Selling Your House for What You Need!
June 22nd, 2008 categories: Market Trends, Relocation Tips, Selling Strategies
In today’s Wall Street Journal section of The Denver Post is a column written by Jeff Opdyke. “A Trip - And a Change of Heart” tells the story of his unfortunate experience in trying to relocate to Hong Kong. Unlike the New York Times, WSJ blocks out online readers unless they subscribe, so I don’t have a link to the column.
Opdyke tells of the difficulties of selling his home, of finding the proper school situation for his children, and of locating a suitable apartment in Hong Kong. It sounds like is was a heart wrenching decision for his family, but they decided to pass up the opportunity after a fraught trip to settle the details.
There are probably many reasons why the decision was the right one for this family - international relocations can be difficult.
The rewards for some are huge, but it still causes upheaval. Much of my client base are relocating families, and several have been posted in China and Hong Kong. They describe such an acute lack of closet space that the extra shower becomes suitcase storage. They also describe the joy of finding peanut butter in the small local grocery mart.
A Realtor friend of mine, Bill Dolan, was so moved by Opdyke’s column that he wrote the author a letter in response. Bill noticed some very telling things about the comments Opdyke made regarding the sale of his home in Louisana. He’s given me permisson to reprint his comments, but I’ve edited them down a bit. You’ll get the gist.
Having worked with many corporate transferees over the years, I couldn’t help but take special notice of some select sentences from your article:
- “Nor can we afford to reduce our house price by the amount we’d need to move it quickly.”
- “We can’t afford to throw away tens of thousands of dollars in equity to facilitate a rapid sale.”
- “That leaves us no choice but to wait out the market.”
Real estate values have declined in every single area of the United States. In my opinion, before you even entertained the idea of moving to Hong Kong, you should have contacted three brokers and/or an appraiser to ascertain market value of your home and used that as a platform: if I jump, can I make it to the other side of the gorge? I am amazed at how few sellers are willing to accept or even try to understand the concept of “fair market value.”
- Your house would move quickly if you priced it at “fair market value.”
- You are not throwing away tens of thousands of dollars in equity to facilitate a rapid sale. You can’t throw away something that isn’t there to begin with. What you paid for your house, and what you owe against it are not relevant. The definition of fair market value is what a ready, willing and able buyer pays for a commodity. (As an aside, what do think the current fair market value of a large SUV is these days? Same as last year, or the year before?)
- You don’t need to wait out the market. If you are not willing to accept today’s “fair market value,” then take the home off the market until the market tells you that you have the equity you want or need to make a move.
I love this article from the New York Times. It is now part of my listing presentation. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that if a property is on the market for more than 30 days or has had 15 showings without an offer, then the price is too high (There are certain exceptions when it comes to very high-priced multi-million dollar properties.)
Good luck with your future relocations.
I’d like to call Bill’s comments an open letter to sellers. This is such a tough conversation to have with sellers. We Realtors aren’t without sympathy for your plight. We certainly wish you could “get what you need”.
I’m a little more patient than Bill seems to be. I generally say 20-25 showings and at least 30 days on the market is the test period. If you don’t have an offer after 25 bona fide buyers have walked through the door, then the price is too high. Your broker is doing his/her job if you’ve had that many lookers. The broker’s job is to expose the property and get traffic.
I’ve had sellers say to me, “Well, you’re just not convincing them to write an offer.” What should I do? Put a gun to their heads? Often the feedback is just disguised price objections. If the Buyer’s agent says that the house is on a busy street or needs too much work or looks outdated, then that’s a disguised price objection. A seller’s choice it to pick up and move the house or drop the price; update the house or drop the price. Sellers don’t like to hear this, and delivering the news isn’t the fun part of our jobs. It’s probably even worse than putting out open house signs…
So, thanks for sharing Bill. Good luck!
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Denver House is Snowed in!
May 5th, 2008 categories: Drive By Shootings, Selling Strategies
Are You Relocating to Denver?
If so, you might be discouraged if you saw this listing photo online. “They’re lying about their 300 days of sunshine,” you think to yourself. “Look, it’s May and this house has snow in front of it!”
Well, right now I’m looking out my window at tulips, flowering crabapples and daffodils. There were a few tiny flurries one day last week just to remind us that we’re in the Rockies, but trust me it’s gorgeous here.
Perhaps this listing agent just hasn’t gotten over to the house to snap a new photo. Today would be a great day to do it. Blue skies and no snow on the lawn would make a huge difference in the presentation of this property.
View the top website presentation of metro-Denver properties and you’ll quickly see the difference. It’s important to pay attention to the details when you have in excess of 25,000 properties listed in the Denver MLS.
| Discussion: 6 Comments »
Is Your House This Neat?
April 8th, 2008 categories: Drive By Shootings, Selling Strategies
If you aren’t a good housekeeper, clean up your house before it goes on the market.
If you’re this neat ~ you can use that fact as a marketing edge.
NOT!
Stage your house, and put the exterior in the MLS. This was the front page photo - no exterior shot offered. Buyers won’t be drawn to this home. It looks like a bowling alley. It’s boring, it’s beige, it’s bland.
Here’s another thought, closer to an actual drive-by shooting:
I know, the flowers are lovely. Can you see the house?
We aren’t selling flowers! While landscaping is certainly an important aspect of a property, this front-page shot precludes a buyer from getting a feel for the architecture and the house itself.
I sell real estate. Houses that people live in. The photos must reflect more than the yard, or the garage, or the driveway.
The best real estate web sites are syndicating to other internet search avenues for buyers to find properties. Sites like Trulia and Google Base are providing a service for buyers who are beginning their home search. If your house isn’t presented in a “first impressions matter” way from the beginning photo through the entire presentation, you’ll lose potential buyers.
Check out www.gretchensdenver.com. Link to the Kentwood Listings ~ see what great marketing is all about.
| Discussion: 5 Comments »
(I Can’t Get No) Pricing Traction
April 1st, 2008 categories: Real Estate News, Selling Strategies
Real Estate buyers often ask me, “will they take less?” and “how low can I offer?” I’ve been asked if I’m a good negotiator (see ARDELL’s post on this one). They also want to know the average % of list the “typical” house in Denver sells for.
Hold on, let me ge
t out my crystal ball. Omph, it’s in there, just a sec…
O.K. The average % of list a typical house sells for is irrelevant! Some houses are well-priced, others are way over-priced. Every seller’s motivation is different and affects the pricing strategy they take. Some sellers are moving tomorrow and need to get the house sold. Others haven’t even started looking for their replacement home and don’t have any urgency at all.
Buyers who identify the one, particular house they love are then able to have an intelligent conversation with me about what we should offer. We can go into the MLS in Denver and look at what price reductions they’ve had already (% of list for which price would they be wondering about?), how long the property has been on the market and what comparable homes have recently sold for. Now we have pricing traction.
No, No to Zillow
Buyers - you should pay attention to the condition of the house when comparing the one you’d like to make an offer on to the comparable sales. Sellers - go out and preview your competition (at a minimum on the internet) before you price the property. I personally don’t recommend trying the valuation model on Zillow. I’ve done that exercise on enough homes to know that it’s very hit or miss in either direction.
Hiring a knowledgeable real estate broker is key - she or he doesn’t necessarily need to be a trained negotiator (although that skill does come in handy,) but someone who can help you analyze the vagaries of the real estate market where you’re moving. The skills you need come with many years of living and working in a specific area, city or neighborhood. The skills come with reading Inman, blogs, local publications and having a great network of other professional brokers to call on. And finally, the skills come from having won and lost and knowing when a buyer and seller are too close to let them off the hook without one more try.
They Don’t Care About Your Shaky Net Worth
Sellers can find themselves going down the same flawed-logic path. “I neeeed this much out of it to buy my next house!” “I put $500,000 into the property so I need to get it out.” “I’m relocating to a more expensive market, so I have to list it high.” That crystal ball of mine seems to be on the fritz. I can’t determine exactly what your house will sell for, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be based on what you need.
I’m certain the buyers would love you as a person if they got to know you, and they may even want to become fast friends. What I know they won’t do is overpay for your house just to help you get into that next home.
Pricing is just about the hardest part of being a Realtor. It’s not an exact science and must incorporate sellers’ motivation, market conditions, comparable sales and location. These are the same tools we use with buyers when determining what to offer and what they should ultimately pay for a property. We do this one house at a time - not with market averages.
| Discussion: 2 Comments »
Your Perfect Home
March 10th, 2008 categories: Drive By Shootings, Selling Strategies
It Needs Absolutely No Marketing Whatsoever!
This photo was displayed with a $1,500,000 listing in Denver’s MLS. I guess real estate sales are so hot in Denver right now, that we don’t even need photos to sell houses anymore.
“Drive by Shootings” are usually exterior house photos that look like the photographer didn’t bother to slow down the car. In this case, the real estate broker didn’t even call the photographer.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Save Me From Clueless Brokers!
March 3rd, 2008 categories: Random Thoughts, Selling Strategies
This is an email I got the other day from a client:
“Hey, I found another one. Not sure what’s up with it. Perhaps you can shed some light to all the acronyms listed in its MLS summary. Obviously it needs work. However, for the price and location, it may be worth it - your experience will definitely help with the decision. It’s located at 123 Main Street. Can we add it to our list for Saturday? Let me know what you think.”
I was curious what she was talking about, so I went into MLS to see what the verbiage looked like. This is what I saw:
BYR 2 OBTN CIC DOCS @ BYRS EXPENSE.SOLD AS IS.BYR2 VRFY ALL INCL BUT NOT LTD 2 SF,HOA ,TAX,ZONNG ND PRKNG.SBMT W ALL OFFRS CPY OF E.M. CHK ND LNDR LTR OR VERIF OF FNDS. OUTDATED. FIX OR SCRAPE. CLOSE TO CHERRY CREEK. DESIRABLE LOCATION.
So I wrote my client the following back:
“Translation: Buyer to obtain the common interest community documents at buyer’s expense. Sold as is. Buyer to verify all inclusions but not limited to square footage, home owners assn, tax, zoning, and parking. Submit with all offers: Copy of earnest money check and lender letter or verification of funds. Etc. Etc.
They don’t make it easy on the average buyer…! It looks like a bank owned property or pre-foreclosure. I’ll bet it’s probably decimated inside (dcmtd insd).”
Lazy business practices rule
I’ve often said that the barriers to entry in real estate are too low. It’s easy to get your license, harder I guess, to be professional at your job. This description says lazy to me. It also says that the real estate agent doesn’t care that the general public is viewing the “public” remarks in the MLS. My client found this property on an internet site - obviously one of many sites that just pull down basic info from MLS’s. If the Realtor isn’t capable of entering the information in a savvy enough manner to properly position her listing, then I guess that may explain why this house has been on the market for nearly a year and has seen 6 price reductions.
You get what you pay for in a listing agent…
Why Should You Care?
All over cyber space are posts and comments lambasting real estate brokers. I’m often surprised by the negativity, sometimes enlightened by the observations and bemused that some people lump all Realtors together as bad actors. It’s like calling all lawyers scum-sucking bottom feeders. Oh yeah….
The thing is, that many consumers not only want the services of a great broker, they need them. In today’s busy world, managing an entire transaction is complicated and time-consuming for two-income families with kids, school, hobbies, etc. Why buyers and sellers need a Realtor is to seek advice and guidance, to help with decision-making and to see to it that the transaction goes smoothly. In the Luxury real estate market there are added complexities that make using Zillow a non-starter.
I guess there is a place for everyone’s opinion. The people out there who don’t choose to use a broker are making their personal choice. When you need the services of a broker to market and sell your property, then you should definitely ask them what marketing experience they have. Writing copy like the example above just doesn’t cut it. If you’re a buyer out there looking at internet sites and have a question about broker lingo, just send me an email and I’ll translate.
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Would You Buy This House?
February 23rd, 2008 categories: Drive By Shootings, Selling Strategies
The real estate brokers in my office have a running joke about “drive by shootings.” These are photos in the MLS where we swear the photographer snapped the shot while driving by at 65 mph. Maybe they stop long enough to hop out of the car for 5 seconds.
A Sample Drive By Shooting:
This photo is for a driveway resurfacing company, it accidentally found its way into the Denver MLS.
The difference between a real estate company that will professionally market your property and one that takes the easiest way out is huge. Look at the photo below. This is a photo of one of my listings in Washington Park. We had it (and every listing I market) professionally photographed. Yes, of course there is a difference in price point between the house above and the one below. The nice thing is, I don’t discriminate. I treat all houses equally!
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