Selling – Info For Sellers

Selling Your Home: When A Discount Isn’t Really A Discount

Point Happy Estates, La Quinta

I received a call from a potential home seller a few months ago. “Joe” interviewed me about professionally marketing and selling his La Quinta home. The next month I noticed that Joe’s home was listed on the MLS with another local agent, so I called Joe to get his feedback on why he didn’t list his home with me. Joe told me that he choose agent “x” because that agent offered him a discount on his service fee.

“How’s that working out for you Joe?” I asked. Well it turns out Joe was not happy with how his home was being marketed and he had already decided to cancel his listing the next day. Joe has now agreed to list his home with me when he returns to the desert this fall. But what went wrong with the discount agent?

Finding Qualified Buyers

Not every Palm Springs area real estate agent offers equal client services or experience. The average agent invests just $1500 annually in marketing and only completes seven transactions per year. That likely translates into them investing about $100 in marketing each sellers home that they place on the MLS.

On the flip side, top-rated realtors usually complete dozens of transactions per year and typically invest thousands of dollars in marketing each home that they sell. For most top agents, to discount their services they would likely need to reduce their investment in the marketing of your home. Does that make sense?

The Big Question For Sellers

If a prospective agent can’t successfully negotiate their own service fee with a prospective seller, how good are they going to be at negotiating with potential buyers in getting you the highest price possible?

Palm Springs Real Estate: The Listing Price Too Good To Be True!

Crazy things are taking place in our busy Palm Springs real estate market lately, and it can be hard to keep up with for someone not up to the challenge. Fortunately, I am. It helps me to face it by completing a lot of transactions each year, as I’m able to keep a close eye on the pulse of our market, the inventory and, just as importantly, I develop a good understanding of how other Palm Springs real estate agents operate.

Telling It Like It Is

When I meet with a Palm Springs area home seller about selling their La Quinta home, I believe in telling it like it is. When it comes time to value the property, I keep to that policy, always backing it up with data to support my professional opinion.

I recently met with the owner of a home in La Quinta who had also met with a couple of other local agents they were considering for listing their home. One agent told the owners that their home was worth about ten percent more than I did. I disagreed and worked with the owner in proving out why I did.

La Quinta Home For Sale, At The Correct Price

I wound up winning the listing for this home seller and at the price I had suggested. Fast forward thirty days later, and guess what? The same agent who had just told the owners that their property was worth a lot more presented an offer to me from one of his buyer clients. The proposed purchase price, however, is now well below our asking price.

Mr. Agent then did an about face and declared that this same property is now overpriced! Go figure! My home seller and I had a few chuckles, and then we promptly rejected the offer. A few days later a better offer arrived from another buyer and this offer was quickly accepted.

Selling Your Palm Springs Area Home? Keep This In Mind When Selling

If you are interviewing agents to sell your La Quinta or Palm Springs area property, and they suggest a price that seems to good to be true, it likely is. This practice is called ‘buying the listing’, and it is more common than you think. Since no agent can guarantee your final sales price, the listing agent who suggests a high listing price could be attempting to buy the listing now and convince you as a seller to later reduce the price. When selling your Palm Springs area home, look for an agent who suggests a realistic value range that’s not too good to be true.

In today’s sellers market there is little danger of under pricing a home. Desert homes that are under priced usually receive multiple offers, thereby bringing the price up to or many times exceeding market price.

Sellers Tip: How Much To Market Your Palm Springs Area Home?

When I need a good chuckle I’ll take a look at some of the Q&A on some of the national real estate websites. Recently a home seller posted this question. “How much does a Realtor spend on marketing a listing?” A dozen or so Realtors chimed in with their answers and I found the answers to be, well - interesting.

Agent A: $200

The first agent disclosed, “I spend $200 to do an open house.” That’s it. He went on to say, “I’ve learned to budget well and I have a free real estate website.”

Agent B: Depends

“From some of the listings I see in the area lately, close to nothing! But to answer your question, I would estimate the marketing costs for an average property to be between $500 and $1000.”

Agent C: Impossible To Answer!

“Great question…impossible to answer. The money depends on the particular situation…. the amount however could exceed $1000 annually.”

Agent D: Not Very Much

“If the agent is a decent photographer and has decent computer skills (like me), they save by doing a lot of the work themselves.”

The Average Agent Invests Just $1,500 In Marketing Annually

Do these answers surprise you? I believe these answers are fairly typical in real estate today. And that's based on the National Association of Realtors poll which disclosed that the average Realtor invests just $1,500 annually in marketing. Further, the top ten percent of Realtors invests just $10,000 annually in marketing.

Dear Palm Springs Home Sellers; Ask For The Plan!

Palm Springs area home sellers deserve to know in advance how and where their property will be marketed. So here’s a tip: If you’re considering listing your desert home for sale, please ask to see a marketing plan. Look at everything your agent promises to do for you in marketing your home in advance. And yes, ask how much they plan to invest?

Selling Your Home: How To Maximize Your Selling Price

When most sellers interview real estate agents about selling their home, many get caught up in the process of choosing a sales price. The thought of receiving additional money for your home is a no brainer. Unfortunately many uniformed sellers often choose the listing agent who suggests the highest listing price. Realtors call this scenario ‘buying the listing’. These agents are hoping to sign the listing and then worry about getting the price reduced to the actual market value over the coming months when the seller doesn’t receive an offer.

Establishing The Right Value For Your Property

Truth is, the person whose opinion matters most is the buyer who makes an offer to purchase your property. Properties priced to high receive no offers. Properties priced a little to low generally receive multiple offers thereby driving the price up by receiving offers up to the real market value. There is little danger in pricing a home too low. The danger lies in over pricing and selecting your selling agent solely on their opinion of a higher value.

An agent’s job is to price the home competitively based on the most recent sales comps. Pricing a home is part science, part art and a whole lot of local market experience. It involves a combination of comparing similar properties, tracking the most recent market movement, evaluating current inventory and making adjustments for any differences between comparable properties.

Some Agents Specialize In Expired Listings

Hundreds of agents here in the Palm Springs area real estate market actually make their living by contacting the sellers of expired listings and then relisting these properties at market value. This process is called ‘re-packaging’ an overpriced property. Don’t let this happen to you. Don’t be the owner of an expired listing.