I went on a listing presentation this past weekend. In addition to the "what do you think of my home" and "what commission do you charge" type of questions, the other main question is:
"What would you list my home for?"
My answer is always the same....
"I don't know yet...let's talk about it"
I explain that I have the same comps as everyone else and pricing the home is the easiest part of my job. What I'm hoping to accomplish in the meeting is a partnership approach to the listing. An agreement of how to proceed....then together we can determine a price for the home.
When a seller agrees to work this way with me, we have laid the groundwork for a successful partnership.
I like to include the seller in the pricing. Help them understand what the market is like right now...so they can see where their home fits into it. In order to do this....the first thing we do is visit the homes on the market which could be consider competitors. We run comps and then the seller and I go together, we can talk about the things which makes our property better, or worse than the home we're in. It gives us both a perspective that we can use when we price the home and when we get offers. As the listing progresses, we can see new homes as they come on the market or revisit the existing inventory to determine any price reductions.
It's easy for real estate professionals to realize the difference and why our listing might show better or worse, but the education our sellers get from these visits is priceless.
The next step is to discuss the price and strategy. We can use range pricing if we want to capture the searches. We can also go artificially low and hope for a bidding war or limit showings to one open house. Many different approaches, all of which have worked well for different properties and sellers. The bottom line is it's the seller's decision. I'm really here to execute.
I've used this approach for years and it's always well received. Sure...I can read the comps and price the home, but it's always more effective when the seller is part of the process with me and we work together to price the home.
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