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50 Showings on a Busy Trafficway

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty, Kansas City North

 

 Front View

When I took this listing http://www.postlets.com/res/211101 I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I thought it would be a great challenge and I'd look like a champ if I could pull it off.  Well, 6 months later I've spent a lot of time, effort, money and I'm looking more like a CHUMP, than a CHAMP.

The problem is that this home sits right on a fairly busy trafficway here in Kansas City at 2227 NE Vivion Road. Vivion Road is certainly not a highway and although you can back out onto the street fairly easily if you just wait for a break in the traffic, it's taught me a lesson about how paper thin the market is for buyers that are willing to live on a busy street.

Just so you'll know, today we got our 50th showing and this buyer was actually willing to make an offer.  The buyers agent even went to the trouble of writing it up, but I could have saved her the time and trouble if she would have simply called me first.

Of course it was a low-ball offer (is there any other kind in this market?) but the real problem was the contingency. When I got to that page of the offer, I knew we were dead.  I even showed it to one of the other agents in my office and said, "Hey, I haven't seen one of these forms all year long" and we joked about the last time someone actually accepted a contingency offer.

50 showings!  I can promise you I'll never, ever take another listing on a busy street.  It's not worth the hassle.

JL Boney, III
Coldwell Banker - Columbia, SC
Columbia, SC Real Estate
Sorry to hear you had so much trouble with the listing Ron. But if it makes you feel any better I have almost the exact same thing.
Jan 06, 2008 12:39 PM
Carrie Heath
REMAX Affiliates - Chippewa Falls, WI

Hang in there, Ron!

 

I have sold a couple on busy streets - it really does just take the right buyer!  Get some not white paint in the interior (pick a local favorite color scheme) and you will do better.  I looked at your listing on the link you have - it looks like an older couple lives there from the white walls  and type of furnishings.  You may want to have someone who understands staging talk to your sellers - it may just be the colors and "feel" holding you up.  switching things up a little inside doesn't have to cost your sellers a bunch of cash, but may really help you net the results you want.

 

Good Luck!

Jan 06, 2008 12:39 PM