Marketing not selling
Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to visit with a family who lives in the area and wants to sell their home and move into a retirement community. They had moved to the area several years ago and own their house free and clear of a mortgage. They were a very nice couple but during my visit I had to smile at the similarities of all sellers regardless of the market.
I had prepared a very comprehensive market analysis to determine the range of value of their home. It was lower than they expected! No surprise there. In 30 years of practice I have never had a seller tell me the market value of their home was too high. All sellers feel their house is worth more than the neighbors, even though the neighbor’s house is larger, newer, has an in-ground pool etc.
There is a difference in listing price and net profit and it is an agent’s job to point out all the costs incurred in selling a home so that the sellers will know their net profit. There was no surprise there either. I have never had a seller tell me that commissions, and selling expenses should be higher than what they are.
While the listings price and costs are the usually the two biggest objections to listing a home with an agent, most sellers what to know what their agent is going to do to sell their house. The couple was surprised when I told them. “I didn’t sell houses, my job was to market the property so that the home would sell itself.” You might be able to sell people some things but no amount of sales pitching, objection handling, or pressure closing techniques is going to make someone buy a house that they don’t want to buy.
More agents will be fired by their principals, (sellers) in the next three months than at any time since 1992, the last time the real estate market began drifting south. They will be fired not because they were incompetent or lazy or unethical. They will be terminated because they did not understand the concept of marketing, which includes product positioning.
A year ago the process of marketing a home involved listing it in the MLS and hanging a sign. There will be a little more work and creatively required during the next 18 months.
Enjoy your weekend. Vicki doesn’t have a show but I am showing a few properties in South County and finish mowing fields.
I had prepared a very comprehensive market analysis to determine the range of value of their home. It was lower than they expected! No surprise there. In 30 years of practice I have never had a seller tell me the market value of their home was too high. All sellers feel their house is worth more than the neighbors, even though the neighbor’s house is larger, newer, has an in-ground pool etc.
There is a difference in listing price and net profit and it is an agent’s job to point out all the costs incurred in selling a home so that the sellers will know their net profit. There was no surprise there either. I have never had a seller tell me that commissions, and selling expenses should be higher than what they are.
While the listings price and costs are the usually the two biggest objections to listing a home with an agent, most sellers what to know what their agent is going to do to sell their house. The couple was surprised when I told them. “I didn’t sell houses, my job was to market the property so that the home would sell itself.” You might be able to sell people some things but no amount of sales pitching, objection handling, or pressure closing techniques is going to make someone buy a house that they don’t want to buy.
More agents will be fired by their principals, (sellers) in the next three months than at any time since 1992, the last time the real estate market began drifting south. They will be fired not because they were incompetent or lazy or unethical. They will be terminated because they did not understand the concept of marketing, which includes product positioning.
A year ago the process of marketing a home involved listing it in the MLS and hanging a sign. There will be a little more work and creatively required during the next 18 months.
Enjoy your weekend. Vicki doesn’t have a show but I am showing a few properties in South County and finish mowing fields.
posted by Ken Calhoon at 8:28 PM
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