list a home, I've been in 90 percent -- usually with the client -- of the comps. I work hard to be the best agent going for this home -- and to me that doesn't matter how long you've been in the field.

However, I'm just looking at the "sold" facts. Now one thing about transactions is that we are looking at the entire "class" of agents from these years. There can be bad agents out there with numbers above what we'd expect to see.

I agree that experience does help sell a house, but I think it might help agents cut down their net costs and unless they are passing that saving on to their sellers -- they are making more money and not making much more for their clients.

I'm not against this of course, just looking at the numbers.

Toby

Please explain to me your idea of cutting the net costs associated with a transaction. Hey anything I could do to save money and make more for my client as well as myself is always welcomed.

Great topic!  Experience is always a confused term.  Newer agents may not have a sales record they can hold high for others to see, and that can be difficult.  I myself am in that arena.  Yes, I have to overcome that objection at times on listing presentations and what not.  But after explaining pricing and showing the customer what my marketing plan is and the things I do and how it relates to the effectiveness of selling their property . . . they forget very quickly I am newer.  

As Gary pointed out, experience is important although I don't agree with what that amounts to in serving customers.  "Knowing your market", how to network, negotiation skills, marketing skills, so forth and so on are are very important to experience level.  Some learn these within a Real Estate career and others bring that experience in from the outside and draw from it. 

I don't know if a number of years of experience equate into better performance or not.  I think the important thing is centering everything you do around serving the customer.  If that is your mindset, it will be visible.  And in my book has always been the best path to success. 

Gary,

My thought on net pricing is ...

• I'm a new agent working in an experienced firm. Where should I promote my new listing? Will it sell by marketing it in "x" area even though the house is closer to "y"? Wanting more exposure we do both.
• An experienced agent will know that if a home is in "y" then they need to advertise in "w" to sell the home. So rather than wasting the marketing budget on "x" an experienced agent can use that money to promote in different arenas, or keep it in their coffers.

This is a general exampe and I think you can go down the line and learn from these experiences and reduce your overall expenses. Of course this will help you to reduce your commission to the seller if you so choose and earn them more money when they sell.

That's what I was implying. I think the market sets the sales price, regardless of agent experience. And we haven't - at least in Central Ohio - seen the overall difference in price/ft2 that you would expect from what the experts write.

Amen Kathy!

I came into Real Estate from the Customer Service Industry. My father owned a restaurant and back as far as I can remember I was delivering napkins, coffee and then paychecks to the staff. I did it all - and the lessons learned in that kind of atmosphere are very much applicable in my NEW career. I'm good at coaxing information out of people and not because I'm "Fake". My whole personality is open - I receive people and I do not judge. I've been through rough times and therefore give compassion without even a thought.

I know that years of experience in  "Real Estate" are a benefit and I look forward to the day when I can understand all those acronyms without having to think about it first. But put me in a room with your low income, middle income or high income earners and I won't have ANY problem striking up meaningful conversation with any of them. It's not a bragging deal either - it's just how I am; how I have ALWAYS been. My mom use to say I was born a magnet - people are just drawn to me. Why do i think that is? Because when they talk - I listen! I love to learn about other people; what their favorite color is, season, what color their eyes are and I ask. By NOT yapping about business ---- they tend to be the ones to bring it up. I'm not saying I won't bring up business if it's the right time/right place but at gatherings I usually speak off-topic and more personal and let nature take it's course.

So I may be new and "Jane Doe" may have 10 years on me, but she's probably too busy and may have an assistant handling a lot of the "little" things. I know I may very well get to that point too but I truly don't believe I will EVER stop listening to people I meet.

-- Adding: Personality, Reliability and Market sets the price. I agree with you about the pricing Toby.

Toby

Thanks for the explanation, I think it would be best for all to market your properties to an audience where you know you will find a buyer and not to gain local recognition. You will find people who call from those markets who know of others who are looking to sell and will recommend you if they like and trust you.

I also enjoyed reading Kathy's blogg, God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason!

Thank you, Gary . . . I think.  lol

Gary,

Thanks for understanding. I'm not trying to decry experience, but rather to show that using me isn't going to cost you as much money as the "experts" would have you believe.

Thaks for stopping by Kathy and Jennifer. It is all about WHAT you do, now HOW LONG you've been doing it.

Service can trump experience.

Look at the times that you have eaten out and were happier with the new server just because they tried.

That said experience is probably one of the most important factors.

But as a seller I want the most aggressive. I mean the one who is beating the bushes.

Less experienced people can simply state: "While I may not have been in the business as long as some people, I have a team of others that can help me IF I come across something that I do not know".

Mike - Amen. I just lost a listing this week because I'd only been in the business six months. She relisted with the experienced agent she's had it on the market with the past year. Nothing you can do in that situation.

We have to battle what we can ...