I recently "inherited" a listing from an agent that is no longer with my company. There were 4 weeks left on the listing agreement. After doing some research in the area I deemed it overpriced by at least $40,000. I contacted the sellers to arrange a meeting with them - to get to know each other and to discuss my marketing strategy, which included a price adjustment. They told me they were not going to renew the listing because they felt it wasn't the right time to sell. Later on they canceled the meeting with me and didn't return any phone calls to them thereafter. Because I really like the property (located on a golf course), I put my marketing strategy in print and dropped it off at their home (the listing itself is vacant). I believe I gave this listing my best shot, considering the seller didn't even want to talk to me.
What do you know, the listing was shown yesterday and today and with our annual winterresidents arriving in droves, chances are the listing would sell if the price was adjusted. I called the seller this morning to let her know her property is being shown and were she wants me to bring the key as it will expire tomorrow. She sort of acknowledged that her property is being shown but she said that it wasn't really that important to her.
She's not a motivated seller. With the listing being overpriced and the seller not being very interested in progress being made - I'm glad I didn't waste any money on advertising this property.
I just wish agents would be more focused on qualifying a seller than just building up their volume rankings in the MLS.
Andrea Mills - "Unmotivated Sellers" Copyright 2008 *All Rights Reserved
This article was originally posted on http://sebring.activerain.com/
The market is so soft here, that I am telling all my sellers that I am not willing to list their property unless they are willing to price it aggressively. The only caveat is that is if they will agree to reduce their price within 3 weeks if they do not get any activity.
Rob, I've heard that from other realtors in my market as well. I have been lucky to be able to "adjust" my listing prices reasonably but a built in price "adjustment" would allow me to take slightly over priced listings. I like that.
Kevin, I've been thinking about that too....she might re-list with the former agent. Clearly, I do not want the listing at the current price because it's going to nothing but cost me money. I'd rather have the other agent pay for the advertising that's not going anywhere. It still bugs me that this seller has obviously been lied to at some point when the former agent told them they could sell their home!
Now here's a dumb question: how do I calculate the month of listing inventory? Average sales in 2007 and divide that by the number of current listings?
There is no mortgage on the property, the HOA fee is 12 bucks a year. Looking at their taxes and what they pay to keep the lawn cut, it's gonna cost them about 100 bucks a month to have it sit there.
Argh, I just have to get over the fact that I wont' be able to have the Open House I envisioned for this property. Hot dog stand, some music, refreshments..........right on the golf course...................
Your work is cut out for you but all you need to do is prove that you're the neighborhood expert. It helps that you like the home also although don't let that interfere with your pricing. You can include a potential gain of shifting the profit into a better investment vehicle to prove your point. The equity is useless if it's not growing for them. The absorption rate can be determined by taking the last years # of sales divided by 12 months and then divide that number by available listings in the area. Whenever your MLS inputs the next months statistics, recalculate to determine your local markets direction. Good Luck, Andrea!
Well, I took my sign and lockbox off yesterday. The seller asked me to MAIL them the key. Nope, they didn't even want to meet with me to hand over the key.
I finally came to terms with the fact that I'm better off without those sellers!