The pain of over pricing and poor photos… and how not to get bit by them, 9+ questions to ask your listing agent. July 3, 2008
I’ve noticed a trend in my business lately. Several consumers are contacting our team for help in re-listing their home after having a poor experience with a prior agent. While it is true that selling activity in Puget Sound is lower this year than last, there is still some positive selling activity occuring with some areas of Puget Sound continuing to grow in housing values.
So, with there still being some sales activity why is it that these folks are contacting us?
What I’ve seen as key factors in the lagging sales of these homes is poor pricing and presentation of the properties. In one case the price had been overinflated by hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus it had poor presentation in photos and staging, so the home languished sitting on market for over a year.
In the majority of these situations things could have been handled differently with the past agent. And, while I believe that me and my team provide a higher level of service than many others, we know we aren’t the only game in town that can figure out the right mix of marketing, presentation, and pricing for a property. However, in these instances, I do believe the former listing agents could have done a better job - for certain - but, as a seller, it is also up to you to do a good job of interviewing a prospective agent. A few good questions by the seller might have led to a different decision about how the house was marketed and led to a better discussion about what impacts the value of a home. This, in turn, could have led to a more informed decision about where to place pricing.
So, to try and help those of you out there who are considering putting your home on the market, here is a list of 9+ questions you can use to qualify and interview your prospective listing agent.
1. What methods of advertising do you use, and why? Can you tell me which will likely be the most effective? How comfortable are you using Internet advertising methods?
2. Do you think my home will need prep work or staging to get it ready for market? What types of things do you suggest for sellers and why?
3. What is the typical timeline for selling a home that you have represented and how does that compare to the local marketplace? What percentage of selling price do you typically get compared to list price?
4. Do you offer any particular programs or services for each home that you sell such as a home warranty, professional photos, etc? Does your fee determine whether additional services are included or not?
5. If you don’t provide these additional services yourself - do you at least have companies you can refer me to that if I choose to use them directly to prepare my home more effectively, I can do so?
6. Are there any special considerations I should have while selling my home such as security, prep for showings, etc?
7. How often will you communicate with me about the sale of my home? What kinds of reports can I expect?
8. Will I get a chance to review and approve any of your advertising or marketing materials such as the flyer, MLS ad, or otherwise? If not, why? If I am not satisfied with a piece, will you work with me till I am?
9. How will you determine the price that should be advertised for my home? Will you include me in those pricing decisions and explain to me any reasoning for a price above or below my own estimate?
This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive but it will definitely open up a lot of good (or what should be good) conversation between you and the agent you are interviewing. If the agent is unable to respond to any of these questions then you should seriously reconsider whether or not you will use him/her regardless of if it is a “family friend” or otherwise. In today’s marketplace it is important that you make the right choice the first time, if you can. The buying public is much more sophisticated today than even 10 years ago because of the Internet and because of the onslaught of home focused television shows and channels like HGTV.
Sunday Night Stats on Monday Morning May 5, 2008
Did you ever work so hard in a week, that you just needed to lay down for 20 minutes after dinner and didn’t wake up until the next morning!? Sure you did. It happens to all of us. Well, that’s what happened to me last night after my Open House in Bryant and after inputting a new listing in Redmond. Just took a nap and never woke up until 6:00 a.m this morning.
In this business the days sometimes just keep running together one after the other and you forget when you last had a day off, or a haircut, or your nails done. You just keep working day after day until the job is done, and the time frame just keeps switching from this “right now” to the next “right now”.
There is no “have a nice weekend” in real estate. There is no “what’s your schedule like” in real estate. On any given day the phone rings and sets a chain of events into motion that has no end until the work is done. And when your clients have small children, you really roll up your sleeves and pitch in until the house is ready for market. I have 4 sets of clients with children, all getting their houses ready for market, and 2 of the 4 moving to new houses nearby. The work is back-breaking, but very satisfying when the job is done and the home is photo ready and Open House ready and Broker’s Open ready, and then you do the photos and the Open Houses and the Broker’s Opens, and it just keeps going until the house is sold.
Everyone wants a list of what an agent does. Truth is we do whatever it takes to achieve the objective. Everyone working all at the same time, owners of the homes and agents alike, all working toward the common goal of getting everything just so and on market.
Whether it’s a home built in 1910 in Bryant:
Or a newer townhome in Redmond:
Perfection is the expectation of buyers. So you just keep working till you get it as perfect as you can. And the poor Moms who live there with their small children, have the undaunting task of trying to keep it that way day after day. Getting the kids ready for school and leaving the house in perfect order for showings, is no easy feat.
So this Mother’s Day I ask that you all give honor to the Mom’s with homes on market…and the Mom’s like me who turn into everyone’s Mom when helping them get the job done.
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And now for Sunday Night Stats on Monday Morning. I won’t be doing the April month end stats until next week, as there will be many month end closings posted during this week. So let’s just do the normal weekly stuff.
I expect if I’m this busy getting properties on market, two on and at least three to go over the next few weeks, that every agent is busy prepping homes to get them on market. So inventory should be rising even more in the next 30 days.
King County Residential:
For Sale: 9,372 at a million or less - DOM 53 - MPPSF $225.58 and 1,591 over $1M - DOM 68 - MPPSF $371 Total Residential King County homes on market this morning 10,963. That is 135 more than last week, after netting out those that went into escrow from those that came on market this week.
In Escrow: 2,750 - DOM 45 - MPPSF $212, that’s 81 less than last week due to month end closings with MPPSF dropping from $214 to $212. That reflects a drop in asking prices, not sold prices. Expectation is the sold prices of those 2,750 will be less than the $212 MPPSF asking prices. Though some did sell for over asking price with multiple offers, the median will likely be more like $210 or so.
Closed YTD: 5,109. That’s 463 more than last week with DOM of 51 days and MPPSF of $220 for the year to date which is up a buck for closed sales.
Given the median days on market for In Escrow is going down, the price issue of down to $212 MPPSF for those in escrow, is likely due to increased competition and homes coming on market being more realistically priced to sell. At least for the ones that are actually selling and going into escrow.
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King County Condos:
For Sale: 3,784 - that’s 10 more on a net basis than last week. DOM 57 - MPPSF $323 (about the same)
In Escrow: 900 - that’s 46 less than last week due to month end closings - DOM up from 43 to 48 - MPPSF up from $303 to $305. Remember those are asking prices, not sold prices.
Sold YTD: 1,675 up 158 over last week - DOM 48 - MPPSF $288 - that is DOWN from $290 last week and EQUAL to the MPPSF of 2007 all months combined. Given most of last year was strong, condos just now reaching MPPSF of all of last year is a pretty strong statistic for condos. You would think all of this year would be equal to the last 5 months of 2007. But they are still running high relative to 2007 compared to the single family home market, but starting to dip on a YOY basis, which is to be expected.
Amazing how strong the condo market is. I suspect new construction and condo conversions are giving resale condos a run for their money and strong competition. That is keeping the MPPSF up, though for resale…not necessarily so.
That’s it for Stats this week. When I do month end stats for end of April YOY next week, we’ll break down some of the areas like “within 2 miles of Microsoft” and certain Zip Codes from weak ones to strong ones. So if you are hoping to see a break down of a given area, it’s time to get your requests in for next week.
One of our agents listed a property at $350,000 in Tacoma three weeks ago and has had NOT ONE showing since it was listed. My listing in Bryant listed at $529,950 had 6 showings in the first two days + more than 20 people at the first Open House yesterday. So there is a lot of difference in activity from one area to the next.
Getting the property ready for market, and good photos, have become critically important. No more stick the sign up “as-is” and wait for offer…
