SarahGray Lamm ~ Chapel Hill / Carrboro / Durham Real Estate Blog ~ Agent Outlier

Have you seen the Geico commercial about how you’d have to be living under a rock not to know what’s going on? Same goes for real estate - sellers would have to be living under a rock not to know that there is something up in real estate.  In my experience, most sellers are NOT living under rocks. That’s why they call a professional when they are thinking about selling.

They call us because they need an honest, forthright assessment of how their situation is affected by the contradictory headlines and media stories they are bombarded with daily. They call us because they want help, reliable help, with deciding how they should proceed.  They call us because they want the truth about what they are up against: in their neighborhoods, in their price ranges, in their market areas. They need to know what they can truly expect should they decide to jump into the swirling water that is real estate in 2011.

I read a lot about how agents should be willing to walk away from an unrealistic seller. Why spend marketing dollars on a listing you know will never sell? I also hear how some agents feel they should go ahead and take an overpriced listing and “teach” the seller what they need to know about the market by letting them get kicked around by buyers agents and buyers who will show them what they “don’t want to hear” from their own agent…like that the house is overpriced, not in good condition or not in high demand.  I feel strongly that neither of those scenarios works in the best interest of a seller who calls me because s/he really wants to hear the truth. Telling a seller the unvarnished truth about what is going on in the market in general and in their community and neighborhood in specific is the ONLY thing that works in their best interest. The TRUTH is neither good nor bad. It is simply the facts and conditions as they exist for each specific seller.

When I go on a listing appointment I am armed with everything I know about the home and neighborhood.  I have local, regional and national information that will help a seller understand EXACTLY what it will take to sell their home.  I have graphs and charts and marketing information and systems but MOST IMPORTANTLY I am prepared to listen. I need to know WHY they are exploring the option of selling and what they hope to accomplish. After I completely understand those two things we run the numbers on different scenarios and discuss their options. Once they have a truthful assessment of their situation, if they are still positive that moving forward with a sale is the right thing for them to pursue, we can then get down to the nitty gritty of discussing the listing and preparation of their home for marketing.

I have walked away happily from more than one potential listing this year WITHOUT a listing, knowing that, with my help, the sellers made the RIGHT decision for themselves. Some chose to rent their home, some chose to renovate (on which I will gladly consult to ensure the home remains sale-able in the future) and some chose to stay put.  Many more chose to sell. Those sellers are the ones who are not only in a great position to do so but they are ready for the challenge and excited about their opportunities.

If what you really want is for the seller to make the best decision for their personal situation you won’t need to worry about competing for the listing when the time is right for them to sell, you will have earned it.