PRICING for SELLERS

It was not my intent, but most of my articles have been geared to buyers or investors. This post, however, I specifically wanted to gear towards sellers. It is a sensitive subject, but pricing a property, which I am listing, is more important than any marketing I can do, or any service I can provide as a Realtor®/Listing Agent.

Yes, I can do outrageous marketing, but if the property isn't priced correctly, it won't show much, and it won't sell. The bells, whistles, photos, web marketing, print marketing, and videos won't really help anything. It is a difficult sometimes to explain this fact. I can present every comparable property, and still not penetrate what someone's idea of the price of their property should be.

I am talking on this subject with a broad brush, because there are those sellers, who are exceptions to this idea, and who are very realistic. Sometimes, there are those who need an upward adjustment, because they have not been paying attention to where housing prices have gone. However, the difficulty, is not with these properties and sellers, but with the over priced listings/properties and sellers.

So, looking for advice from other Realtors®, I put the word out on FACEBOOK and asked what they say to sellers, when the sellers are unrealistic about pricing their properties. I thought it might be helpful to hear opinions and statements from other Realtors®, in different places in the country, both for myself and for people either selling their property or thinking about selling their property. I received various responses, but they all shared a similar idea, expressed in different ways, and perhaps, hitting different points, as follows:

• Terri Gilgour of Keller Williams Realty, Blue Springs, MO said, "We put the ball in their court and make them figure out how important it is to actually sell it."
• Marcile Warren Sims of Oracle Real Estate LLC, Mobile, AL said, "Let them know that they have to get an appraisal once the offer comes in and it may not appraise and then there will be problems. If they still insist, ask them to have an appraisal done before listing it and that may answer their questions."
• Al Perry of Century 21 Advantage Gold, Philadelphia, PA said, "Given the other options on the market, would you buy your house at this price if you were a buyer?"
• Jude Birch of RE/MAX International, Louisville, KY said, "...RE/MAX Regional Awards this week with David Knox on pricing - he was his usual upbeat self but attacked the changing dreadful market both of us face. He took us through the SELL or STAY thinking he uses all the time...."
• Brian Bundesen, Ann Arbor, Michigan said, "Obviously, you have to be armed with the comparables. You need to be clear as to how an Appraiser will look at the property. Explain that even if you find a buyer willing to pay the sellers price, the house is unlikely to appraise at that price, and the buyer will be unable to secure financing. Then ask the seller what they would do if they were the lender faced with those facts."
• Eric Bouler, New Orleans, LA said, "You are basically unrealistic in your price. It's like selling a 50 cent coke on a cold day for a buck. You will get few buyers. You are hiring me to be an honest broker for you."
• Todd Holloway, Michigan City, IN said, "The question is do they want to sell now? Or are they waiting to realize a preconceive number? If that is the case can you afford to hold on?"

Thus, if there is someone, out there, reading this post, who is thinking about selling their property, what am I and these other Realtors® saying to you? To start, Al Perry is asking if you would pay "your price" for "your property". I think that that is a great questions. Would you? What is your answer? What would you pay for your property?

The other questions and statements are just as relevant. They hit a pretty simple theme:

• How are the comparable properties priced? And what is their condition compared to your property's condition?
  
• Do you want to sell or stay?
• Can you afford not to sell?
• Are you willing to take the risk, if you are lucky enough to get your property under contract, that the property will not appraise?

All of us, Realtors®, want to sell property; that is what we do for a living. If it does not sell, we don't make a living. However, we want to sell it for the best price. It is in our self interest to get the best price as well as your best interest. Therefore, if you are thinking of selling, and seem to disagree with your Realtor®, call another Realtor®, and have them do a CMA (comparable market analysis) for you. If the second or third Realtor®, tells you the same thing, then chances are the price in your head is in excess of where the property should sell. If you still doubt what you are being told, then do what Marcile Warren Sims above suggested, and get an appraisal.