Like it or not, the marketing of real estate is done in a pseudo-auction style.
If a listing works its best, it entices a high number of qualified buyers to visit it and consider it for their home. It is reasonable to assume that is the primary formula for the most prompt sale at the home's real market value.
On the front end, no one knows which visitor, if any, will like the home well enough to buy it.
I remember once showing a couple a home that met every one of the features on their list. One that the wife had inadvertently overlooked including was that she hated the color pink.
There was no way to convince her that repainting the room, this time using her choice of colors, was ever going to remove from her memory how much she hated the room when it was pink.
I sold them a home that was lacking a couple of her list's features because not beginning with a pink bedroom was more important to her.
Agents in Dallas who specialize in expensive homes have developed A Sign that their clients are especially important in the scheme of things. The idea is to put up conditions that are sure to be inconvenient to potential buyers and to agents who are preparing a list of the homes they will show their client.
Here are some:
- Agent must accompany co-op agent and their client
- The home cannot be shown on Saturdays or Sundays
- Appointments must be made a day in advance so that the dogs can be kenneled
- No photo or video taking will be allowed
- Cash buyers must prove availability of funds prior to a showing appointment
- Home cannot be shown on days of inclement weather
- No yard sign will be placed
- The home will not be listed in the MLS or any media ad
So the question is, does the selling client and their listing agent really want to sell the home?
Years ago, I heard the Revised Golden Rule. You've heard it to: "He who has the gold makes the rules." In this case, that isn't the seller.
The best marketeer I know is Carl Sewell, whose family has sold luxury cars in Dallas for going on three generations. Among other things, they wash their customers' cars for free anytme they stop by, and they'll even do it when it's raining and snowing outside.
What they don't do is bargain on prices. Their salespersons tell prospective buyers, "If you're looking for a bargain, this isn't the place. However, if you want a fine car at a fair price, and with the very best service after the sale, you're at the right place."
If you want to learn the Sewell secret, for a quarter plus postage you can buy a used copy of his very popular book, Customers for Life, from amazon.
Bill Cherry, Realtor
Since 1966
Dallas
214 503-8563
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