Now that the decision was made as to which agent to hire, and the contract has been signed, the fun begins.

When you were buying, do you remember the excitement you experienced when a new home came on the market and you could hardly wait to go see it? Well, now that you are a new seller, the excitement is similar - you are probably anxiously awaiting the rush of potential buyers storming your home.

If your home is priced well that is what you should see in the first week or so of the listing, unless the buyer pool for your home, due to style, location, and price range, is limited. We see, over and over, that the first several weeks of a listing is when the largest number of buyers will come to visit the home, and it is exciting for the seller. It does mean:

• always being prepared to show the home
• keeping it picked up and show-ready AT ALL TIMES
• being as flexible as possible to allow buyers in.

This can be tough if you have jobs, kids, pets and other tasks nagging for attention - balancing it all, to get your home sold, IS a challenge. Somehow having lots of buyers makes it easier to bear.

It also means that if you have not taken care of minor repairs, decluttering, and other issues you need to do so immediately (it's best, of course, to have done this BEFORE the home went live on the MLS). You don't want to turn off potential buyers who are excited about the new listing).

Now for some possible bad news. If you are NOT seeing many buyers, say only 3 - 5 in a several week period, then you may have a problem. And you need to talk to your agent to see what that might be. If it is very slow everywhere in your market it may simply be market conditions (especially if marketing times are several months on average) or buyer hesitation. But if other things are selling and buyer activity is steady, you may have a pricing problem. Did you, by some chance, insist on a higher price that what your agent recommended? Hmmm. It's also possible that while the comps suggested your price, the market is sending a message that the price may be off. It may be too early to be concerned, but perhaps not.

Try to recapture the feelings you had as a buyer when you went to see a house, OR perhaps saw a listing on-line and decided to pass. What were the reasons? Now look at YOUR home and YOUR listing and put yourself in a buyers shoes. Might there be some reasons why buyers are not coming to see your home?

So talk to your agent to find out what may be going on.

FIRST TIME HOME SELLER SERIES:

Article 3 First Time Home Sellers – Don’t Forget These Questions

Article 2 First Time Home Sellers – The Agent Interview

Article 1 First Time Home Sellers – Getting Started

Have you had your home listed, only to find that after months of showings, open houses, or pehaps little activity, that your real estate contact has expired (you know that right?). Ouch. Now what do you do?

Perhaps you have decided to forget about selling for the time being. Great, if you can do that. But most folks who are selling need or want to for some reason, so some decision needs to be made.

How are you feeling about this? Angry? Disappointed? Irritated? Ticked off at your agent? Feeling like you have wasted months of time and gotten nowhere? Perhaps annoyed at yourself for expecting to get more money than was reasonable in your market?

It doesn't feel good to be rejected by the market, but that is exactly what has happened. So you need to decide how to proceed and get your home sold.

Staying angry won't get you anywhere (and the barage of calls you are likely getting from every agent in town, who DIDN'T have a buyer but is now calling to help you sell your home, doesn't help). So take stock of the problem, consider the possible reasons the home did NOT sell, and get ready to move ahead. What's done is done.

Here are some good possiblities:

• Price - yep, I know you don't want to hear that...most sellers don't...but it is the primary reason (and some say the ONLY reason) a home doesn't sell. Did you get any offers at all? Were you being a bit greedy because your neighbor said you could get more than the agent said?
• Condition - another issue that sellers don't like to hear, and perhaps your home is immaculate, but if not, the interior and/or exterior condition may have been an issue. Buyers are pretty fussy, especially in a buyer's market, and anything they can find to give them a reason to offer a lower price or NOT buy a home gives them ammunition. Be brutally honest - is your home REALLY in great condition or not? And if it is a fixer, does the price reflect that? I would also add the concept of STAGING here - was your home decluttered, and marketed to prospective buyers by being staged so they could envision living there?
• Exposure to the market - did your home get the exposure it needed? Today's market, in most areas, is loaded with competition, and maximum exposure is essential. Perhaps your agent did not do a good job of marketing, especially on the Internet (did you know that over 70% of buyers start looking for homes on the Internet?). Were the features and benefits of the home headlined in the advertising? Were the photos in the MLS appealing?
• Location - a critical issue in our business. And of course you cannot change where your house is. But you CAN make allowances by capitalizing on the conditon and making sure the price reflects the location. If you have a view of an industrial park, the RR tracks, noise from the freeway, etc. these are issues that may discourage a buyer. Pricing your home the same as a comparable property with a more desirable location WILL NOT invite offers. Why would it? How would YOU view this situation if you were the buyer?

So you now need to find a new agent who can (1) be honest with you about pricing (and you must listen), and (2) develop and implement a top-notch marketing plan to maximize your exposure. Oh, and perhaps your agent did not communicate with you much, or at all. Make sure that doesn't happen again.

Interview several real estate professionals and ask some tough questions. Share your thoughts on why the house did not sell and find out what the agents propose to do about those problems.

1. The agent who quotes the highest price is NOT the right one
2. An agent who does not have a written marketing plan is NOT the right one
3. And the agent who lists the most homes (but may only sell half of them) or who has the glitziest ads may NOT be the right one.

Good luck...and if I can answer any questions or share some more ideas, please let me know.

I wrote a blues song yesterday at a open house I was sitting (so, naturally, I was thinking about homes for sale).

Before you get too impressed, it really is only some lyrics about an overpriced house, that is to be sung to the tune "Lil' Red Rooster" as performed by Etta James.

Here's the link to the song, "I've Got the Overpriced Blues," posted on my ActiveRain "What's Up Doc?" blog. Hope you get a kick out if it.

There's a serious message here, though, for sellers, about NOT overpricing if you truly want to sell your home.

If I can help in any way with particular questions or information about the housing market, especially here in the San Diego area, please let me know.

Jeff

This is the last in this series of issues that all sellers thinking of brokering their homes themselves should review, and CAREFULLY consider. If you are dead-set on forging ahead on your own, good luck!  And don't hesitate to ask me for help and advice, as I will be happy to support your efforts with suggestions.

Read Part 1,  Part 2,  Part 3  and Part 4 here.

 Price Setting - this is probably the MOST CRITICAL task at hand, even for those working with a broker. There is so much competition, and unless you are in a seller's market (and few are), pricing is going to determine IF you sell, and WHEN. Setting the market price is not easy, even for professionals with lots of knowledge and experience. The KEY POINT to remember, if you remember nothing else, is that the market sets the price, not you the seller, nor any agent. No matter what you think it is worth, the market, and a willing and able buyer who wants YOUR house, will determine what it sells for. So, how ARE you going to set your price? Do you know what other homes have sold for in your area? Do you know where your competitors are priced? Keep in mind that buyers who look at homes for sale by UNREPRESENTED SELLERS are looking for a deal. Since you are not paying a commission to a listing agent, they will look for this additional discount when they make an offer, at a minimum...and it will typically be a low-ball offer to begin with.

 Friendly, neighborly advice - I can't tell you how many times I have heard that a seller's friends, family or neighbors gave them advice on pricing and how to sell the home themselves. Are these people experts on pricing and selling? Can they really be objective and tell you what the truth is about your home and it's salability? Do they know any more about the actual market conditions than you do? Or do they just read the papers and watch TV like you do? Keep in mind these people, while good intentioned, have no vested interest in your home selling - only YOU do (and an agent who is listing your home if you go that route). Just because your neighbor, who has the same house, got $X for his home 6 months ago does NOT mean you will now, with the changes that the market has seen. Be careful about the friendly, neighborly advice you get! And what you listen to. Your friends and neighbors aren't selling...YOU ARE!

 Competition - this is another critical issue. Do you KNOW who your competition is? And why they are your competition? Not just on your street but in the larger neighborhood and community? Do you know the details of other properties on the market that will be compared to your home (amenities, age, size, bedrooms, interior and exterior condition, pricing, seller concessions)? How can you insure that YOUR home is not the one that makes the competition a better value? Part of this is pricing, but there are other factors as well. What can you do to be sure YOUR home comes across as the best buy, not your neighbor's?

The value of a REALTOR is that YOU do not have these issues to worry about, at least not directly. For more information on how a REALTOR can add value to your transaction, visit my website.

Since you are relocating, you really need to sell...right? Here is the first of a two-part series of some strategies to get you started, now that the market has shifted to become much more buyer friendly. These are not in any special order but price is most important:

If you are selling your current home as part of your relocation, here is some sage advice about pricing and the value of doing so correctly. Need more info - let me know.

Faster sale:
When your home sells faster, you save carrying costs, mortgage payments and other ownership costs (NOTE: You have monthly costs even if you own the house outright!). Every day the house is on the market is costing you $$$. A quicker sale creates less inconvenience for you. If you've moved before, you know the energy it takes to prepare for showings: keeping the home clean, making child care arrangements and altering your lifestyle. Proper pricing reduces these demands on you, by helping your home sell faster. At market value your home will gain exposure to more prospects who can afford the price. Sellers who list at a high price are looking for that one buyer who will pay it. Sellers often do not realize that they have discouraged many potential buyers who could have afforded the home. The final sales price is probably one that will be affordable by more purchasers. This is because sellers many times accept a much lower price at a much later date since that one buyer willing to pay the higher price never comes.

Increased salesperson response:
When salespeople are excited about a home and its price, they make special efforts to contact all of their potential buyers. Knowing that it is priced properly for its market, they expect it to sell soon and encourage their prospects to act quickly. Their excitement is contagious!

Better response from advertising and sign calls:
Ad calls and sign calls to Realtors turn into showings when price is not a deterrent. Most serious prospects are well educated about asking prices (and sold prices) in the areas they are seeking. They will not waste their time on a home they consider overpriced, especially when the inventory is large..

Higher offers attracted:
Buyers fear they might lose out on a good home when it is priced right. They are less likely to make "low ball offers." Better pricing attracts multiple offers, too! And you will probably avoid the “bargain hunters” who will to lowball your high-priced home just to see what they can get.

Means more money to sellers:
If a home is priced right, the excitement of the market produces higher sale prices. You net more both in terms of actual sale price and in reduced carrying costs.

The RIGHT price will encourage SERIOUS offers from the SERIOUS buyers who know the value; a HIGH price will encourage cost-cutting from the tire-kickers who want a bargain!