Home Sellers Who Shoot Themselves in the Foot

Unforced Errors

Given that home sellers typically want (need) to maximize what they net on the sale of their home, you'd think that they'd do everything in their power to increase the odds of that happening.

But they don't.

On the contrary, they often shoot themselves in the foot not one but multiple ways.

Here's a partial list:

--Mis-pricing
--Failing to do cost-effective repairs
--Not staging
--Hiring the wrong Realtor (or none at all)

A subset of "hiring the wrong Realtor" would be "insisting on a too-short listing contract."

That's because good Realtors invest most of their time and money selling a property at the beginning of a listing.

That's when they work with the owner on staging, market prep, and required disclosures and municipal inspections; oversee photography and drafting (and proofing, and proofing) the marketing materials, both print and online; and network the upcoming listing to other Realtors and the public.

Recipe for Failure

So guess what happens when a client insists on a 60 day listing (vs. a more realistic six months-plus) for a $500k house in the Twin Cities?

Most Realtors would decline, because they know the odds of collecting a commission -- and therefore covering their expenses and making a living -- are unacceptably low.

Too often, the Realtor who will take a listing on such a client's unreasonable terms protects them self, financially and time-wise, by not doing all the things needed to sell a home in today's Buyers' market.

So guess what happens next?

The Realtor does next to nothing to market the home.

The 60 days come and go.

And the owner is on to Realtor #2 (or #3 or #4) who, if they're honest, will tell the client that they now need to discount the asking price of their home to overcome their "false start" and re-attract prospective Buyers.

Bloomingdale's Cologne "Pre-Sale"

"Pre-Selling's" Many Guises

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

--Shakespeare

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

--lyrics, "Anticipation" (Carly Simon)

There is a convention in real estate to whet prospective Buyers' appetites by doing what's called "pre-list marketing."

While the owner is typically doing any last minute repairs, finalizing the home's staging, etc., their Realtor is (or should be) networking the home to colleagues and the general public to make them aware that the home will be on the market soon.

So I had to chuckle (to myself) as a Bloomingdale's sales rep approached me today to let me know that the store was "pre-selling" a hot, new cologne that wasn't set to debut until later this month.

I guess it comes down to how you define "pre-selling" and "debut" . . . .

Does Networking Really Work?

Instant Access to 1,600 Realtors

Does Realtor-to-Realtor networking really work?

Well, consider this:

With about 20% of the total listings in the Twin Cities housing market, the percentage of Edina Realty listings sold by other Edina Realty agents is 40%.

That could just be because "we" -- all 1,600-plus local Edina Realty agents -- really like one another.

But the truth is, most of us don't even know each other.

What really explains that 40% statistic is the amount of intra-company networking that constantly takes place -- at weekly office meetings, online, via email, etc.

It's always nice to be able to tell a prospective client during a listing presentation (basically, a job interview for Realtors) that, just by pressing "send" on my PC, I can instantly tell 1,600 other Realtors about my hot new listing.

Dual Agency - Two Kinds

When a Buyer represented by an Edina agent sells a home listed by another Edina agent, the resulting relationship is called "dual agency."

That's because both the Buyer and Seller are represented by the same broker, Edina.

While that creates some legal awkwardness, the benefit to clients -- in my opinion -- more than offsets the drawbacks

By contrast, when the same agent represents both the Buyer and Seller, that's called "single agent dual agency."

As they say, "that's a horse of a different color."

While single agent dual agency is permissible with sufficient disclosure and both parties' assent, I personally think it's not worth the risk.

In my opinion, the only way to be on both sides of a deal is ultimately . . . to be on neither.

"Just-In-Case-You-Have-a-Client" Email's

Do-it-Yourself Marketing?

One of the email's I regularly get are from acquaintances -- or acquaintances of my wife -- whose homes are on the market, and who shoot me their listing info "just in case I might have a client."

I really don't mind, because: a) I already get 100-plus emails daily; b) I'm glad to have people associate me with real estate; and c) it's like chicken soup, i.e., can't hurt, might help.

That said, it does reflect a little naivete about how modern real estate works -- and just a tad of desperation. (It also makes me wonder who their Realtor is.)

Wanted: 'Not Already on MLS'

If I'm representing a Buyer, it's a given that I have an automatic search set up with my client's preferred geographic area, price range, desired square feet, and other home preferences (rambler, Colonial, newer construction, not a rambler, etc.).

If it's out there . . . . it's a pretty good bet that I already know about it, virtually in real time -- and therefore, so do my clients.

The flip side of that is, if you're listed and I haven't already shown your home, the odds are about 98%-plus that it's because it doesn't match any of my existing clients' criteria.

That's why Realtors, in the course of broadcasting their "Buyer needs" to other Realtors, will often preface that they're "looking for something not already on MLS."

P.S.: In contrast to getting a heads up about something that's already listed, getting tipped about something not yet on the market is VERY much appreciated. Which goes back to my not discouraging folks who want me to know about their homes . . .