I know you’re thinking that’s a very odd question.  But listing your home and selling your home are not necessarily synonymous.  Unfortunately sometimes agents and sellers don’t figure this out until a lot of time, effort, money, and frustration have gone into trying to sell a house where the owners really only wanted to “list” the house. 

Especially in the current slow real estate market, it takes more than just “listing” a house to get it sold.  A homeowner may sincerely think he wants to “sell” his house, but the reality may be that he really only wants to “list’ his house.  What do I mean? 

To sell a house in today’s market takes a genuine commitment to the process and a willingness to “do what it takes” to get the house sold.  Too often homeowners want to sell their house, but only if they can get their dream price.  Of course, to the homeowner the price is a very reasonable price, especially in view of the quality upgrades, the tasteful décor, and the pristine condition of his home.  Unfortunately, to the few buyers in the marketplace right now, the home is passed by in favor of many similar homes priced $1,000’s of dollars lower. 

The seller and his agent may find that even with extensive marketing, there are few or no showings of the house.  His agent may reluctantly suggest a price reduction to bring in potential buyers and make the house more competitive.  Keep in mind the agent has gone into this listing agreement thinking that the seller wants to “sell”, and although the seller has chosen a price that’s at the high end of the comps, the house is nice and the agent hopes that the one buyer who will love this particular house will walk through the door.  This thinking is sometimes the result of being overly optimistic but is more often the result of inexperience or a desire to “have more listings”. 

When a price drop is suggested is where the level of motivation of the seller becomes apparent.  Sometimes we agents hear comments at this point like:  “We’ve been giving it a lot of thought.  We really like our house (or neighborhood, or Prescott).  We’d like to move to [someplace else], but we do have the option of staying here.  I guess we can go ahead and lower our price $5,000 (or $10,000) but that’s really as low as we can afford to go and still get what we need out of the house.”  Unfortunately without a real focus on “getting the house sold”, the chances the home is going to sell are very slim.  

In this marketplace, it takes real commitment to actually get a sale, not only on the part of the homeowner but also on the part of the agent.  It takes teamwork.  And it takes aggressive marketing and pricing.  This is one reason why I never try to “buy” a listing, telling a homeowner the listing figure I think he wants to hear.  Call it “tough love” if you will, but agreeing to list a home at a too high price only leads to frustration and lost dollars for both of us.   

Chasing the market down in a declining market is sure to net the seller less in the end than pricing aggressively at the outset.  Think about it, if prices are falling a home that is worth $300,000 today, may only be worth $275,000 six months from now, and maybe only $250,000 a year from now.  If a seller wants to price his home at $335,000, he starts off $35,000 over market.  The agent thinks that with good marketing perhaps she can entice buyers to take a look.  Alas, the seller will have very few, if any, showings.  If he lowers his price $10,000 in six months, he’s now overpriced by $50,000.  Now he gets even fewer showings, despite the $10,000 price drop.  At this point the seller is discouraged, and the agent is tired of spending several $100’s a month in advertising.  It’s very common at this point for a seller to take his home off the market for a while, hoping to come back on the market fresh next spring.  So next spring rolls around, and the seller really does want/need to sell as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, he’ll now need to price his home at $259,000 or below to get it sold relatively quickly at $250,000.  Do you see how the seller has lost $50,000 by not pricing aggressively at the outset?  Even at this point, however, the seller is better off doing what it takes to get it sold.  I have actually seen sellers repeat the above scenario of listing, withdrawing, relisting several times before they finally realize that they’ll need to price aggressively to get the house sold in a slow market.  In the end, these sellers may end up losing as much as 15%-30% of the initial value of their homes.  And needless to say, there is usually more than one agent in the process who loses a substantial amount of money on marketing costs when the home fails to sell. 

While it may be painful to hear the truth about agressive pricing at the outset, it will hurt your wallet much less in the long run.   A seller interviewing me will find that I am always upfront and honest.  I will give you the facts about the real value of your house and explain how we will work together as a team to sell your home.  The decision is yours.  I’m not about high pressure tactics or promises that can’t be delivered.  We go into the sales process as a team with a “game plan”.  If you are truly committed to selling your Prescott area home, please give me a call or contact me at Gretchen@MyPrescottHome.com for an honest pricing evaluation.  And remember, there’s never a charge for my evaluation and comprehensive market analysis.