Unrealistic sellers, what’s an agent to do?

Common Seller Mistakes

Punt...but only after a long and detailed conversation on what the issues are, why these issues are preventing a sale, and what steps need to occur to eliminate or reduce the issues.  If a seller is financially unable to alter course, ie, lower the price, stage the house, make improvements, etc., then my heart truly goes out to the seller.  That said, with proper analysis by the listing agent BEFORE the home goes on the market, these issues can be identified ahead of time and a plan developed on how these issues will be addressed if they do occur so surprises are eliminated or minimized.  From this initial conversation, it becomes clear from the outset what challenges the seller may face.  An good agent  should not lead a seller down a doomed path setting expectations that most likely will not be met.

If a seller can address issues, but simply chooses not to, then an agent has a choice:

1. Hope these issues don't prevent a sale from occurring, or
2. Walk away from the listing as it doesn't make good business sense.

For Olsen Ziegler Realty, personally, if the seller has the ability to make changes, but chooses not do, most of the time we courteously decline to work with the seller and state the reasons why.  We then track these properties and, we must admit, almost all the time we are right on with our analysis.  We find that these homes do not sell and for those that that ultimately do sell, we find the sellers sold due to huge price reductions that could have been prevented if the issues had been addressed.

Date: Sunday, December, 21st 2008 @ 03:07:54 PM
Views: 94

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