Your Home Should Sell Quickly! What? It Didn’t?
One of the things I do each morning almost before I have the first cup is to search the Multiple Listing Service to see which home listings expired without a sale, and then with that limited information, try to figure out what went wrong.
You see, I’m a Realtor who has it in his blood, and has been around home sales for a very long time.
Was it over priced? Were the photos of the inside and out lack-luster? Could it be that the listing agent simply didn’t market it properly?
Most of the time, at first blush that’s what looks to be the case. The agent had the listing for 90, 120, 180 days…sometimes even a year, and it didn’t sell. Not one good offer.
There is only one primary question in any argument. Here it is: Remember it. “Is there a need for a change?” Every other thought and discussion has to be a sub-set of “Is there a need for a change?”
A debater, an attorney, a logician would attempt to show that during the listing period other comparable homes were sold and closed. The he would try to establish evidence that the reason this listing didn’t sell was because it was presented to the market in an unlike manner — that was the reason for its failure.
Therefore, there is a need for a change.
So I often wonder what is going on in a real estate agent’s mind when after, say, sixty days at least one serious offer hasn’t materialized, yet he continues down the same marketing road.
Why would he think that continuing the status quo was going to bring success when it hadn’t worked in the months prior? Why wouldn’t he study how those that did sell were marketed? Could any of that be applicable and applied here?
And I wonder what is going on in the seller’s mind through all of this: He gives a listing to an agent for more than three months, it doesn’t sell, yet he agrees to renew the listing once, twice, maybe three times. Why doesn’t he kick the guy out?
I’ve been a real estate broker in Texas for 43-years. I’ve been one side or the other of more than 2,000 transactions. Here’s what I know for sure:
If a home hasn’t gotten sufficient activity and at least one serious offer within, say, three months, the agent’s marketing program for that listing has been bankrupt from inception.
It’s time for the listing agent and the client to part ways.
And on those occasions when this has happened to me, I’ve encouraged my client to find another agent, one with new ideas. We shake hands, agree we are gret friends, and bid each other adieu.
I’m BILL CHERRY of Bill Cherry, Realtors. Call me when I can help. In Dallas at 214 503-8563; email at cherrysells@aol.com. Here’s my web site.
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