I should never let a listing expire..

Sometimes, listings just don't sell. You can put in all of the proper work by taking the right photographs, putting the proper marketing plan together, put it on the market, and then wait for the showings to start flowing in.

What keeps our house from selling? Is it condition? Is it price? Is it location? Sometimes it's a combination of all three, yet once your marketing is in place and you are reaching the projected buyers, and nothing happens, more than likely it's about price.

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What's most intriguing to me during this process is this, you can share local market conditions, local market knowledge showing both the positives and the negatives of the shifting market with your seller, the seller still determines the price.   When the listing expires without selling, who did they blame? Of course, they blame the realtor. After all of those conversations about dropping the price, the longer it sits on the market, the deeper the reach for that clients back pocket is created.   Then, one day they will call you and say "we want to remove the home from the market", we will just let the house for sale listing expire, then re-list it in a couple of months. As an agent, you know down deep in your stomach that they're not telling you the truth.  They are basically saying we want to take it off the market so we can list it with another agent.

What I also find intriguing is when the house is relisted with the other agent, guess what? The listing sales price has been reduced. When the home sales, all praises go to the new agent who got their house listed and sold. Wow, what a no brainer, that other agent encouraged you to list the price at a lower number because all of the information that was given to you by the original listing agent was accurate.

Now, the seller can't go back to the original agent and say that they were right. So, to save face, what do they do?  They just re-list the house with another agent. What I have learned is this.. I will make this promise, that I will work hard to never let this happen again.  I do not want my clients feeling that we did not do everything possible to get their home sold.  If we give them the proper statistics showing the market value for the home, a listing should never expire due to price concerns.  I do not want our clients to ever think that another agent will do more for them that we will do.

So, how do you keep this from happening? Listing agents, you need to make sure your clients are very well aware of the marketing that is being completed and what it has accomplished.  You need to have a timely update policy on when you share neighborhood sales and how they are affecting the sellers home equity in the home. Have a weekly conversation with your seller about how the price is being determined by the market and not you. Share with your seller the expense of extending the days on market. And then, in the end, focus on getting their home sold by maximizing your price reductions.  I also have learned that you can never under price a property.  A home that is meticulously taken care of, that is in a super location that is priced in the market, this house will sell for more than the current market value.  This position will put more money in your sellers pocket. The interesting part is this.  This figure may also not be what the seller had in mind, however, our job is to get the home sold.

In 2015 we had a few homes that did not sell due to the price. We lost the listings after they expired, they were all re-listed at a lower price, and then miraculously sold by the second agent. I have a new commitment in 2016, I will not let a listing expire because I wasn't making the seller aware of price conditions.

Contact the RockStar Group for more information about your home selling plan..281960-1900