Educating Sellers in a Down Market

The hardest part of a listing appointment is not telling the sellers all the "stuff" you are going to do for them, flyers, open houses, broker tours, websites, postcards, and on and on...  These are great but what do they really do, brand your brokerage, open houses are held for homes that aren't selling and showing them other "Active" listings, those are just homes that haven't sold and are still on the market.   Sellers like to see tangibles, because they feel like we are doing something for them but if a house is not priced right then we are just spinning our wheels.  The key is to educate your sellers on the market and what's driving prices, buyers are, in a down market, inventory is high and demand is low, it's simple economics.  Drama price the home so that it stands out and causes buyers to look twice which makes them want to buy the home.  Doing this may cause multiple offers and could drive the sale price up!  Setting the price high because that's the way you've always done it and because you want to leave room for negotiations, is wrong!  That's what every other home on the market does and these homes just blend in with all the other homes.  Sellers have to make their homes stand out and pricing is what it's all about.   I have actually lost listings because sellers don't want to hear where they really need to price their home, so they list with the agent that tells them what they want to hear and guess what the home doesn't sell and sits on the market with all the other homes.   I don't want a "Just Listed" sign;l my goal is to have a "Sold" sign in the yard.  I want to get paid and sellers should want to sell their homes in the shortest amount of time.  If a home is not getting showings or second showings during the first 3 weeks then it's not priced right, lower the price!  It's all about pricing and position in the market.