“Lose ‘em at the door, not on the floor!”
Published January 24, 2008 by Terry Rush CremiaI just commented on another post and ended with the above quote, a favorite old restaurant saying that I learned as a stressed young hostess juggling waiting lists of angry, hungry would-be diners waiting (too long) for their tables.
I can’t cite my source because it was 20 years ago and I can’t remember who I first heard say it, but it certainly helps make a point.
The quote’s genius is that it rings true for many business ventures–better to lose someone’s business very early on in the relationship because they don’t like what you have to say, rather than later after you have already done a lot of unappreciated work for them with no reward.
I’ll bet lots of agents around the nation have done unappreciated and unrewarded listing work, and blamed themselves for not finding buyers for their sellers. AND many sellers who have blamed their Realtors for the same, when both together never put a proper price on the property.
FAIR MARKET VALUE IS DICTATED BY BUYERS, PERIOD. It’s what a buyer will pay and what a lender will lend, and it fluctuates. Deal with it constructively.
A Realtor should meet with every potential seller with the guts and guns to tell it like it is. They should never sugarcoat what they tell a seller just to “buy” the listing. What a waste of the seller’s, the Realtor’s and the brokerage firm’s time! The emotional toll on the seller is great, and it is on the agent, too, even though agents are more seasoned to take the abuse.
If the property is simply not priced right from the very beginning (with reasonable wiggle room, naturally) then there is NOTHING anyone can do–not staging, de-cluttering, repairs, flood lights, dancing bears, photoshopping out power lines, free Hummer with purchase (really!), free week at a Florida resort (really again!)–NOTHING an agent or a seller can do to get a buyer to bring an Offer.
IF the property is priced right AND the agent and seller try some of these other tricks, THEN the chances are much better that the reward will come for both in the form of a reasonable buyer with a reasonable offer so you can all make a deal happen, be happy and move on.
Being tough “at the door” can help everyone involved later “on the floor.”
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