When to drop price?

[Bob Crain]

If this isn't a FSBO and this property is in the mls then there definately needs to either be a price reduction, a buyers side commission increase, or both. Any home should sell at the right price. So there is an issue with the price.

Irene, my guess is that you don't take over priced listings judging by your numbers... I would also be willing to wager that your buyers don't buy over priced homes.

After reading the post a few times it appears that this is a FSBO. So it doesn't suprise me that there were so many people seeing the home with no offers. Let me explain...

Unless that market is a strong sellers market (low inventory) then the majority of people who view that home are looking for a discount. They view it with the "Real Estate Agents Commission" removed. This is one of the bigest reasons why the 4-6% of FSBO who actually manage to sell their own homes average a sale price of 13% lower then the person across the street who used a realtor.

[Irene M Ward]

BINGO! I think you've hit the nail on the head. That was definitely a FSBO and that was my assessment that at that price, the buyer would rather use an agent.

You are right to guess that I don't take overpriced listings. All of my clients are on referral - I don't need to waste their time or mine trying to market an overpriced listing. I might push the envelope but adjustments are made immediately if it's not showing. You're also right about me finding my buyers a deal. It's just the way I do business - but I realize it's not the way everyone does it.

Have a great day!

[site4re]

All:

My first post here, so go gently on me.

I live in Collin County, TX and am selling my house.
It has been on the market for also four weeks and
despite 34 showings thus far - a healthy number of
which were repeats - no offer as of yet. Feedback
from buyers has been excellent with the only negatives
being the absence of a pantry and the layout not
working for some people. No negative comments,
however, as to the list price or price per square foot.

The price of $240K is what the market in this particular
part of the world will easily bear but it is not, as they
say, "priced to sell". As I need to sell the house soon
due to an impending divorce, any thoughts as to what
pricing strategies I can employ so as to realize a sale?
By how much - and at what stages - should I lower the
price?

Thanks in advance,
Staffy

In my opinion you should just make MORE showings. MUCH MORE.

[Bob Crain]

In my opinion you should just make MORE showings. MUCH MORE.

Let me explain why this is a bad idea.
Realtors know that having an increased number of people marching through your house does Not necessisarily increase you chance of selling that house.

It does, by the way, increase the chance of something getting stollen (usually little nic nacks), of someone getting hurt on your property, and it increases your chance of being attacked. (yes this even happenes to realtors).

How does a professional Realtor decrease the chance of any of the above happening?

We Pre-Qualify people Before they go into a home. If we have an open house we also require people to sign-in to open houses, and we often have two agents at that open house. Another thing that many of us internet savvy agents do is host virtual open houses.

What is a virtual open house.
What I call a virtual open house is a combination of the maximum number of pictures allowed to be entered into the mls with a virtual tour. The virtual tour can be any of a number of types out there but the bottom line is that by looking at all of the photo's, slideshows, and video the potential buyer already knows if that home is right for them. Those that are the Most serious either contact us to get pre-qualified and set an appointment to view this home or they call their agents to view it.

A recent listing of mine: http://www.northcountyluxuryhomes.com/details.php?mid=6 , just received an offer after being on the market just over 60 days. It received over 31,000 views on Reltor.com and another 12,500 views via my website, yet my clients lives were not completely disrupted in the process of "showing their home".

Many agents go the oppsite route and beleive that posting either ZERO or only a few photo's of the property will generate more calls They also will hold an open house every weekend.



BTW, I do usually have ONE traditional open house. I combine it with the Broker Carivan and advertise it to the neighborhood and in the paper 1 week in advance. That way any unrepresented buyers, or the neighbors, can come by and see the home, I can pitch to them why they should use our team to sell their home and, the brokers/agents can preview the home.

[site4re]

So you propose not to advertise your real estate? Not to make any listings?

Even if there are some minuses in that you should do it anyway if you want to sell it - otherwise nobody will even know about you're selling something (maybe exactly what he needs).

[judyo]

That is not what any of us are saying here. You can give all the advertising and marketing in the world but if a home isn't priced correctly no one will purchase it.