Okay so here are two sides to the story. First there is the side that pretty much everyone here falls on, and myself as well… I go to open houses all the time in my engineer disguise. I sit there and don’t ask questions and listen to the realtor tell me how the home will double in value in 10 years, how real estate is a great investment, blah blah blah… same thing you guys hear, same old story. I never really say much because I may be on the other side of a transaction with these people someday so I pretty much stand there slack jawed and take it all in. Getting into an argument with them reminds me of some of the go rounds with my own 3 year old. BTW my sister in law is a realtor and she is for sure in the we are just around the corner from the bottom… and she BELIEVES IT… whatever…
So now the other side of the coin… Why do these realtors take the listings? Why don’t they encourage the sellers to reduce the price. What is going on here? A few things… I have posted before about topics like this so the old timers here can stop reading because it will be repetitive. So there are a myriad of reasons why agents take the listings. First and foremost if the first agent doesn’t take the listing the next agent will. While there are some agents who will altogether pass on a listing if the sellers refuse to price in a realistic manner, most will not. They will indeed take the listing and if there is no traffic they will then press the seller to price correctly. Second, never forget the power of advertising. Perhaps the listing agent will not sell the home, BUT the best, the very best source of contact leads for a listing agent is the listing. That LA can have open houses to get more buyers leads, he gets his sign out front, his flyers, he can put it on caravan… see my point? Third, every seller has a different situation. Indeed most sellers are still in denial. I cannot tell you how many listing appts I go to where the seller tells me that they NEED to get this much out of the sale.
Look guys, most people here attempt to apply logic and rationale to how PIGGS would approach pricing the home. Your reality is as foreign to the seller as his reality is to you. The problem is that facts and market dynamics are in your favor but emotion and a sense of entitlement is in his mind. The equation is disjointed and the minds do not meet.
The pricing problem is indeed a problem but it is a free market. I have that problem all the time with clients. Not many times do I have clients who I see eye to eye with on initial pricing. Those who have priced aggressively have sold thier homes and done so quickly. I cannot sit here and say I have declined every listing where I didn’t agree with pricing. Some I have indeed taken where I tell the seller, “Look I strongly disagree with your price recommendation but yes I will still take your listing.” Since I don’t do open houses I do not have to sit and defend the pricing to open house shoppers. Yet have I received business from these homes that didn’t sell? Yes I have.
The point here is not to defend lame pricing. Nor is it to defend the tripe that you hear from most agents when you go to open houses. You guys would indeed be surprised how many agents believe that garbage they spew. Yet there are also a good many who don’t do that. Anyways, just some food for thought.
