Tuesday I showed 15 houses in Southwest Minneapolis. I normally show about 8 houses at the most to a buyer at one time. It gets so confusing and tiring to show more than that. In this case my buyer had taken the day off work, so we needed to push it to the limit. We did push it to the limit. In the end ,even with good note taking, they had a mixture of pictures in their mind of houses.
What they did come away with was the impression that most of the sellers were not motivated to sell. Pets, smells, unkempt houses, poor yard work, lack of updating, over-pricing, and lack of information about the property when viewing were common aspects about the properties. Of the 15 houses,three were kept in the running. The others were dropped off the list for various reasons. The buyers continued to ask the question, "Do these people really want to sell?" They would make suggestions such as; replace outdated kitchen appliances, paint the front door, prune the trees, contain the dog, replace worn bed spreads, deciliter kitchens, and open the blinds. None of their suggestions were that costly or hard for the seller to do. The buyers did note that the longer the house had been on the market,60+ days, the more tired and unkempt the property looked.
My point is this. If an untrained buyer can pick up on this, then why did a trained listing agent let the house continue to be on the market with these objections? Buyers have too much product out there,and they will not settle for less. It is important that as listing agents we stay in contact with our sellers and keep them informed on how the market is reacting to the property. None of us can hit it dead on target when we list a house, but all agents have the ability to make adjustments as the listing continues.
I am often asked why my listings are selling in this challenging market. My answer is that I am very honest with my sellers and share the feedback with them of what the buyers are saying. If three buyers say they do not like the color of the kitchen, then I guess it is time to change the color of the kitchen. I do not have fairy dust to sprinkle on a house, but I do have years in the business and the courage to tell a seller when things are not going right. I want my properties to be on the save list of a buyers' list and not the dropped list.
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