The realities of our real estate market in Northern Colorado leave little wiggle room. It seems that most sellers have an option A or an option B. Option A is usually preferred (sell the property) and option B is lease the property. On several occasions over the last several weeks I have been put into a seemingly difficult position. Here is the dilemna:
When I meet with a seller for a listing presentation I come out with my guns blazing. I ask questions, find out their motivation(s) for selling and so on. I then go into my marketing plan and the market (including comps). I am basically asking for the job (as their real estate professional).
When I am hired, I take what I said at the listing appointment as gospel. I have no problem being held accountable to what I said I was going to do. That being said, why does the seller not do what they commited to doing- sell the property ? (i.e. try and rent out the property, etc)? I'm ok with having my feet held to the fire but it seems that sellers are not putting themselves in the same situation.
That said, we can all find something to complain about but sellers need to understand the economics of the Realtor. In a way, being a Realtor has many similarities to an insurance company actuary. It's raw numbers thrown into a pot, spit out and magically (statistically) the numbers are used to quantify the expected average return. Here's an example.... say a Realtor has 10 listings, all but 2 sell within the listing period. The 2 that did not sell either expired or the seller wanted to withdraw for some reason. If the average Realtor has a closing percentage of 80% but they spent an equal amount on marketing, etc for the unsold 20%. Who should make up the difference for the commission dollars not made by the Realtor? Answer: if it was just like an insurance company, they would pass the added expense on to the customer.
It has to be this way or the customers goal of selling will not be realized. If 4% or 5% listings were the norm, fewer houses would sell because the marketing dollars that the Realtor needs to spend in a challenging market has to come from somewhere. I'm not against discounts but other industries do the same thing. When a retail store experiences theft, do they just write it off. No! They pass the expense on to their paying customers.
This post was not intended to be a slam to sellers but simply a reminder that we Realtors are running a business too. Sellers that want to test the market or those that end up renting out their property, fine, but know this, I do not work for free.
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