There were nine hundred expired listings in the Seattle area today. In one month or in three months of being on the market these nine hundred properties did not sell. One that i looked at today had reduced thier price by one hundred twenty thousand dollars.
To be fair this house with the huge price reduction has been on the market for over two hundred days. Each time the listing expired the owners changed Real Estate agents. The first agent was correct the property is worth six hundred thousand dollars. The second agent reduced to five hundred seventy thousand dollars and this last agent had one hundred thousand dollars worth of price reduction and this time when it expired they hired the same agent.
What’s the difference between the house that sells in two weeks and the house that can’t sell in six months? Location, price, and condition are the three factors affecting value. What’s being hammered home today is that the pricing needs to be in line with today’s market place. That’s true, but there are the other factors.
When your agent uses the same pictures at each listing cycle that’s wrong. Changing the pictures around, or doing a deep cleaning, taking the house off the market then reintroducing it, targeting a broader market segment, or demographic can all change the look and feel of a listing. There are tricks to the trade other than price.
The new batch of Real Estate agents have difficulties recognizing a down market. The Real Estate gurus all promote price reduction because that’s all they can do. From a remote central location, where most of these Real Estate trainers are head quartered, they can only advocate price as a broad based solution. In reality most of the biggest problems I’ve seen today is a lack of internet exposure with a competent agent to promote locally.
Pictures are so important; they make the first impression. Second is that the pictures need to tell the story on the internet. I have a virtual photo tour of every listing. In some cases I build a godaddy web site. On my website that is linked to my listings I have as many pictures as I can cram.
Once you have good exposure you want the property to look just like the picture you painted or better. I try to show everything in a good way including the draw backs. if you’re on a busy street prepare a potential buyer for that, in a nice way. Outdoor space is as important as indoor space, with the provision that the house and yard are equally represented. Some houses with killer yards can have the yard take over the presentation. This isn’t fair to a buyer who’ll be living in a house in the Pacific Northwest. At the same time if the only “away” space to a house is the deck or patio those should be featured, but in perspective.
Many people who began reading this blog for fixer information have an opinion about what can be done to make a property more marketable. That should be a part of the comfort level you have in marketing a property. What I have settled on is that a property should be as clean as possible. We can do anything with a property, but having it cleaned is the best money you can spend. I’ve toyed with the idea of offering a move in make over to be done before or just after closing.
As for the buyer pool today there are some exceptional values. While Real Estate agents are dropping prices there is some room to make offers. In the expired listing pool today there are many people who are desperate to make a deal. Some people have places they need to be. The couple who called me this morning have planned for retirement for thirty years. This is the season they have planned for. They own a house in Arizona and want to sell here to move there.
Both buyers and sellers should be aware of the market place here in Seattle. There are good and bad areas the same as there are good and bad agents. Hire experience, and what makes the most sense.
