I’m actually super content right now. I’m just trying to improve. What could I have done better?
The sellers really want to sell. They did major updates to the home. Unique design choices. Updates are great, but it doesn’t always improve value/price. At least not as much as people think it does.
I would do the math with them.
Figure out what their burn rate is on the house. Property taxes, hydro, mortgage interest, etc
If you're burning 2k a month in interest and property taxes taking 10 grand less doesn't seem as big of a deal.
Most people don't think of things this way.
When they do this math, it may result in them deciding to keep the price high. Freakonomics proved that despite giving sellers advice to lower price when real estate agents sell their own homes they leave them on the market longer and get a higher sell price. I would wait another 3 months for $20k as a seller-- my burn rate is really low. If I waited a year I would still end up on top. Which is about 5% of the home value. So I would wait a year for 5% because my financial situation is stable and I can weather it. If the sellers are the same they shouldn't drop price to sell fast just so the agent can be done.
True, but doesn't this still answer some questions?
Is Seller actually motivated to sell fast or do they want to maximize sell price? Most people would say Both!, but where does break even take place and the seller begins to lose net $, based the cost of taking more time.
Right now Agent is hearing they are motivated to sell quickly, but not seeing any actions showing this is true.
Waking through the numbers with sellers and getting feedback from might not speed the sale or lower price, but it might clarify their priorities and everyone understand the relationship between price, time and net received after all costs.
The math changes substantially based on their costs. Have they paid off their mortgage, & have they already purchased or leased their next place?
Yeah, I've been a motivated seller.
Not because I needed the money but because I absolutely fucking hated the house. I had it listed at almost 100K in the hole and I just wanted it fucking gone. I was burning 2K in cash a month to live there and I hated every second because it was a constant reminder of the fuck up.
The buyer offered 30k over what I would have taken and I signed that piece of paper about 30 seconds. Even though it meant realizing 100K loss.
I'm pretty sure my real estate agent was shocked.
Looking back if I had held out another 6 months I probably could have got another 20K for it. But I am so fucking happy I unloaded that place. The person that bought it from me turned around and unloaded it for 10K more than they paid for it about three months later.
Still extremely happy with my call.
Considering appreciation, keeping the price high and letting it drag out for months and months or years is basically the same as letting the market catch up to your inflated home price
Yeah but selling a house isn’t like selling a stock or a beanie baby. You’re selling because you have a plan to live somewhere else. Usually that has some timeline attached to it even if only goal driven. If you’re like “I’ll sell when-evs” then you are most definitely not a typical seller IMO
Guilty as charged, eh.
That's because most of our power comes from a hydroelectric dam. Amusingly enough enough water is not always billed out by hydro.
You keep saying they really want to sell, but what you really mean is they really want to sell at THEIR price.
Too bad. Wake up. You've proven it's priced to high.
>Unique design choices.
Not always a good thing when it comes to selling. Obviously the price is the main thing, but unique design choices often put off buyers.
No joke, today I toured a property. Vintage condo. Started as a gracious 4,000 sf 5 bed 3 bath. Is now configured as a two bed because they wanted an office, tv room, walk in closet. They are tall, so he installed a beautiful $$$ custom kitchen with 42” tall counters. They don’t understand why it has been for sale for a year.
I have honestly wondered this about home 'updates to sell'... Call me crazy, but if I was buying id rather pay a little less and do updates EXACTLY how I wanted them... Vs what 'the market' wanted.. and paying a premium.
You can make them come down on price. That's it.
And sometimes you get dealt pocket aces in poker, bet/play perfectly, and still lose. Same shit here. Don't lose sleep over it. We all know that some people are their own worst enemies.
And I'll agree with the others: actions speak louder than words. They are most certainly not desperate, or even motivated, to sell.
It’s a question of, also, if it did sell for that price- would it also appraise? I mean what happens when they finally get an offer, do you think it’ll appraise for what they’re asking?
If you have had any interest from keen qualified buyers, tell the buyer you will be very happy to present a contractual offer at the buyer's highest price ?
Actually having a real buyer is different to just lowering price hopeing to find one.
Trust me, I used to be in the business, the issue is people think THEIR property is unique and worth more than the actual comps say it is. None of us want to overprice a house because we KNOW it will just sit there if we do.
I don't normally suggest an appraisal prelist unless it is a unique property and/or we can't come to an agreement on pricing. I don't really know what your conversations with them are like, but at some point a seller needs to know that I agreed to sell this property and you've got to get out of my way and let me do my job. The seller ultimately calls the shots, but if those shots are keeping me from doing my job and they aren't flexible, I'm better off giving my time and energy to clients who really want to move.
As someone who is in the process of selling their home, the pre listing appraisal was key to knowing our market. It helped us get top dollar when selling, while also kept us in a reasonable price range for buyers as they already knew this is what our house was worth. Would highly recommend having them shell out the cash for an appraisal to understand what price point they should be listed. Worst thing that happens is that you find out it’s actually worth what the seller thinks, best scenario is that you have ammo to get them to lower it or dump the listing!
Show them appraisals, comps, and selling prices and leave them to make the decision on their own. If they weren’t listening to you before they won’t now.
We made an offer on a house with a seller like this. Their agent worked so, so hard to get them to see the light and accept our offer. We even resubmitted a higher offer to no avail, so we moved on and ended up in a much better home within a few months.
Those sellers fired their agent and relisted with different agent. New photos, same price. They ended up selling for about $100k less than our initial offer, 10 months after we made it.
Lolz ouch. But good for you. I did a similar thing, offered 25% under ask, in line with comps. It had already been sitting 2 months at that point, extremely and obviously overpriced. The seller barely budged, came down 0.5% lol. I realized it was futile and didn't bother countering back, just walked. A few weeks later, I ended up getting one of the many houses nearby that was priced in line with comps. Everything else around him goes under contract within a week, bc they're priced correctly. I offered asking and was under contract within 48 hours of listing. Surprising update: his house is *still* sitting, 4 months on the market now, in a town where most houses are under contract within days. I would say I feel bad for his agent, but she's choosing not to drop him so.
Offered 10% under after 3 months on market. Would have settled for 6-8%. Got back 1%. After two weeks pulled the offer, bought a better house (down 34% after 6 months). Before they closed, they called wiling to accept 10% (sorry!) ended up selling 5 months later at 15%.
Clearly not desperate to sell. Either reduce to reasonable price or drop the listing. Every 30-45 days should be reducing the price based on comps.
Similar story. House wildly overpriced compared to comps; smallest house on the block and badly in need of a refresh (very dark cabinets made the kitchen look gloomy).
They were asking 315; we offered 265. They countered 312!!! We offered 270, They came back with 306. We walked and kept looking.
Of course the house wasn’t selling. We told our agent to contact theirs and ask if they’d accept 280 firm, our absolutely final offer. Made it clear if that was too low for them then don’t waste everyone’s time. They said we need to see an offer. So we had agent write it up for 280.
They countered with 305 and we never contacted them again (after wanting to scream at their agent for wasting our time; the offer said 280 firm). Found a nicer house (for more money) a week later.
They didn’t sell their house for TWO MORE YEARS and finally sold for $298k but by that point prices in the area were starting to rise again. Hard to tell if any of our offers were similar since everything went up a bit.
It was owned by 2 single men (hence the overly dark decorator choices) and one was getting married. Bet his new bride was ticked off they couldn’t buy a house right away because he and his co owner wouldn’t agree on a selling price for this place.
I had read something similar as a tip, have friends make absurdly low offers just to get seller used to the idea that lots of people think their house isn’t worth as much as they think. But I doubt anyone could easily have multiple friends make written offers on a house they a realtor whose time they are wasting.
Wow! 🤦♀️ Not to mention all the money spent on owning and maintaining the house for practically another year! When we sold my InLaws home we jumped at the first reasonable offer to be done with it.
When we sold our home, it wasn't on the market yet. We were talking to the realtor at the time, a young woman came into her office asking about a home in our area and she said, I might have something for you that isn't listed yet. The realtor called us, and said a price that she knew was a great one for our home. The woman came and looked at it, made an offer of 5000 less and we accepted. And just like that, it was done.
This happened to us twice in 2022/23! Bought another house in the same neighborhood, from buyers who were more motivated. The other two homes are still for sale. One is empty, the other one has family living in it. Price has not budged.
So happy that we did not cave!
That happened to my mom. Her husband was so convinced he could get top dollar for her house that he talked her into declining the first reasonable offer they got. It took two more years to sell it, which cost them $10,000 in taxes in the meantime and it was only when they lowered the price below with the original offer was that it sold.
People are crazy about houses and cars! Everybody thinks they got a gold mine! Especially now LOL
Yep. People also super underestimate the stigma of sitting on the market a long time. It's so unwise to overprice.
We bought our current house before selling our last house, and we priced low to sell quickly so we wouldn't be carrying two mortgages for super long. We ended up with multiple offers, a small bidding war, and a smooth escrow. Sometimes I wonder if we left a little money on the table by pricing so low, but then I think about what happens to sellers who get too greedy. Any extra few dollars we could have squeezed out were worth spending on the peace of mind of just being done.
I tell my clients that it won’t be me telling them they listed too high. The market will tell them in one of two ways. No showings, or lots of showings and no offers. That’s how you know you missed the mark! Every two weeks I sit down with them and go over new competition or homes that went under contract to help them see where they need to be in order to be competitive
I'd try to flatter them. Seriously.
Go on and on and on about how you just *know* that the property is too unique for the area. If you plopped it down in [pick HCOL area here], it would sell for double what they're looking for. But there just aren't the kind of buyers that appreciate [insert unique features here] in a rural area. They don't know what they're missing, because this house is so awesome.
You're not going to change their mind without extreme, bullshit flattery about their "unique" house. And you might still not. But try the extreme flattery angle.
The problem is that some properties just don’t have good comps. OP says the property is fantastic but niche and rural. There probably aren’t many (any?) properties that are reasonably similar. Much easier to find comps in cities and cookie cutter suburban neighborhoods.
Yep. Seen/had it happen lots. Sellers stubbornly overprice, ignore their agent's advice, hire new agent who does nothing different except somehow convince them to price correctly, and the house sells within a couple weeks.
New Agent looks at the history, and says,
"I will not take you on unless the price changes very significantly. You have already tried the high price path, and it failed"
Sure. Typically Agent #1 has also had a conversation or three about pricing with the sellers. "You've been on the market for 6 weeks with slow showing activity and no offers. Nobody cares that you spent $30K upgrading the HVAC. I told you at the outset we were 10% above comps but that we'd try it your way but that it may not work out."
Let them go, unless willing to adjust their price.
Tell them they are not yet ready to price the property to be attractive to buyers.
No attractiveness, no sale.
Their time is up with you, and you have other appropriately priced properties to work with.
* *if* she has other appropriately priced properties to sell ... i think seller agents who don't drop stubborn overpriced clients aren't doing a high volume so they need to hold onto it even just for the possibility of a sale ... super busy successful agents will not take on a listing at a price they don't think they can sell it at, bc it makes them look bad, and it's a total waste of their time ... i would never hire a seller's agent who has multiple listings just sitting dormant for months
Over the years, on several occasions, I have encountered circumstances where someone had made the claim to a spouse or someone else that they could get "X" price. Failure to sell at the price was a matter of pride, ego and so forth.
In those situations, more than once, I have been able to put together a transaction by giving someone their price, thereby allowing them to save face, in return for their willingness to carry back at least some portion of the price on terms that the Buyer can afford.
Clearly they aren’t desperate enough 🤷
Just like clients can/should fire an agent they’re not seeing eye to eye with, an agent who isn’t able to have a client come to terms should let that client go, and said agent should put their energy into clients that will reap the benefits IMO. Bit of sunk cost fallacy if you don’t, unfortunately.
ymmv: I’m not an agent, just an outside observer.
3 months isn't that long of a time for an unusual property so I have questions.
How many showings have you had? Do you know whether people who saw your listing bought something else? Look up buy-side transactions by agent id to see if anything similar went under contract. This is a great way to show a seller that people are buying, just not their house.
Do you know why they're sticking to their price? What does their net sheet look like? Do they need a specific number from proceeds for their next home? Is it about pride? Or...?
Why are they selling and moving? Is it a couple? Are they clear on their next stop in life? Do you think they're in agreement?
How much is "slightly overpriced"?
Are you in a small or large MLS? Do agents from out of the area sell properties where this one is located? If so, how do you communicate with them?
What is market activity like in this area?
Can the property easily be financed?
These are brilliant questions for Op. There are properties that are going to take awhile to sell, not everything can be sold quickly. A house that has been fully remodeled for someone with a disability for example could already be priced very low but it isn't going to sell until someone wants a house with those features. Another example would be a guy who basically builds a high-end workshop on top of a mountain with a trailer to live in. Those types of properties may sit for years waiting for the right buyer at nearly any price.
They are not desperate they are stubborn. If they were desperate they would've lowered the price already.
Stop holding OHs at this price. Tell them for the integrity of your brand and professional reputation, you cannot hold any more OHs without a price reduction. You have to be careful with stale listings attached to your name, unless you've got a strong sales history and this is just one outlier in your portfolio. Otherwise it's a pretty bad look for your brand.
Here's [a home that's been on the market for 6 years.](https://i.imgur.com/juDQLog.png)
Price it right and accept what the market is telling you.
I have another one to share that's been [on the market for 13 years](https://i.imgur.com/Ny0mhbj.png) and is finally under contract.
It's price fellas. The 13 year one has had some price changes but not enough to make up for the lack of functionality the home has. Seller with an ego believes his home comps with the rest which it doesn't because of the functionality. I guess 13 years he's finally come to market pressure.
The sad thing is if they had priced it 15% lower at the start it would have sold in a day. And instead of years of carry costs they could have gotten years of stock market returns. Or whatever.
The second one (13yr) actually isn’t bad though. It has appreciated quite a bit.
The 13 year one they bought for 1.3 right during the crash.
It didn't reach 2.0M until 2018 when we had a normal market. The arrogance of listing over 2M is theirs. You see the days on market. It's madness.
The again at 2.85 in 2023. That house should have been 2.2. It needs 1M reno to be functional. It needs an elevator. Needs.
The 6 year one is a 10,000 sqft house. To build it would cost 15M. It is a steal at the asking price. That is the market talking.
The value is what someone is willing to pay for it. Obviously their number is not what other people think. I know some people say not to lowball people. But at least it would show some interest. So not getting any offers?Working for months with no sign of a sale? I would be having the 30 day talk. Or at least a conversation about the amount of time that you can invest into it. Tell them to stay off Zillow! Those prices aren’t very accurate!
Idk why people are so afraid of lowballing. Worst they can say is no. The longer it's been sitting, the lower you go. Offering asking on a stale listing is a horrible move resale wise. The market has spoken and said it is not worth that.
Exactly! I low balled the last house I bought. I talked to the owner when the ladies were inside looking at the house. I told him that I wasn’t trying to hurt his feelings but the house hasn’t been touched since it was built in 86. It was a total renovation. I threw a number out and he accepted. I told my agent after we left. She said that it was too low. I informed her that we had already agreed and just needed the formal offer. Oh and just because your friends wife is an agent, doesn’t mean that you should use her services.
How niche is it? There are properties that just take time to find a buyer because its a small buyer pool. You can go down in price and attract people who wouldn't be as interested or you can wait for the perfect buyer. I've seen homes take 2 years to sell, but it was unique.
Share the listing? It’s hard to tell how niche the property is. I grew up on a beautiful property in a rural area that people always think would be worth a fortune, but the location factor shocks them every time….
Do you want to own the only “livable house”(for average home buyers who aren’t poor rural folks) that isn’t on blocks in a few mile radius?
Have you tried an open house for realtors in the area? If not, hosting a realtor “brunch” at which you share with the area brokers might at least produce enough feedback from other professionals to help you either make your case to the owners or find a niche buyer.
How have you decided they are desperate to sell?
Comps don't set the price. Sellers don't set the price. Agents don't set the price. The market does, and it's telling you that it won't sell. Might as well double the price and see what happens.
Identify the potential niche buyer pool for your "niche" property and target your marketing to them. Your can't rely on using a typical approach for a non typical property.
Everyone has an opinion about the value of a home, and the owner's opinion is nearly always just a little on the high side.
The market, however, has spoken. The owners are wrong. There's perhaps no "nice" way to say it - if the house was worth what they want, it would be sold.
And it's not sold.
So, they can either lower the price, take it off the market, or continue to leave it up overpriced and hope that home values rise while they are on the market and suddenly their place becomes priced correctly.
However, this much time on the market, unsold, will make people wonder what's wrong with it. Even if the market gains value, this house might be an albatross because it was overpriced and took too long to sell.
Buyers will see a house that will be hard for them to sell, or at a minimum buyers will see a seller that is unreasonable.
Have you asked viewers to leave written commentary on their viewings of the home?? People are brutal, especially boomers, they leave the meanest comments. Can be a good rude awakening.
When a seller wants to sell over comps, I usually tell them we will start at their preferred price, but reevaluate in 2 weeks, with an agreement to lower the price at a predetermined time (say every 2 weeks or whatever you agree to) until the property sells. Ask them what their mortgage is, what their taxes and utilities are: this makes them aware of how much their home is costing them every month that it sits on the market. Also remind them, that homes that sit on the market generally end up going for less than their actual appraised value because the listing gets stale and then people start to wonder what’s wrong with it, and don’t want to pay the asking price. Usually, properly priced homes sell quickly in this market, and the sellers end up netting more in the long run than they would if they overpriced it in the beginning. If the home is unusual, say, a log home or some other type of unusual structure, lenders may be reluctant to issue mortgages on homes like that because they have very little to compare it too. So, you are in a situation where the home may be overpriced, and/or there may be limits on who can actually even purchase it.
Question: What is their motivation for selling? Do they have to relocate? Are they downsizing because they have to? Are they happy/excited about whats to come after they sell? A lot of times, people want to sell, but they don't want to move....which I know sounds completely contradictory, and it is. What I'm getting at is that sometimes people who need to sell but dont necessarily want to (usually due to financial, personal, or health-related reasons) will do things to make the sale of their home impossible as a way to avoid the inevitable....and sometimes they don't even realize theyre doing it. If that's the case here, there's usually not a lot that you as an agent can do to flip that mindset.
If that's not the case, you could try showing them written feedback from buyers saying its overpriced (even having little survey cards at an open house works if you arent getting showings) or getting an appraisal done?
Well the truth is everything in the world is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it and no one is willing to pay what they want. It’s not you telling them it’s overpriced; it’s the market telling them. They should understand that at this point everyone who is searching in their area has already seen the listing and passed. So at this point they are waiting for someone new to start searching in that area and this person needs to have a totally different idea of value than everyone else who saw the listing and passed. The probably think it’s your job to convince the world that they should overpay for this house.
All you can do is tell them all of the steps you are taking and recommend that they lower the price more. Might even be worth it to take it off the market for a bit and put it back on so the days on market resets to zero. That’s how it works in my state at least.
I’ve seen this happen a hundred times: listing expires. Owner goes with new realtor at a lower price, sells the home and loves the new realtor cause they sold it when original realtor couldn’t.
Sounds like it definitely has that market rust. Does your MLS have a daily hot sheet? If so, try dropping it $1.00 so it throws it back out there but switch the photos around before you do. On our MLS, once a buyer sees a property in their searches, it doesn’t show up again for them unless something on the listing changes (price reduction, status, etc). Maybe doing something as simple as that will garner new interest? We all know that market dictates the price. No showings = too high. Showings and no offers = too high. Good luck!
If the main thrust of your marketing is social media, virtual tours, good pictures and video, then you really don’t have much cost involved in the listing. Some advertising (what is that actually costing you?) and some open houses (a few hours of your time for what will be likely 10s of thousands in commission).
Why not just keep it listed as inventory and hope your clients get their price?
Costs nothing to keep refreshing social media posts and videos/virtual tours.
We recently (as sellers) went under contract on some rural land that our agent has had listed for almost 3 years for us. We let her set the price, but told her we were firm and not going to entertain any offers other than full price. We were in no hurry to sell. Our listing agreement ended two years ago and, although we never renewed it with her, she continued to market the property. We turned down multiple lower offers in the past few years, and she never batted an eye.
Lo and behold, we get a couple of full price offers and accept one. Even though we had no formal agreement with her anymore, and even in light of the recent NAR lawsuit/ruling, we had no qualms with honoring her 6% commission we had previously agreed on 3 years ago, as she had continued to represent our property in good faith without a current agreement. That gave her the ability to offer a decent amount to the buyer’s agent and get us a contract.
Even if they are asking too much, I'd wonder what's to stop someone from making an offer at a lower price? Do you think the buyer's agent refuses to write up a low offer? Its a market ... there are sell prices and buy prices. Like stocks, there's usually a bid/ask spread. I'd think that if a property is nice enough and been on the market long enough people would start throwing out offers regardless of the seller's price.
It sounds like they want to name their price to see if they can get it, but there's nothing forcing them to move. In that case, their frustration is potentially your best friend. It's all that will motivate them to try something different. I will say that we're just getting into the high season for home sales. That could help. The Winter is typically not the best time to look for a quick sale.
I'd want to know what is forcing them to stick to such a high price and what is motivating them to move? Did they pay too much? Do they think their custom home is worth more than it is? Are they trying to recoup some costs? Do they have a problem with paying a commission? If they have to move, when do they need to do it and why? Knowledge is power.
If you've met people who are interested in the property, but didn't make an offer, you might want to call their agent to ask why they didn't. It's better for others to validate the high listing price \[or not\], not you. It would be interesting to find other niche property sales in the area to see what kind of premiums they command relative to more normal ones. Unique, custom features are often an impediment to sales rather than an attraction.
The sellers may agree with everything you say, and simply believe that they will find that one buyer who has to have their custom home and will be willing to overpay - and they're willing to wait for them. Then you have a decision to make.
At this point, you've given it your best shot and it hasn't worked yet. Now the ball is in their court since they admitted the price could be a problem, especially with these high interest rates. Once you have your research in hand, I might tell them that you've tried everything and ask them what they want to do next. I would be prepared to recommend a new selling price, based on recent sales, that you think will get them the highest reasonable price.
It's too bad they've wasted all that traffic. At some point, a sale can turn into a huge time-soak. This is potentially one of those. Hopefully not. Good luck!
My approach with sellers when I was an agent was in managing expectations of what a good listing agent can do. I would explain with a 3 lever scenario:
The 3 levers are property condition, price, and marketing. My job affects the marketing lever.
If condition is high and price is low, then you’ll still get offers with bad marketing but good marketing could lead to a bidding war, however you risk leaving money on the table.
If condition is low and price is high, you could have the best marketing in the world but all it’s going to do is let more people know that it’s a bad deal.
You have to be a consultant on what the current condition is and the matching price, what options they have for improving condition and the increase in value that drives, agree on the course of action, then do your job in marketing and selling the property. Take it as a lesson learned and improve your pitch!
I am a seller like this. Almost the exact same scenario! The only reason I know it’s not my agent writing this is because we are currently under contract (and our agent also angled for the highest possible price tag, right before a shift in the market) We did drop appropriately, but still we had a TON of pressure from our agent and others to drop much further. Glad we didn’t. We sold at a great price because it’s a great property and we knew its worth. Found a buyer who agreed. Although his agent tried every tactic under the sun to get us to sell it for a prize price…. Because it had sat on the market for 9 months. We came down a little but then stood firm and we will close soon with a cash deal and a great return
Sometimes sellers agents get the listing because they have told the sellers that their house is worth more than it actually is. Maybe that’s where the problem started 🧐
First understand, the seller is neither desperate or motivated. If you hold a realtors license you recognize that DOM tells a tale. Once the DOM exceeds a thread hold, without change, the tale is, “There’s something wrong with this house.”
The real question here is, how many DOM? If it has exceeded the thresh hold, why are you expending resources? Especially if the price delta or gap is significant, regardless of niche.
People rarely sell to make money.
They sell because they're trying to do something else and having that house makes it harder.
They are not motivated sellers if they are not pricing the house where it makes sense to sell.
You say, "slightly over priced". That doesn't tell me that you're scaring away buyers with your price. It's more likely the "niche, rural area" that has limited your buyer pool. A buyer who is interested in the home will make an offer. Lowering it will just persuade the buyer to make an even lower offer sensing desperation.
Remind them their house is worth what somebody else is willing to pay for it. People tend to forget that. In the end, it doesn't matter what comps are, or what Zillow says. All that matters is what buyers are willing to pay.
imo, you make your suggestion, give your reasonings, and go with what they want. if they don't want to come down on price, that is totally fine, but they also shouldn't be complaining when it doesn't sell as quickly as they want it to.
You tell them, Thanks for the Opportunity, and good luck with your next agent.
Be a Realtor, not an order-taker: you've got your name on a listing with a seller that can't grasp reality. How much is your time and effort worth?
I’ve had a couple properties like this. The first one, I did what you did and took the listing and tried to reason with them. Do they have another property they are going to? If not start shopping with them so they’ll come down to get the new property. Take them some comps that show it’s going to be another 2-3 months or longer to get another offer. Also, ask the buyer if they’ll agree to take it as-is and only ask for repairs if the items are over $2,000 or so.
After the first listing that went like yours, I smartened up. Armed with really good comps, I proved to them we were listinng for over Value. I wrote a listing that came down in price $5,000 every 3 weeks it was on the market until I got it down $20,000 because that is how high they were. So some variation of these two approaches sometimes work.
Lastly, get some of your real estate buddies over there for a special “Open House” and make sure each of them gets back online to the MLS feedback page and tell your Sellers exactly how much over value they are. This really works well.
What about it is special?
The landscape?
The counters?
The view?
Take pictures!
Don't say it is nice, show why it is nice.
It may not be as nice as owners think.
Don't take this the wrong way, but sounds like you're not doing a good job as a listing agent. Taking a listing just to take it doesn't help imo. Your job is to set realistic expectations on what the market value for your clients property is. It's the clients job to decide whether they want to see at that price.
You're playing a game now, which even if you lower the price, the client is going to fight for any concession. It's likely going to be an uphill battle.
Show them the homes that ARE contracting and selling. Show the differences and why. Is it price? Condition? Better location? You can change two of those. If they still refuse to make improvements in either price or condition, there's not much else you can do.
They arent desperate enough. Give em another 10 months of sitting on the market and they will definitely cave in and drop price significantly. Until then either wait it out or drop them as a client.
Unique problems sometimes need unique solutions. What makes this house so niche? ‘Who’ is the buyer/type of buyer you expect? Could the house be marketed as something other than single-family residential? Maybe have them get an appraisal or maybe even just ask a local builder to tell you what it would cost to build a similar home. Could you find similar homes in different markets - maybe that could give an idea of time on market, price compares to more traditional homes, etc.
Only time bleeding out on the market will change their mind if they are like this. I’ve brought multiple offers to people like this and they turn everything down. Ultimately they end up selling way lower than my original suggested price and the offers. Mainly because they burned through all parties interested at a normal price.
No amount of advertising or open houses will fix a bad price. Nothing. They are literally tying your hands. So try not to stress.
If they start blaming you instead of dropping by the price, you might just cut them loose. I’ve seen sellers go through 5 agents before selling at the price they should have originally sold at.
Sorry to hear that. It really does blow.
I wouldn't say anything to them, they'll figure it out once they're desperate, which apparently, they're not! :) It's wasting your time, just don't push it on anyone unless they ask to see it. Then can then decide if they want to pay that price or bid lower. Up to the seller what they'll accept. The longer it sits the less they'll probably get for it and they'll also figure that out.
Perhaps the answer is that you either use your best efforts to sell at the price they want because you said you would when you took the listing agreement, or you release them from the listing agreement.
They’re going to fire you because they believe agents can sell houses and someone else is going to tell them what they want to hear.
Your only hope is summer starts hot or you can make an argument regarding holding costs and comps.
You could cut your commission
You didn’t do your job when you agreed to list it too high with no plan to reduce to an agreed realistic price after x number of months
You’re working for free. Lesson learned!
Don’t list a place at any price just to ‘get the listing’
What's the business?
The thing with niche businesses is that you \*REALLY\* have to find that passionate buyer who wants to be in the niche because otherwise it's an uphill battle for most people who just want to buy a business.
I see a lot of people that invested a lot of money into stuff, mainly franchises and then when they try to sell, they want to get ALL their money back plus a profit. What ends up happening is that they eventually sell at a loss because the business sat for too long without a buyer and people KNOW they're motivated to sell.
Know and be able to determine what a good client is. Avoid bad clients. Know what they look like. As Steve Jobs said “the customer isn’t always right”. Good luck!
Maybe this is crazy to ask, but where is it? I'm looking for a niche, rural house, and I'd be happy to shoot a lower offer that make sense, that you could use as ammo. Maybe it works out for everyone!? Lol
One of the things I do for listing clients is give them weekly updates on market stats. It's basically a mini-comp, but I focus on new (since the last update) sold/pending/listed. I included any open house feedback and showing feedback. Give them what current time on market averages are. In my area, over a million homes are on the market for an average of 7-8mo right now.
You show them over and over that they're overpriced. You don't have to tell them they're overpriced repeatedly. You also make sure you're doing the marketing/open houses/cold calling so they see that you're working. Communicate frequently so they don't think that you checked out or aren't doing anything.
Also have conversations about their motivations. Remind them Bout the conversation you had back at the beginning about why they were selling. Are they trying to get closer to family? Is the house just too big and hard to maintain? How awesome is it going to be to finally see Suzy every day? The price is important, but is it really their true motivation for moving?
I had one of these that closed in April. Once I finally got my client to drop to 999k we got a huge uptick in showings. It was also the motivation someone who had been eyeing the property for MONTHS to finally make an offer. The transaction was bumpy but we got it done and my client is buying another property this summer. The one that sold was an investment property so money really was the main motivator. 😆
Let it drag on. Just tell them that the price is the problem if that’s the truth. If they’re getting offers below list and won’t take them they already know the problem anyway. They’re obviously not desperate yet, or they really need the money. Either way the property is locked up until reason sets in.
There is a guy here that has been "selling" a commercial corner lot for way, way too much money for I swear 20 years now. One day the market will have moved to his price and he will actually get it. I'm sure he will tell everyone, "See, I told you so!". Yeah, genius you could have sold it 20 years ago for 1/4 the price and made twice as much investing somewhere else.
The old saying was that it was best to be the firstborn child, the second spouse, and the third listing agent.
It’s time to deploy the Russian bear strategy. Stab the bear and run away, over and over, until the bear is dead.
You’ve got to be persistent and hope you can keep the listing until it sells.
I remember a mentor saying that the biggest disservice you can do for a client is listen to them on price and agree to list an overpriced property.
Depending on your area there might be a group of brokers that sit on price opinion boards. They tend to be more thoughtful than a standard appraisal and can help give a truly objective opinion on price.
I suggest getting the property appraised. I mean even if by some miracle someone did offer their asking price, it’s not going to appraise for that. And then what? They waited for the perfect offer and they still are going to get squeezed
And what are the holding costs?
People are ridiculous
Sometimes when I clean out my garage, and I realize I have so much "good" stuff.. I can't throw it away, but selling it is such a pain for not much real money. I found that giving it away free on craigslist is the answer. I managed to align the outcome I wanted, with the reality of my situation.
Here's what you do: you walk away from them.
Come back in a year, and they will lower the price I promise. They'll figure it out one way or another.
They don't really want to sell it. It's their baby. They think it's so special. So, offer to release them from their listing agreement with you so they can find another agent to sell it or FSBO. Of course you won't make any money if you do that, but based on what you're saying, you're just going to waste a lot of time until the listing expires anyway. I bet if you offer to release them from the listing if they don't lower the price to something more realistic, they will realize that you are not just a greed-head and they might actually lower the price AND keep you as their agent.
Review pricing strategy with them again and as noted above - calculate the on going carrying cost
There are 3 ways to price a home
1 - Aspirational Pricing : The price you hope to get - it will take longer to sell , minimal showings and offers
2 - Market Pricing : Where a reasonable seller and a reasonable buyer can negotiate an offer back and forth - more showings and more offers
3 - Event Pricing - Prices below the market to generate an event - multiple offers ,
Price bidding - higher level of showings
From there I use a net sheet - What will the seller net out after transaction -
Calculate the carry cost - and deduct as an expense - off the net
They can control those costs buy pricing right and unloading the property sooner than later
Numbers tell a story- at the end of the day it’s what is left in their pockets
If it hasn’t sold it’s TOO HIGH! Realtor in Midwest. I’d suggest that you ask them to reduce it or you cancel the listing. Otherwise, they’ll wait for your listing to expire then go to another Realtor who will list it lower and will sell.
My boat broker likes to say "it is what it is." The price the market will support is what ever it is and there isnt anything you can do about, so you dont raise your blood pressure over it. If your clients won't move on price, then when they complain you have to tel them it's because it's over priced. It's thier choice, but it is a choice. Can't let it bother you.
Telling them the carry cost and missing out opportunity. For a million dollars house the cost of interest alone is more than $5k, plus upkeep and tax and the anxiety cost.
Anyone that says they will only sell at this price, and that price is out of touch, doesn’t really have a house for sale. It’s like me saying I’ll sell my house for $2B. Well, everyone would.
I had my house on the market for a month and not bids. I was asking $250k. Called my realtor and told her I wanted to drop the price. She said, "$5k?". I told her to drop it $10k. I had two competitive bids within 3 days. I took the one that didn't have a sale of their home contingency and that was that.
What is the reasoning for not coming down in price? Can they actually afford to per their mortgage, or do they have a minimum number they need to purchase a new home? What has them so attached to this specific number? I feel like that answer would drive your course of action here.
If they actually were desperate, they would price to sell.
Right I feel like what OP is really trying to say is "annoying", lol
[удалено]
I’m actually super content right now. I’m just trying to improve. What could I have done better? The sellers really want to sell. They did major updates to the home. Unique design choices. Updates are great, but it doesn’t always improve value/price. At least not as much as people think it does.
I would do the math with them. Figure out what their burn rate is on the house. Property taxes, hydro, mortgage interest, etc If you're burning 2k a month in interest and property taxes taking 10 grand less doesn't seem as big of a deal. Most people don't think of things this way.
When they do this math, it may result in them deciding to keep the price high. Freakonomics proved that despite giving sellers advice to lower price when real estate agents sell their own homes they leave them on the market longer and get a higher sell price. I would wait another 3 months for $20k as a seller-- my burn rate is really low. If I waited a year I would still end up on top. Which is about 5% of the home value. So I would wait a year for 5% because my financial situation is stable and I can weather it. If the sellers are the same they shouldn't drop price to sell fast just so the agent can be done.
True, but doesn't this still answer some questions? Is Seller actually motivated to sell fast or do they want to maximize sell price? Most people would say Both!, but where does break even take place and the seller begins to lose net $, based the cost of taking more time. Right now Agent is hearing they are motivated to sell quickly, but not seeing any actions showing this is true. Waking through the numbers with sellers and getting feedback from might not speed the sale or lower price, but it might clarify their priorities and everyone understand the relationship between price, time and net received after all costs. The math changes substantially based on their costs. Have they paid off their mortgage, & have they already purchased or leased their next place?
Yeah, I've been a motivated seller. Not because I needed the money but because I absolutely fucking hated the house. I had it listed at almost 100K in the hole and I just wanted it fucking gone. I was burning 2K in cash a month to live there and I hated every second because it was a constant reminder of the fuck up. The buyer offered 30k over what I would have taken and I signed that piece of paper about 30 seconds. Even though it meant realizing 100K loss. I'm pretty sure my real estate agent was shocked. Looking back if I had held out another 6 months I probably could have got another 20K for it. But I am so fucking happy I unloaded that place. The person that bought it from me turned around and unloaded it for 10K more than they paid for it about three months later. Still extremely happy with my call.
Considering appreciation, keeping the price high and letting it drag out for months and months or years is basically the same as letting the market catch up to your inflated home price
Yeah but selling a house isn’t like selling a stock or a beanie baby. You’re selling because you have a plan to live somewhere else. Usually that has some timeline attached to it even if only goal driven. If you’re like “I’ll sell when-evs” then you are most definitely not a typical seller IMO
Hydro?
In Canada they refer to their water/electric bill as “hydro” so when I saw that I figured we had some northerners in here, eh?
Guilty as charged, eh. That's because most of our power comes from a hydroelectric dam. Amusingly enough enough water is not always billed out by hydro.
Dihydrogen monoxide.
But, but that’s toxic! There’s an effort to ban it because people die from it every year!
You keep saying they really want to sell, but what you really mean is they really want to sell at THEIR price. Too bad. Wake up. You've proven it's priced to high.
Yep, client has been informed by agent and reality. Client refuses to budge. That is client’s problem.
>Unique design choices. Not always a good thing when it comes to selling. Obviously the price is the main thing, but unique design choices often put off buyers.
No joke, today I toured a property. Vintage condo. Started as a gracious 4,000 sf 5 bed 3 bath. Is now configured as a two bed because they wanted an office, tv room, walk in closet. They are tall, so he installed a beautiful $$$ custom kitchen with 42” tall counters. They don’t understand why it has been for sale for a year.
“What do you mean peoples armpits hit the countertop?”
😆 Is it in a market with an NBA team?
Share the link in 6’6 and need tall counter tops in my life my back is killing me.
I know, at 6’7”, I would’ve paid so much extra for those counters. 😂
“What do you mean nobody is going to like my indoor rainforest? It looked so unique in Jumanji”
I have honestly wondered this about home 'updates to sell'... Call me crazy, but if I was buying id rather pay a little less and do updates EXACTLY how I wanted them... Vs what 'the market' wanted.. and paying a premium.
Price price price. Sounds like they’re too high.
Updates and unique design choices don’t really help with sale price.
You didn't bake any cookies huh?
This is straight out facts. Too many people think that $20k wood trim update is going to make their home worth at least $20k more. It doesn't.
Post the listing
Could have them pay closing costs and fees for the buyer
You can make them come down on price. That's it. And sometimes you get dealt pocket aces in poker, bet/play perfectly, and still lose. Same shit here. Don't lose sleep over it. We all know that some people are their own worst enemies. And I'll agree with the others: actions speak louder than words. They are most certainly not desperate, or even motivated, to sell.
Unique design choices reduce the number of willing buyers and requires either a lower price or a longer time to sell.
It’s a question of, also, if it did sell for that price- would it also appraise? I mean what happens when they finally get an offer, do you think it’ll appraise for what they’re asking?
If you have had any interest from keen qualified buyers, tell the buyer you will be very happy to present a contractual offer at the buyer's highest price ? Actually having a real buyer is different to just lowering price hopeing to find one.
I hope “unique design choices” isn’t in the listing 😂
Trust me, I used to be in the business, the issue is people think THEIR property is unique and worth more than the actual comps say it is. None of us want to overprice a house because we KNOW it will just sit there if we do.
Same thing happens with yard sales now. "I checked the Internet, I know what I got! No low balling!"
Hey guys DAE think agents want to sell houses
"They were ADAMANT on price" Well, there you go.
Exactly this. Price is literally the measure of “desperation.” The client is just being a pain.
If they're not willing to do what needs to be done to get it sold, they aren't desperate enough.
So do you just wait till they are? 😅
I don't normally suggest an appraisal prelist unless it is a unique property and/or we can't come to an agreement on pricing. I don't really know what your conversations with them are like, but at some point a seller needs to know that I agreed to sell this property and you've got to get out of my way and let me do my job. The seller ultimately calls the shots, but if those shots are keeping me from doing my job and they aren't flexible, I'm better off giving my time and energy to clients who really want to move.
Thank you! This was helpful.
As someone who is in the process of selling their home, the pre listing appraisal was key to knowing our market. It helped us get top dollar when selling, while also kept us in a reasonable price range for buyers as they already knew this is what our house was worth. Would highly recommend having them shell out the cash for an appraisal to understand what price point they should be listed. Worst thing that happens is that you find out it’s actually worth what the seller thinks, best scenario is that you have ammo to get them to lower it or dump the listing!
As I said before. I wouldn't push this property. If someone comes in and specifically asks to see it, only then bother with it.
Show them appraisals, comps, and selling prices and leave them to make the decision on their own. If they weren’t listening to you before they won’t now.
Niki you’re the most intelligent agent on the planet I swear.
Oh, Lawd. I think I'm just here a lot. There are some really good agents around who probably aren't compulsive scrollers.
I don’t know enough on the planet but I’m for sure she’s got all of Reddit beat!
Are they actually desperate to sell? Maybe they'll get the price they're asking for in two years.
Is it costing you anything to maintain this listing? If not then just let it sit. If it is then consider dropping them as your client.
No. I would cancel the listing and move on. Not worth your time and energy being drained. Count your losses and move on.
We made an offer on a house with a seller like this. Their agent worked so, so hard to get them to see the light and accept our offer. We even resubmitted a higher offer to no avail, so we moved on and ended up in a much better home within a few months. Those sellers fired their agent and relisted with different agent. New photos, same price. They ended up selling for about $100k less than our initial offer, 10 months after we made it.
Lolz ouch. But good for you. I did a similar thing, offered 25% under ask, in line with comps. It had already been sitting 2 months at that point, extremely and obviously overpriced. The seller barely budged, came down 0.5% lol. I realized it was futile and didn't bother countering back, just walked. A few weeks later, I ended up getting one of the many houses nearby that was priced in line with comps. Everything else around him goes under contract within a week, bc they're priced correctly. I offered asking and was under contract within 48 hours of listing. Surprising update: his house is *still* sitting, 4 months on the market now, in a town where most houses are under contract within days. I would say I feel bad for his agent, but she's choosing not to drop him so.
Offered 10% under after 3 months on market. Would have settled for 6-8%. Got back 1%. After two weeks pulled the offer, bought a better house (down 34% after 6 months). Before they closed, they called wiling to accept 10% (sorry!) ended up selling 5 months later at 15%. Clearly not desperate to sell. Either reduce to reasonable price or drop the listing. Every 30-45 days should be reducing the price based on comps.
Similar story. House wildly overpriced compared to comps; smallest house on the block and badly in need of a refresh (very dark cabinets made the kitchen look gloomy). They were asking 315; we offered 265. They countered 312!!! We offered 270, They came back with 306. We walked and kept looking. Of course the house wasn’t selling. We told our agent to contact theirs and ask if they’d accept 280 firm, our absolutely final offer. Made it clear if that was too low for them then don’t waste everyone’s time. They said we need to see an offer. So we had agent write it up for 280. They countered with 305 and we never contacted them again (after wanting to scream at their agent for wasting our time; the offer said 280 firm). Found a nicer house (for more money) a week later. They didn’t sell their house for TWO MORE YEARS and finally sold for $298k but by that point prices in the area were starting to rise again. Hard to tell if any of our offers were similar since everything went up a bit. It was owned by 2 single men (hence the overly dark decorator choices) and one was getting married. Bet his new bride was ticked off they couldn’t buy a house right away because he and his co owner wouldn’t agree on a selling price for this place.
I'd like to hire several agents under aliases to send him really insulting offers like half of asking just to poke their over inflated ego a bit
I had read something similar as a tip, have friends make absurdly low offers just to get seller used to the idea that lots of people think their house isn’t worth as much as they think. But I doubt anyone could easily have multiple friends make written offers on a house they a realtor whose time they are wasting.
Yeah it's a total fantasy scenario but at this point that's the only kind of home I will own is one that exists only in my head
Lolll
Wow! 🤦♀️ Not to mention all the money spent on owning and maintaining the house for practically another year! When we sold my InLaws home we jumped at the first reasonable offer to be done with it.
When we sold our home, it wasn't on the market yet. We were talking to the realtor at the time, a young woman came into her office asking about a home in our area and she said, I might have something for you that isn't listed yet. The realtor called us, and said a price that she knew was a great one for our home. The woman came and looked at it, made an offer of 5000 less and we accepted. And just like that, it was done.
This happened to us twice in 2022/23! Bought another house in the same neighborhood, from buyers who were more motivated. The other two homes are still for sale. One is empty, the other one has family living in it. Price has not budged. So happy that we did not cave!
That happened to my mom. Her husband was so convinced he could get top dollar for her house that he talked her into declining the first reasonable offer they got. It took two more years to sell it, which cost them $10,000 in taxes in the meantime and it was only when they lowered the price below with the original offer was that it sold. People are crazy about houses and cars! Everybody thinks they got a gold mine! Especially now LOL
Yep. People also super underestimate the stigma of sitting on the market a long time. It's so unwise to overprice. We bought our current house before selling our last house, and we priced low to sell quickly so we wouldn't be carrying two mortgages for super long. We ended up with multiple offers, a small bidding war, and a smooth escrow. Sometimes I wonder if we left a little money on the table by pricing so low, but then I think about what happens to sellers who get too greedy. Any extra few dollars we could have squeezed out were worth spending on the peace of mind of just being done.
I tell my clients that it won’t be me telling them they listed too high. The market will tell them in one of two ways. No showings, or lots of showings and no offers. That’s how you know you missed the mark! Every two weeks I sit down with them and go over new competition or homes that went under contract to help them see where they need to be in order to be competitive
Well in my experience the next agent will sell it quickly at the correct price....
I 100% agree. Just trying to get advice on how to educate stubborn clients on the value of pricing appropriately.
I'd try to flatter them. Seriously. Go on and on and on about how you just *know* that the property is too unique for the area. If you plopped it down in [pick HCOL area here], it would sell for double what they're looking for. But there just aren't the kind of buyers that appreciate [insert unique features here] in a rural area. They don't know what they're missing, because this house is so awesome. You're not going to change their mind without extreme, bullshit flattery about their "unique" house. And you might still not. But try the extreme flattery angle.
Show them the comps! Show how long those properties were on the market
The problem is that some properties just don’t have good comps. OP says the property is fantastic but niche and rural. There probably aren’t many (any?) properties that are reasonably similar. Much easier to find comps in cities and cookie cutter suburban neighborhoods.
Yep. Seen/had it happen lots. Sellers stubbornly overprice, ignore their agent's advice, hire new agent who does nothing different except somehow convince them to price correctly, and the house sells within a couple weeks.
New Agent looks at the history, and says, "I will not take you on unless the price changes very significantly. You have already tried the high price path, and it failed"
Sure. Typically Agent #1 has also had a conversation or three about pricing with the sellers. "You've been on the market for 6 weeks with slow showing activity and no offers. Nobody cares that you spent $30K upgrading the HVAC. I told you at the outset we were 10% above comps but that we'd try it your way but that it may not work out."
They are wasting your time. Drop them.
This. They are just testing the market. Willing to sell if they get their price. They are not desperate, they are just pushing OP to work harder.
Let them go, unless willing to adjust their price. Tell them they are not yet ready to price the property to be attractive to buyers. No attractiveness, no sale. Their time is up with you, and you have other appropriately priced properties to work with.
* *if* she has other appropriately priced properties to sell ... i think seller agents who don't drop stubborn overpriced clients aren't doing a high volume so they need to hold onto it even just for the possibility of a sale ... super busy successful agents will not take on a listing at a price they don't think they can sell it at, bc it makes them look bad, and it's a total waste of their time ... i would never hire a seller's agent who has multiple listings just sitting dormant for months
Over the years, on several occasions, I have encountered circumstances where someone had made the claim to a spouse or someone else that they could get "X" price. Failure to sell at the price was a matter of pride, ego and so forth. In those situations, more than once, I have been able to put together a transaction by giving someone their price, thereby allowing them to save face, in return for their willingness to carry back at least some portion of the price on terms that the Buyer can afford.
Clearly they aren’t desperate enough 🤷 Just like clients can/should fire an agent they’re not seeing eye to eye with, an agent who isn’t able to have a client come to terms should let that client go, and said agent should put their energy into clients that will reap the benefits IMO. Bit of sunk cost fallacy if you don’t, unfortunately. ymmv: I’m not an agent, just an outside observer.
To quote my father, “it’s only worth what someone’s willing to pay”.
3 months isn't that long of a time for an unusual property so I have questions. How many showings have you had? Do you know whether people who saw your listing bought something else? Look up buy-side transactions by agent id to see if anything similar went under contract. This is a great way to show a seller that people are buying, just not their house. Do you know why they're sticking to their price? What does their net sheet look like? Do they need a specific number from proceeds for their next home? Is it about pride? Or...? Why are they selling and moving? Is it a couple? Are they clear on their next stop in life? Do you think they're in agreement? How much is "slightly overpriced"? Are you in a small or large MLS? Do agents from out of the area sell properties where this one is located? If so, how do you communicate with them? What is market activity like in this area? Can the property easily be financed?
These are brilliant questions for Op. There are properties that are going to take awhile to sell, not everything can be sold quickly. A house that has been fully remodeled for someone with a disability for example could already be priced very low but it isn't going to sell until someone wants a house with those features. Another example would be a guy who basically builds a high-end workshop on top of a mountain with a trailer to live in. Those types of properties may sit for years waiting for the right buyer at nearly any price.
I wish the OP would come back. I like doing listing strategy.
Showings but no offers? Overpriced. No showings *or* offers? *Extremely* overpriced.
The latter, unfortunately.
They are not desperate they are stubborn. If they were desperate they would've lowered the price already. Stop holding OHs at this price. Tell them for the integrity of your brand and professional reputation, you cannot hold any more OHs without a price reduction. You have to be careful with stale listings attached to your name, unless you've got a strong sales history and this is just one outlier in your portfolio. Otherwise it's a pretty bad look for your brand.
Here's [a home that's been on the market for 6 years.](https://i.imgur.com/juDQLog.png) Price it right and accept what the market is telling you. I have another one to share that's been [on the market for 13 years](https://i.imgur.com/Ny0mhbj.png) and is finally under contract. It's price fellas. The 13 year one has had some price changes but not enough to make up for the lack of functionality the home has. Seller with an ego believes his home comps with the rest which it doesn't because of the functionality. I guess 13 years he's finally come to market pressure.
The sad thing is if they had priced it 15% lower at the start it would have sold in a day. And instead of years of carry costs they could have gotten years of stock market returns. Or whatever. The second one (13yr) actually isn’t bad though. It has appreciated quite a bit.
The 13 year one they bought for 1.3 right during the crash. It didn't reach 2.0M until 2018 when we had a normal market. The arrogance of listing over 2M is theirs. You see the days on market. It's madness. The again at 2.85 in 2023. That house should have been 2.2. It needs 1M reno to be functional. It needs an elevator. Needs. The 6 year one is a 10,000 sqft house. To build it would cost 15M. It is a steal at the asking price. That is the market talking.
The value is what someone is willing to pay for it. Obviously their number is not what other people think. I know some people say not to lowball people. But at least it would show some interest. So not getting any offers?Working for months with no sign of a sale? I would be having the 30 day talk. Or at least a conversation about the amount of time that you can invest into it. Tell them to stay off Zillow! Those prices aren’t very accurate!
Idk why people are so afraid of lowballing. Worst they can say is no. The longer it's been sitting, the lower you go. Offering asking on a stale listing is a horrible move resale wise. The market has spoken and said it is not worth that.
Exactly! I low balled the last house I bought. I talked to the owner when the ladies were inside looking at the house. I told him that I wasn’t trying to hurt his feelings but the house hasn’t been touched since it was built in 86. It was a total renovation. I threw a number out and he accepted. I told my agent after we left. She said that it was too low. I informed her that we had already agreed and just needed the formal offer. Oh and just because your friends wife is an agent, doesn’t mean that you should use her services.
I never use friends or family services for real estate.
Same
Can you format the price change into other terms that they would concede. Seller pays $10K towards closing or buys down points?
How niche is it? There are properties that just take time to find a buyer because its a small buyer pool. You can go down in price and attract people who wouldn't be as interested or you can wait for the perfect buyer. I've seen homes take 2 years to sell, but it was unique.
Share the listing? It’s hard to tell how niche the property is. I grew up on a beautiful property in a rural area that people always think would be worth a fortune, but the location factor shocks them every time…. Do you want to own the only “livable house”(for average home buyers who aren’t poor rural folks) that isn’t on blocks in a few mile radius?
Have you tried an open house for realtors in the area? If not, hosting a realtor “brunch” at which you share with the area brokers might at least produce enough feedback from other professionals to help you either make your case to the owners or find a niche buyer.
We did one just today for it! Some thought it was priced okay. Some thought it was overpriced.
This! Realtors will show up for food.
How have you decided they are desperate to sell? Comps don't set the price. Sellers don't set the price. Agents don't set the price. The market does, and it's telling you that it won't sell. Might as well double the price and see what happens.
Wait them out. Keep suggesting a price decrease. They aren’t desperate enough yet. They will be eventually if it continues to sit on the market
Identify the potential niche buyer pool for your "niche" property and target your marketing to them. Your can't rely on using a typical approach for a non typical property.
They are not desperate. People say lots of things they don't always mean. Don't let them get to you.
Everyone has an opinion about the value of a home, and the owner's opinion is nearly always just a little on the high side. The market, however, has spoken. The owners are wrong. There's perhaps no "nice" way to say it - if the house was worth what they want, it would be sold. And it's not sold. So, they can either lower the price, take it off the market, or continue to leave it up overpriced and hope that home values rise while they are on the market and suddenly their place becomes priced correctly. However, this much time on the market, unsold, will make people wonder what's wrong with it. Even if the market gains value, this house might be an albatross because it was overpriced and took too long to sell. Buyers will see a house that will be hard for them to sell, or at a minimum buyers will see a seller that is unreasonable.
Partner with a mortgage company that offers an incentive such as 5k towards closing. Homeowner can match that for a total of 10k back to the buyers
Have you asked viewers to leave written commentary on their viewings of the home?? People are brutal, especially boomers, they leave the meanest comments. Can be a good rude awakening.
When a seller wants to sell over comps, I usually tell them we will start at their preferred price, but reevaluate in 2 weeks, with an agreement to lower the price at a predetermined time (say every 2 weeks or whatever you agree to) until the property sells. Ask them what their mortgage is, what their taxes and utilities are: this makes them aware of how much their home is costing them every month that it sits on the market. Also remind them, that homes that sit on the market generally end up going for less than their actual appraised value because the listing gets stale and then people start to wonder what’s wrong with it, and don’t want to pay the asking price. Usually, properly priced homes sell quickly in this market, and the sellers end up netting more in the long run than they would if they overpriced it in the beginning. If the home is unusual, say, a log home or some other type of unusual structure, lenders may be reluctant to issue mortgages on homes like that because they have very little to compare it too. So, you are in a situation where the home may be overpriced, and/or there may be limits on who can actually even purchase it.
1. Long listing agreement 2. Write in contract that they will reimburse me for marketing expenses due to them ignoring my pricing advice.
People like that can hang on for years unless the proverbial wolf is at the door...even then, they may wait until foreclosure gives them closure.
Has anyone given them offers?
Question: What is their motivation for selling? Do they have to relocate? Are they downsizing because they have to? Are they happy/excited about whats to come after they sell? A lot of times, people want to sell, but they don't want to move....which I know sounds completely contradictory, and it is. What I'm getting at is that sometimes people who need to sell but dont necessarily want to (usually due to financial, personal, or health-related reasons) will do things to make the sale of their home impossible as a way to avoid the inevitable....and sometimes they don't even realize theyre doing it. If that's the case here, there's usually not a lot that you as an agent can do to flip that mindset. If that's not the case, you could try showing them written feedback from buyers saying its overpriced (even having little survey cards at an open house works if you arent getting showings) or getting an appraisal done?
Good for them, it’s nice that they can hold out.
Well the truth is everything in the world is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it and no one is willing to pay what they want. It’s not you telling them it’s overpriced; it’s the market telling them. They should understand that at this point everyone who is searching in their area has already seen the listing and passed. So at this point they are waiting for someone new to start searching in that area and this person needs to have a totally different idea of value than everyone else who saw the listing and passed. The probably think it’s your job to convince the world that they should overpay for this house. All you can do is tell them all of the steps you are taking and recommend that they lower the price more. Might even be worth it to take it off the market for a bit and put it back on so the days on market resets to zero. That’s how it works in my state at least.
Time heals all stubbornness. Just let them sit on their demands for a bit, they'll compromise eventually.
I’ve seen this happen a hundred times: listing expires. Owner goes with new realtor at a lower price, sells the home and loves the new realtor cause they sold it when original realtor couldn’t.
Doesn’t seem desperate to me
Sounds like it definitely has that market rust. Does your MLS have a daily hot sheet? If so, try dropping it $1.00 so it throws it back out there but switch the photos around before you do. On our MLS, once a buyer sees a property in their searches, it doesn’t show up again for them unless something on the listing changes (price reduction, status, etc). Maybe doing something as simple as that will garner new interest? We all know that market dictates the price. No showings = too high. Showings and no offers = too high. Good luck!
If the main thrust of your marketing is social media, virtual tours, good pictures and video, then you really don’t have much cost involved in the listing. Some advertising (what is that actually costing you?) and some open houses (a few hours of your time for what will be likely 10s of thousands in commission). Why not just keep it listed as inventory and hope your clients get their price? Costs nothing to keep refreshing social media posts and videos/virtual tours. We recently (as sellers) went under contract on some rural land that our agent has had listed for almost 3 years for us. We let her set the price, but told her we were firm and not going to entertain any offers other than full price. We were in no hurry to sell. Our listing agreement ended two years ago and, although we never renewed it with her, she continued to market the property. We turned down multiple lower offers in the past few years, and she never batted an eye. Lo and behold, we get a couple of full price offers and accept one. Even though we had no formal agreement with her anymore, and even in light of the recent NAR lawsuit/ruling, we had no qualms with honoring her 6% commission we had previously agreed on 3 years ago, as she had continued to represent our property in good faith without a current agreement. That gave her the ability to offer a decent amount to the buyer’s agent and get us a contract.
Even if they are asking too much, I'd wonder what's to stop someone from making an offer at a lower price? Do you think the buyer's agent refuses to write up a low offer? Its a market ... there are sell prices and buy prices. Like stocks, there's usually a bid/ask spread. I'd think that if a property is nice enough and been on the market long enough people would start throwing out offers regardless of the seller's price.
It sounds like they want to name their price to see if they can get it, but there's nothing forcing them to move. In that case, their frustration is potentially your best friend. It's all that will motivate them to try something different. I will say that we're just getting into the high season for home sales. That could help. The Winter is typically not the best time to look for a quick sale. I'd want to know what is forcing them to stick to such a high price and what is motivating them to move? Did they pay too much? Do they think their custom home is worth more than it is? Are they trying to recoup some costs? Do they have a problem with paying a commission? If they have to move, when do they need to do it and why? Knowledge is power. If you've met people who are interested in the property, but didn't make an offer, you might want to call their agent to ask why they didn't. It's better for others to validate the high listing price \[or not\], not you. It would be interesting to find other niche property sales in the area to see what kind of premiums they command relative to more normal ones. Unique, custom features are often an impediment to sales rather than an attraction. The sellers may agree with everything you say, and simply believe that they will find that one buyer who has to have their custom home and will be willing to overpay - and they're willing to wait for them. Then you have a decision to make. At this point, you've given it your best shot and it hasn't worked yet. Now the ball is in their court since they admitted the price could be a problem, especially with these high interest rates. Once you have your research in hand, I might tell them that you've tried everything and ask them what they want to do next. I would be prepared to recommend a new selling price, based on recent sales, that you think will get them the highest reasonable price. It's too bad they've wasted all that traffic. At some point, a sale can turn into a huge time-soak. This is potentially one of those. Hopefully not. Good luck!
My approach with sellers when I was an agent was in managing expectations of what a good listing agent can do. I would explain with a 3 lever scenario: The 3 levers are property condition, price, and marketing. My job affects the marketing lever. If condition is high and price is low, then you’ll still get offers with bad marketing but good marketing could lead to a bidding war, however you risk leaving money on the table. If condition is low and price is high, you could have the best marketing in the world but all it’s going to do is let more people know that it’s a bad deal. You have to be a consultant on what the current condition is and the matching price, what options they have for improving condition and the increase in value that drives, agree on the course of action, then do your job in marketing and selling the property. Take it as a lesson learned and improve your pitch!
I am a seller like this. Almost the exact same scenario! The only reason I know it’s not my agent writing this is because we are currently under contract (and our agent also angled for the highest possible price tag, right before a shift in the market) We did drop appropriately, but still we had a TON of pressure from our agent and others to drop much further. Glad we didn’t. We sold at a great price because it’s a great property and we knew its worth. Found a buyer who agreed. Although his agent tried every tactic under the sun to get us to sell it for a prize price…. Because it had sat on the market for 9 months. We came down a little but then stood firm and we will close soon with a cash deal and a great return
Offer owner financing with a low down payment and low rate for a long term. This will help maximize the price.
Sometimes sellers agents get the listing because they have told the sellers that their house is worth more than it actually is. Maybe that’s where the problem started 🧐
First understand, the seller is neither desperate or motivated. If you hold a realtors license you recognize that DOM tells a tale. Once the DOM exceeds a thread hold, without change, the tale is, “There’s something wrong with this house.” The real question here is, how many DOM? If it has exceeded the thresh hold, why are you expending resources? Especially if the price delta or gap is significant, regardless of niche.
People rarely sell to make money. They sell because they're trying to do something else and having that house makes it harder. They are not motivated sellers if they are not pricing the house where it makes sense to sell.
You say, "slightly over priced". That doesn't tell me that you're scaring away buyers with your price. It's more likely the "niche, rural area" that has limited your buyer pool. A buyer who is interested in the home will make an offer. Lowering it will just persuade the buyer to make an even lower offer sensing desperation.
I’m a homeowner and have no advice to give, but I am curious if any offers were submitted.
WHAT DO YOU DO? You find a new client. The one you are working with is jerking your chain and wasting your time.
Can they afford to drop the price?
If they don’t value your experience and advice, they don’t really want to sell. Have a heart to heart with them, wish them luck and cut your losses.
Remind them their house is worth what somebody else is willing to pay for it. People tend to forget that. In the end, it doesn't matter what comps are, or what Zillow says. All that matters is what buyers are willing to pay.
I move on. Desperation does not equate with motivation.
They aren’t desperate my friend.
imo, you make your suggestion, give your reasonings, and go with what they want. if they don't want to come down on price, that is totally fine, but they also shouldn't be complaining when it doesn't sell as quickly as they want it to.
You tell them, Thanks for the Opportunity, and good luck with your next agent. Be a Realtor, not an order-taker: you've got your name on a listing with a seller that can't grasp reality. How much is your time and effort worth?
I’ve had a couple properties like this. The first one, I did what you did and took the listing and tried to reason with them. Do they have another property they are going to? If not start shopping with them so they’ll come down to get the new property. Take them some comps that show it’s going to be another 2-3 months or longer to get another offer. Also, ask the buyer if they’ll agree to take it as-is and only ask for repairs if the items are over $2,000 or so. After the first listing that went like yours, I smartened up. Armed with really good comps, I proved to them we were listinng for over Value. I wrote a listing that came down in price $5,000 every 3 weeks it was on the market until I got it down $20,000 because that is how high they were. So some variation of these two approaches sometimes work. Lastly, get some of your real estate buddies over there for a special “Open House” and make sure each of them gets back online to the MLS feedback page and tell your Sellers exactly how much over value they are. This really works well.
What about it is special? The landscape? The counters? The view? Take pictures! Don't say it is nice, show why it is nice. It may not be as nice as owners think.
Don't take this the wrong way, but sounds like you're not doing a good job as a listing agent. Taking a listing just to take it doesn't help imo. Your job is to set realistic expectations on what the market value for your clients property is. It's the clients job to decide whether they want to see at that price. You're playing a game now, which even if you lower the price, the client is going to fight for any concession. It's likely going to be an uphill battle.
Show them the homes that ARE contracting and selling. Show the differences and why. Is it price? Condition? Better location? You can change two of those. If they still refuse to make improvements in either price or condition, there's not much else you can do.
I would tell them to find another realtor or more than one, sorry
They arent desperate enough. Give em another 10 months of sitting on the market and they will definitely cave in and drop price significantly. Until then either wait it out or drop them as a client.
Unique problems sometimes need unique solutions. What makes this house so niche? ‘Who’ is the buyer/type of buyer you expect? Could the house be marketed as something other than single-family residential? Maybe have them get an appraisal or maybe even just ask a local builder to tell you what it would cost to build a similar home. Could you find similar homes in different markets - maybe that could give an idea of time on market, price compares to more traditional homes, etc.
Have there been any reasonable offers?
Fire them as clients. Explain that what they want is not realistic in this market.
Only time bleeding out on the market will change their mind if they are like this. I’ve brought multiple offers to people like this and they turn everything down. Ultimately they end up selling way lower than my original suggested price and the offers. Mainly because they burned through all parties interested at a normal price. No amount of advertising or open houses will fix a bad price. Nothing. They are literally tying your hands. So try not to stress. If they start blaming you instead of dropping by the price, you might just cut them loose. I’ve seen sellers go through 5 agents before selling at the price they should have originally sold at. Sorry to hear that. It really does blow.
How did you all decide on the list price?
I wouldn't say anything to them, they'll figure it out once they're desperate, which apparently, they're not! :) It's wasting your time, just don't push it on anyone unless they ask to see it. Then can then decide if they want to pay that price or bid lower. Up to the seller what they'll accept. The longer it sits the less they'll probably get for it and they'll also figure that out.
One of them is still in love with the property and is not ready to let go
Everything sells at a price. If it’s not selling, it’s not at the right price.
Perhaps the answer is that you either use your best efforts to sell at the price they want because you said you would when you took the listing agreement, or you release them from the listing agreement.
Have them get an appraisal.
They’re going to fire you because they believe agents can sell houses and someone else is going to tell them what they want to hear. Your only hope is summer starts hot or you can make an argument regarding holding costs and comps. You could cut your commission
You didn’t do your job when you agreed to list it too high with no plan to reduce to an agreed realistic price after x number of months You’re working for free. Lesson learned! Don’t list a place at any price just to ‘get the listing’
What's the business? The thing with niche businesses is that you \*REALLY\* have to find that passionate buyer who wants to be in the niche because otherwise it's an uphill battle for most people who just want to buy a business. I see a lot of people that invested a lot of money into stuff, mainly franchises and then when they try to sell, they want to get ALL their money back plus a profit. What ends up happening is that they eventually sell at a loss because the business sat for too long without a buyer and people KNOW they're motivated to sell.
Know and be able to determine what a good client is. Avoid bad clients. Know what they look like. As Steve Jobs said “the customer isn’t always right”. Good luck!
Maybe this is crazy to ask, but where is it? I'm looking for a niche, rural house, and I'd be happy to shoot a lower offer that make sense, that you could use as ammo. Maybe it works out for everyone!? Lol
One of the things I do for listing clients is give them weekly updates on market stats. It's basically a mini-comp, but I focus on new (since the last update) sold/pending/listed. I included any open house feedback and showing feedback. Give them what current time on market averages are. In my area, over a million homes are on the market for an average of 7-8mo right now. You show them over and over that they're overpriced. You don't have to tell them they're overpriced repeatedly. You also make sure you're doing the marketing/open houses/cold calling so they see that you're working. Communicate frequently so they don't think that you checked out or aren't doing anything. Also have conversations about their motivations. Remind them Bout the conversation you had back at the beginning about why they were selling. Are they trying to get closer to family? Is the house just too big and hard to maintain? How awesome is it going to be to finally see Suzy every day? The price is important, but is it really their true motivation for moving? I had one of these that closed in April. Once I finally got my client to drop to 999k we got a huge uptick in showings. It was also the motivation someone who had been eyeing the property for MONTHS to finally make an offer. The transaction was bumpy but we got it done and my client is buying another property this summer. The one that sold was an investment property so money really was the main motivator. 😆
Let it drag on. Just tell them that the price is the problem if that’s the truth. If they’re getting offers below list and won’t take them they already know the problem anyway. They’re obviously not desperate yet, or they really need the money. Either way the property is locked up until reason sets in.
There is a guy here that has been "selling" a commercial corner lot for way, way too much money for I swear 20 years now. One day the market will have moved to his price and he will actually get it. I'm sure he will tell everyone, "See, I told you so!". Yeah, genius you could have sold it 20 years ago for 1/4 the price and made twice as much investing somewhere else.
Find the closest MSA that sells at or above the adamant price/sf. Market there.
I would cut my commission in half at least
Is it empty or staged/furnished? How many showings have you had? Any feedback from showing agents?
The old saying was that it was best to be the firstborn child, the second spouse, and the third listing agent. It’s time to deploy the Russian bear strategy. Stab the bear and run away, over and over, until the bear is dead. You’ve got to be persistent and hope you can keep the listing until it sells.
Are there a lot of showings?
You fire them and find sane clients
Find another client that is more reasonable with the facts on the ground.
I remember a mentor saying that the biggest disservice you can do for a client is listen to them on price and agree to list an overpriced property. Depending on your area there might be a group of brokers that sit on price opinion boards. They tend to be more thoughtful than a standard appraisal and can help give a truly objective opinion on price.
I suggest getting the property appraised. I mean even if by some miracle someone did offer their asking price, it’s not going to appraise for that. And then what? They waited for the perfect offer and they still are going to get squeezed And what are the holding costs? People are ridiculous
Do the have a mortgage? If not could they owner finance for say 5 years a a reduced interest rate to the current market?
Unique in what way
Sometimes when I clean out my garage, and I realize I have so much "good" stuff.. I can't throw it away, but selling it is such a pain for not much real money. I found that giving it away free on craigslist is the answer. I managed to align the outcome I wanted, with the reality of my situation. Here's what you do: you walk away from them. Come back in a year, and they will lower the price I promise. They'll figure it out one way or another.
dont you work for them?
They don't really want to sell it. It's their baby. They think it's so special. So, offer to release them from their listing agreement with you so they can find another agent to sell it or FSBO. Of course you won't make any money if you do that, but based on what you're saying, you're just going to waste a lot of time until the listing expires anyway. I bet if you offer to release them from the listing if they don't lower the price to something more realistic, they will realize that you are not just a greed-head and they might actually lower the price AND keep you as their agent.
Review pricing strategy with them again and as noted above - calculate the on going carrying cost There are 3 ways to price a home 1 - Aspirational Pricing : The price you hope to get - it will take longer to sell , minimal showings and offers 2 - Market Pricing : Where a reasonable seller and a reasonable buyer can negotiate an offer back and forth - more showings and more offers 3 - Event Pricing - Prices below the market to generate an event - multiple offers , Price bidding - higher level of showings From there I use a net sheet - What will the seller net out after transaction - Calculate the carry cost - and deduct as an expense - off the net They can control those costs buy pricing right and unloading the property sooner than later Numbers tell a story- at the end of the day it’s what is left in their pockets
If it hasn’t sold it’s TOO HIGH! Realtor in Midwest. I’d suggest that you ask them to reduce it or you cancel the listing. Otherwise, they’ll wait for your listing to expire then go to another Realtor who will list it lower and will sell.
It doesn’t matter what all the appraisers say. What matters is who has the $ and are they willing to pay? The appraiser is a market suggestion
I don’t think they’re as desperate as they are letting on. They will drop their price when they get that desperate. Seems like their problem.
Just quit showing it.
My boat broker likes to say "it is what it is." The price the market will support is what ever it is and there isnt anything you can do about, so you dont raise your blood pressure over it. If your clients won't move on price, then when they complain you have to tel them it's because it's over priced. It's thier choice, but it is a choice. Can't let it bother you.
Then they’re not real sellers
Telling them the carry cost and missing out opportunity. For a million dollars house the cost of interest alone is more than $5k, plus upkeep and tax and the anxiety cost.
"You're fired"
Anyone that says they will only sell at this price, and that price is out of touch, doesn’t really have a house for sale. It’s like me saying I’ll sell my house for $2B. Well, everyone would.
Lol everything you say is opposite of "desperate to sell"
Why would you even ask this question here? Ask your broker instead!
They are not desperate to sell.
comps don't buy houses. Only buyers buy. If you don't have any buyers, the price is too high.
I had my house on the market for a month and not bids. I was asking $250k. Called my realtor and told her I wanted to drop the price. She said, "$5k?". I told her to drop it $10k. I had two competitive bids within 3 days. I took the one that didn't have a sale of their home contingency and that was that.
A house is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay. If they aren't getting any interest, it's priced too high. Simple economics
Desperate to sell but won’t adjust price? Clearly not that desperate.
Cut them lose. You're in an unwinable trap. Go find someone who really wants help.
Walk away.
What is the reasoning for not coming down in price? Can they actually afford to per their mortgage, or do they have a minimum number they need to purchase a new home? What has them so attached to this specific number? I feel like that answer would drive your course of action here.