Diving for Shiny Things
478 words - 1 min 54 sec read.
Some agents figure this out early. Others take a long time chasing their tail looking for business and never get the benefit of their labor. But certainly, every agent has to learn this lesson.
On a recent coffee meeting with an awesome young agent who just joined our brokerage, Best Homes of Michigan, we talked about the lessons he’s learned along the way. He recently met with sellers who owned the most expensive home he’s ever listed – worth more than a million dollars. Not to be out-done by the competition he hired a staging consultant and assembled an incredible listing presentation and marketing plan of action. Anyone would have been truly impressed by his work – anyone, except the sellers. They didn’t like the results of his CMA, felt the offer price (which was spot on) was far too low. And since they built the home themselves, hearing their 40 year-old, honey-oak kitchen cabinets may not appeal to modern buyers was too much for them to bear. They smiled slightly and stood up. The sellers said that even though the agent had been highly recommended, it was obvious he was not the right person to handle such a distinguished property.
Not all listings are good listings.
That’s quite a story. So, whadja learn because of it?
I learned that not everything shiny is worth diving for.
No one could say it better. The last step in your listing presentation is a brief but important question you must ask yourself – Will these people be reasonable? If your gut says no, either stand up and leave or else lay out your plan clearly and let them choose to except or reject it. Trust your gut. Don’t give an inch. "But wait", you might say, "I haven’t earned a commission in weeks and my parakeet needs to be fed." It doesn’t matter. You’ll waste time and money trying to make those people happy but they never will be. They will reject reasonable offers. They will not listen to your counsel. And in the end, they will blame you for not “doing enough”. Been there. Done that.
On the other hand, if potential clients are reasonable, I don’t mind taking a listing that is overpriced or presents poorly. And, I’ll always add this phrase: “The truth is we can’t know the future so we don’t know how much a buyer is willing to pay for this house, But, within 2 weeks after this home is exposed to all the buyers in the market, we’ll know everything we need to know about selling it. We’ll track all tours and listen to their feedback. And if no one shows up, that may be the loudest feedback of all. So, if you’re willing to make adjustments according the feedback, we can get your home listed this evening.”
And that listing may be a shiny thing worth diving for.
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