You May Have Missed Your Buyer Today

I'll get this one thing on the table at the start.  Fixed rate, "budget brokers" cannot and do not do what a full service broker does for a seller.  Sure, for a nomimal flat fee, you get your home on the MLS. But that's about it.  I suppose if you are the kind of seller who has real estate experience; understands real estate law in your state; knows how to negotiate based on qualified information about the market; lives in the home (or nearby) so you can make sure the home is in showing condition; knows the smart tricks about how to effectively stage a home; can recite reliable comps; knows the ends and outs of the various documents required to solidify a contract; has the skill set and the knowledge to effectively market a home beyond putting a listing on the MLS......well, maybe a flat fee broker is just the ticket.  

But today, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, you may have missed your buyer...and that could have been avoided if you had a full service broker working for you.

You own a second home in our area but you live out of state. So when mother nature dropped 14 inches of snow on us this week, it made your driveway impassable. The roads leading to your home were just fine and we made it to the end of your driveway before realizing there was no way we could get to the house....even on foot.  Since this is a summer home, you probably don't know people who could have plowed your driveway. Since you have a minimal service broker who works cheap, expecting that broker to handle it for you is pretty much out of the question.  

If you had a local full service broker working for you, there is a really good chance that one of two things would have happened. One...that broker would have let you know that your driveway isn't accessible but they have someone who could plow it for you for about $50. Or Two.....that full service broker would have called me when I made the appointment to show your house to let me know that we wouldn't be able to get up the driveway....saving me and my client time and aggravation.

We saw two other homes today that are now high on our buyer's list but they really wanted to see yours too but that didn't happen. That's too bad. Your home might have been the one they fell in love with and wanted to buy.

But....I guess we'll never know.  It may be weeks before the snow on your driveway melts on its own and our buyer is ready to buy now.

There is an old saying that you get what you pay for. That discount commission you're paying may not look so great after your home has lingered on the market and ultimately sells for less than it should have.