As a Listing Specialist I meet all kinds of awesome people everyday...Sellers come in a wide variety from the ";;lets start with the commission";; Uptight type 
To the Care free here take my house at whatever price type
.
Either way I have met them all, and no matter which one you are for me it all comes down to
"WHATS YOUR MOTIVATION???"
you see no matter if your analytical type or the lets have fun but still sell the house fast type, I can still do my job without any worries.
But when it comes to being motivated; that has to be one level and one level only and that's"VERY"as in Very Motivated, lets define motivated;mo·ti·vat·ed, mo·ti·vat·ing, mo·ti·vatesTo provide with an incentive; move to action; impel. So I guess if a seller tells me their motivated I can expect that type of behavior and things should go smoothly right? well in this instance, that was not the case.
I met with a seller and his girlfriend who told me they want to sell their condo in Livingston NJ, so I agreed to meet with them to discuss the opportunity to work with them. The Seller told me that he needed more space and his 2 bedroom condo wasn't enough room with his girlfriend being pregnant and all; so of course a light bulb went off in my head
bachelor pad
+
pregnant girlfriend
= MOtivation and a NEED TO MOVE FAST!!!
so I took the listing, about 2 weeks pass by and only a few showings, but nothing serious, so I remind them about the price reduction plan we discussed at the listing table a few weeks ago. I say Mr Seller, we have not received the traffic we anticipated he said he doesn't want to reduce because he put xxx amount of dollars into the house and he wants to recoup that money. I explain that you cant just put a price tag on a house based off of all the money you put in it, especially if the market does not bare. I explained that COMPS had sold for 299K in the complex and he needed to be at that price and realistically about 5% below that benchmark. But he was not happy and since its his house not mine I left things the way they were. I reminded him that in order for them to reach their goals we have to think ahead and try our best to avoid the dreaded DOM pile up.
After 2 months I say to the seller; Mr Seller we have a small window of opportunity to sell and we MUST reduce the price, he stated that he would drop it $5000 from where it currently was listed, I went through an hour of back and forth with him and his girlfriend before asking the simple question; ";;Lets be honest...do you really want to sell?";; this enraged the seller; I reminded him what he was selling for and what his motivation was and he still not get it.
Needless to say, I canceled the listing. The fat lady has started singing for me.
It is my policy for my business, not to work with those who are not motivated and willing to compromise. I really wanted to help them, but they left me no choice.
What prompted the Blog post was I just got off the MLS and say that the condo sat for 220 days after I canceled the listing and sold for 40k less than my original list price. All I have to say about that is when you hire a Real Estate Agent I hope its not just to have a license number with a body attached to push around. Because when you hire us, your dealing with Realtors who are involved in the whole transaction and is passionate about their work. So if you want a suckerI mean agent...grab one there's plenty to go around!
THE END
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