Who Really Controls the Level of Inventory Available?
by Belinda Walker, Edmonds Realtor(r)
Edmonds WA Real Estate
The Seattle Times recently gave sellers in this market the first true "doom & gloom" article regarding inventory levels, prices dropping, the sky falling, etc.
So logic tells us that we now have 6 months' (or however many months you have in your market) of inventory on the market and that it's a buyer's market and the homes are there for picking and choosing. So "why?" I've been wondering since I read the article and then I had my AHA moment.
It's because of those agents among us who have not yet honed their skills to make sure that a seller is qualified and will take a listing just to say they have a listing. As many of us know, this will bite you in the tookus in the long run.
They want to list it at a price that their neighbor's house sold for 6 months ago, even though they have done no maintenance, repairs or even cosmetic fix up of the property, that isn't even really comparable. The unskilled agent takes the listing, spends their marketing money promoting the over priced listing and cries tears of blood begging the seller for every single price decrease - fighting for every dollar each time over the course of the listing. The showing agents give feedback indicating that the sellers didn't bother to make their beds when they left the house and that there were dirty clothes on the floor in the living room. Maybe dirty dishes in the sink and the floor unswept. (I have seen these homes - not kidding.)
So, we have 6 months of inventory and perhaps half of those are people who need to sell badly enough to take the necessary steps to make sure that their price is correct (at or just below market as determined by their agent), the house is in the best shape it can be given their resources, the yard is always mown and the gardens weeded and the house is always "company" clean inside and out.
So, I have decided to start a campaign, recruiting as many agents as I can to help me reduce the inventory. There are enough buyers out there to keep me busy for a while, so I will not solicit new listings. For people who want to list with me, they will have to list at my price with pre-agreed price reductions at pre-determined intervals. They must repair, clean, spruce their home to my standards or I will not take the listing.
I know I'm not going to change the world overnight, but if I could convince just two other agents to do the same and they could convince just two other agents...you get the picture. Without all of the over-priced, unsaleable listings, our inventory would be reduced, there would be happy sellers and happy buyers - oh and happy agents!
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