How frustrating is it to do a CMA and take it to a listing appointment and have the sellers think you are lying to them about what their home is worth. I truly wish that all houses were worth $100,000 more than they are. I also wish buyers didn't care what the market is doing, or what condition the house is in, or what year the house was built... but they do. Buyers educate themselves before they go shopping for a new home. They have the internet just like brokers do. They do a lot of investigating about the area they are interested in. They pride themselves in knowing the market before they purchase that new home.
There are thousands of homes for sale in almost every MLS, the competition is fierce, and as agents we need to educate our sellers. They need to understand how taxes and insurance works, what a mortgage payment will be. How much time and money it really does take to sell their home, especially when it is over priced. Unless we take the time to educate them and really know that they understand what we are talking about, we are doing our sellers an injustice. We are also doing ourselves an injustice (realtors), because the agents that do do an honest CMA, and are willing to take the time to educate their sellers are fighting an uphill battle. There are plenty of realtors willing to tell sellers just about anything in order to get the listing. When this happens there is no one to blame but yourself for having an unhappy customer who is now going to tell people how inept you are. Then they are going to list their home with another agent at the right price (after you have spent a lot of time and money) and the other agent will get it sold. So lets do ourselves a favor and all start doing what we should have been doing all along and tell our sellers the truth even if we don't get the listing.
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