Grossly overpricing a property is both a disservice to the client and yourself as a Realtor. Take for example this listing in our market. Most would say that this property is one of the nicest properties in the Lake Arrowhead area. A local Realtor who projects herself as a "High End Expert" listed the property for $15,000,000. That is FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS. She had it on the market from May 2005 to April of 2006 at which time the seller decided she wasn't getting it done and decided to list with an out of area company in Beverly Hills for $8,900,000.
At that time that price reduction held the record in the Lake Arrowhead Real Estate Market. A price reduction of $6,100,000 with one whack. The property was listed in Beverly Hills for just over a year with one reduction to a $7,900,000 price tag.
After the Beverly Hills experience, the seller decided to go back to Lake Arrowhead and list with another Lake Arrowhead Broker for a cool $5,950,000 and has been listed for that amount since August of 2007.
The property is currently listed in a reasonable range and will at least have a shot at selling. It never should have been listed at the $15,000,000 or the $8,00,000 mark. The unfortunate thing is that had the seller listed for the right price with the right Broker when the market was hot, they probably would have sold. They may have missed the window of opportunity.
As Realtors, we must be straight up with our clients. It does them no good to have a false sense of what the market will bear. In fact it can do them great harm in that they never sell the home and the ongoing expense and liability eats away at any equity they may have established.
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