Sellers Beware! This very boring post is what your home looked like to my very Qualified buyers, if it even showed up at all!

Sellers Beware! This very boring post is what your home looked like to my very Qualified buyers, if it even showed up at all!: I have spoken on this topic numerous times in the past, and every single time I see a listing like this, it drives me nuts. In a day and age when we have so much technology at our fingertips how can any "professional agent" list a home without a photo?

 I work primarily as a buyers agent, meaning the majority of clients I work with are buyers (I will also list homes but I am very selective on only listing homes for sellers that are willing to do everything I suggest to get their home sold fast and for top dollar). The one common denominator with every single buyer I work with is this- Major mistake number one- If a home does not have pictures when it goes on the market they will not see it until 1. the listing is refreshed, which could be months, 2. They take a price reduction, Wake up call right here, Mr. & Mrs. Seller, you probably would not have had to take a price reduction if your home was marketed correctly to the 90% of buyers that deleted your home the first time they saw your listing come up, BECAUSE THERE WERE NO PICTURES!!!

Major mistake number two: Retail Pricing of a home (any time an agent prices the home with .99 in the price, ie 249,900, they are missing half of the buyers, and more importantly the half that can not only afford your home but will more than likely offer full price. Let me explain, when a buyer is searching for a home, many times they are pre-qualified (and many times they are not) but they will all search in a price range that is in their perceived comfort range, lets take the example of the $249K listing price, any buyer pre-qualified to $250K will find it because they are most likely searching homes that are from $225-250K, but the $250K is at the top of their search, so even if they like your home they will more than likely try to get you to come to a more comfortable price, say $235K. Now lets look at the buyer that is qualified for $260K, not much difference in the home they can afford, but a major difference in them ever seeing your home if it is priced at $249K, because they will be doing their home search between $250-$275K and will never even know your home, that they easily qualify for, even exists. Now if your home was priced at $250K (lets see, nope, that wont cost you a dime to price it that way) you would have all of the buyers looking from $225-250K as well as those from $250-275K

Sellers if your listing looks like this on the first day on market ( I saw this one just this morning)

Priced at $423,900

Then not only did you miss out on everyone that likes to see pictures, you also missed all those that can afford $425+ and sooner or later your wonderful agent will be asking for a price reduction, most likely because you are not "getting much activity if any at the current price"

Once again, this is what I hear my buyers say on a daily basis, in fact many buyers I work with ask me not to send them any homes without pictures, go figure.

Sellers that list with these agents, I am very sorry, when they ask you for a price reduction, ask them to show you the marketing they did the first 24 hours the home was on the market, if there were no pictures I would not reduce my price, but reduce my choice of agents. Please do your research when selecting an agent to list your home, first impressions are absolutely critical in getting the most $$$$ in the fastest possible time.