Is Hope Your Selling Strategy? The Top 10 Signs You’ve Embraced Reality
March 27th, 2010 categories: Selling Strategies
What do you picture on the sign in front of your house? For Sale? Sold?
Some sellers picture For Sale By Owner, others picture For Sale By the Cheapest Broker We Could Find. The savvy sellers picture For Sale By the Most Experienced Broker for Our Property and Area.
Whatever you picture, ultimately you want to envision Sold And Moved to Our New Home!
Enlisting hope will not get Sold on your sign.
Enlisting reality will.
Here are the top 10 signs that you’ve embraced reality:
- You’ve cleaned every nook and cranny.
- You’ve listened to staging advice, engaging the “eyes of buyers” and disengaging your gut-level, emotional response.
- You’ve emptied closets and stored the useless stuff we all accumulate.
- You’ve had your property inspected and made preemptive repairs.
- You’ve listened to your broker’s pricing advice very carefully, acknowledging that the market – (buyers) – won’t pay “what you need,” “what you put into it” or “the down payment on the next house.” They will pay “what it’s worth.”
- You’ve read through the market analysis and recognize the difference between what has actually sold and what is currently on the market.
- You’ve priced your house to sell – in 30 days or less, or to sell in the time-frame you need it to.
- You’ve requested a marketing plan from your broker, a step-by-step outline.
- In exchange for the marketing plan, you’ve agreed to a step-down pricing strategy if the house doesn’t sell in 30 days, 60 days and 90 days.
- You’ve reacted to the feedback and made necessary adjustments without being defensive. Be thankful for feedback, without it you would be operating in a vacuum.
A few years’ ago, a populist economics book hit the stands, emphasizing that human behavior is based on a calculative rationality. One chapter stated that their research showed real estate brokers purposely under price their listings to sell them faster than they would sell their own homes – a calculated rationality or strategy.
As anecdotal as it is, I’ve watched broker after broker hang on to over-priced listings for months and sometimes years. Even done it myself. Since brokers are generally paid based on a percentage of the sales price, it would be in the brokers’ best interest to price their listings as high as possible. Ultimately, though, it’s not the brokers who decide on the selling price, it’s the sellers and the buyers. Nor is it the brokers’ decision how quickly sellers want to sell. However, a house that isn’t selling because of price is a house that’s not really “on the market.” If the feedback veers toward the blue paint or green carpet, those can be changed.
Getting a home sold entails hiring a professional to help you get the house ready for the market, to find qualified buyers and recognize if they aren’t qualified, to advise you during the negotiations and all phases of the transaction, and to handle the closing details.
If you want to see a sold sign and not just picture one, follow the 10 steps above and be mindful of what the universe is telling you. The universe of buyers for your house.
Looking to sell? Contact Gretchen Faber for an assessment of your home’s market readiness.
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