Jan. 21, 2006 - Real Stories - Real lessons

XXX calls and tells me she ran into a guy thinking about selling his property and gives me his contact info.

I call owner and make appointment to go see his property.

Great place, real estatewise, but a mess otherwise.  Stacks of books and stuff in stacks all over the floor everywhere.  All furniture smells like stale sweat because he bikes everywhere, comes home sweaty and hungry, sits on furniture and bed and eats.  Normal "guy" stuff, but 6 mos. old sweat smells really bad!  Lots of other small stuff like dishes stacked up, bottles and cans piling up for that once a year trip to the recycle bin downstairs.  An inch of grease on the stove.  Again, normal stuff.

I tell him what he can get for the place if WE do all the stuff on the list before anyone sees it.  That is 5% more than we can get if we don't do that stuff, and $10,000 more than he thought he could get regardless.

REAL LESSON #1

Don't let anyone SEE the place except YOUR agent when it looks that bad. 

If you "interview" every agent in town BEFORE you get it ready, you have wasted your entire "buyer pool" for the first 30-60 days! 

You can't erase what is in all of those agent's heads and you will never get top dollar if you "over expose" a property before it is ready to be seen. 

Let 1 agent see it if it is really bad, and only 1. 

3 is OK for so-so. 

I recently had a client who showed it to everyone while he was doing his "flip work" and then he couldn't sell it.  Had to rent it till next season.  Once everyone rules it out as an option, you can't get them back. 

By trying to "beat the commission" by showing it FSBO before it was "positioned to sell", you may win the battle and lose the war.  Save the commission, but get less than you saved, as a sale price. 

Let one person see it bad...never more than one.

Any questions?  Ask away.