Be Sure You Avoid Sellers' Worst Mistakes

A recent snippet found in the daily Realtor news showed the Home Sellers worst mistakes are as follows.

• Over pricing the Home
• Relying too much on just comps
• Failing to take into account the homes web appeal
• Hovering During showings

OVER PRICING THE HOME:
Most of my success has come from making sure all of these are covered.  Starting with overpricing the home.  I will not take a listing if the seller and I are unable to agree on price.  Pricing a home too high is a waste of time for the Seller, Realtor and Buyer.  So it's best to price the home according to market value from the start and get it sold much more quickly.

RELYING TOO MUCH ON JUST COMPS:
I want to take my sellers and see the competition before we list the home.  If we base our entire strategy on what we see in pictures and on paper we could be missing the boat in a big way.  One must see a home to know for certain how it stacks up.  Perhaps one has a lot more living space, but needs updating and repairs.  There are too many variables to judge the competition without seeing it in person.

Take & Post A LOT of Pictures!

FAILING TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE HOMES WEB APPEAL:
The one thing I do that differentiates me so tremendously from my competition is photography and web marketing.  Having all the pictures in the world is useless if you don't take the time to post them.  When you're searching out homes to buy or just for fun you'll often find yourself not looking at homes with little or no pictures.  Well most other home buyers are the same.  No matter how small the home is there needs to be a minimum of 25 high quality pictures out there to be seen.

HOVERING DURING SHOWINGS:
It's never a good idea for sellers to be around for showings.  This makes the buyers nervous and will most times cause them to rush through the home missing many features.  It's also very hard to talk about the pros and cons of a home when a seller is present.  So whenever possible (Not bedridden) the sellers should vacate the home for all showings.  

Taking care of this and more has caused me to end up in the top 2.5% of all agents in the KC metro with respect for number of days on the market.  I pride myself on quick sales for close to asking price.  All of the steps mentioned above represent my "secret sauce" to accomplishing this.

Disclosed Dual Agency... Why you should avoid it.

There are many ways you can be represented by a Real Estate Agent in Kansas & Missouri.  One of the most nefarious is known as Disclosed Dual Agency (only legal in Missouri).  This is where the agent represents both parties and owes a fiduciary responsibility to both parties.  To realize how this is simply impossible one must understand the definition of "Fiduciary".

To operate in a fiduciary capacity one must provide the following services to their client; Obedience, Loyalty, Disclosure, Confidentiality, Accounting and Reasonable Care.  Just looking at the list you can probably already tell that it would be impossible to provide all these services to both sides in a transaction, such as disclosure & loyalty. 

It's simply not possible to hear from the buyer that they are willing to pay "x "& not tell the seller.  Or put the shoe on the other foot and know that the seller is willing to take "y", but don't tell the buyer that. This one little sticking point is what makes it hardest for me to understand why so many states still allow Dual Agency.

If I'm representing you as a buyer or seller, anything I can find out about the opposing party I'm supposed to share with you as my client.  If I can get their agent to blab about how much the clients are willing to deal so they can dump the property, we just found out that they are motivated and I need to disclose that to you.  Or if I'm working with you as my seller client and I know the buyers love the house and are willing to pay full price, then I should disclose that to you and advise you not take anything less than full price.

When you operate as a Dual Agent you know all this information on both parties.  It is impossible to remain loyal and still disclose.  This practice simply should be illegal in all states and no one buying or selling a home should allow for Dual Agency to be any part of it.  In the Kansas City metro there are over 8,000 Realtors.  Surely one of 8,000 would be willing to assist you buy or sell a home and remain loyal to you through the process.

If  a single Realtor wants to put a transaction together between two parties they can do so as a Transaction Broker.  This is where they are neutral and loyal to no one.  This is a suitable alternative if all parties agree and the Relator can still double dip on the commission, which is the only reason some Realtors love Dual Agency in the first place.

In closing I can find no place where Dual Agency is ever acceptable, I suggest to all people who ask me that they stay far away from it.  I'd be interested in your thoughts or comments... am I being a stickler on defining what our agency relationship and fiduciary responsibilities are?  Is it so hard when you find two willing parties to just operate as a transaction broker?  Let me know what your point of view is...

Attitudes in Real Estate

I've noticed an amazing trend in the Real Estate Industry. While talking to other agents out there I am finding that the ones who think the market is bad aren't doing very good and the ones that think the market is good are doing great.

Some of you may be quick to say something like; well if I was doing a lot business I'd think the market was good too. However you've got it backwards. Those of us with a positive attitude are able to succeed. The power of positive thinking isn't just some catchphrase heard at motivational seminars; it's really a deciding factor on your success in any given industry.

I can tell you people are selling homes (I should bring four new homes to market in the next three weeks) and there are buyers out in the market right now like crazy. I've seen my traffic skyrocket in the last week. Unfortunately I sold most of my inventory last month and I'm only seeing the traffic increase on my three current listings.

I suggest that if you are thinking of listing your home you should probably interview several agents and if you find some with a positive attitude and proof of sales then you're going to have success getting your home sold. If the only agents you interview have a long face and talk about how bad the market is right now, keep searching. Those agents most likely aren't going to do a great job marketing your home because they are predisposed to think there is no point in their efforts.

Every time I hear an agent griping about the market I get a smile on my face. That's because I know I have one less agent to compete with :) The buyers are thinking things are turning for the better, sellers seem to notice the fact we are getting better, and I would like to know when the lion share of agents will realize the market is actually better than it's been in two years!!

Let me know your thoughts... are you seeing positive things in our Real Estate market?

Home Buyer Tax Credit Ending

Here we are with just over a week to go until the home buyer tax credit expires. I would have assumed with the way all the experts were talking there would be an absolute frenzy of activity with people trying to get under contract by the April 30th deadline.

While the market surely has improved and I've noticed substantial gains in my business over the last month, I haven't seen a crazy frenzy of buyers trying to get in under the wire. Talking to some of my colleagues they seem to be in the same boat. A lot of business, but nothing to far above the normal spring jump.

I've mentioned in the past that a lot of industry "experts" were thinking the best plan of action would be to wait until after the tax credit expires to purchase a home. The rationale being that all the buyers will be under contract by April 30th and the prices will drop substantially (anywhere from 5% - 10% depending on which expert was speaking) in the first week of May.

I have to wonder if a lot of buyers are taking this advice. I've told several buyers I have been working with that I thought rushing out and buying a home before April 30th just to get a tax credit was foolish. There are a lot of factors that go into buying a home and taking the time to find the right home, in the right location at the right price isn't something that should be done hastily.

It will be interesting to see if my remaining three listings go under contract in the next week. I've put four under contract this month but I truly think that has more to do with spring time rebound than the tax credit. Perhaps I'm being stubborn thinking that the government really shouldn't be in the market in the first place. I'm excited for the tax credit to end because I'm pretty sure the Market is on the upswing and seeing it happen without government kickbacks will convince many people who are still unsure of the market conditions.

Just wanted to throw my opinion out there as a Realtor who's in the trenches daily. I look forward to your opinions and feedback, perhaps I'm way off base... what do you think?