I Can Decline Your Listing!
I met with a Franklin TN home seller on Friday. Her home had recently expired and she called me to list her property. I am very thorough when preparing my Competitive Market Analysis. Not only do I run the comparable active listings but I also check the recently closed sales and even expired listings. I want to know what has sold and what has not.
Then I preview approximately five active listings in the neighborhood. If possible, I inspect homes with the same floor plan. If one isn't on the market, then I preview homes of a similar size and amenities in the neighborhood.
While I know this neighborhood very well, I wanted to be able to tell the seller I had recently been in the homes that would be competing with her home.
Since this is a large neighborhood with the same model currently for sale, I was able to very accurately price this home. I even contacted the on-site agent selling new construction in this neighborhood. The builder had discontinued building this model and I just wanted to confirm their reasons for doing so.
As I suspected, the floor plan wasn't very desirable. It had 3,200 square feet with a nice open floor plan but it only had three bedrooms. It seems that everyone wants four bedrooms now--no surprise there.
Equipped with my CMA in hand, I met with the seller to discuss the sale of her home. Having already spent considerable time on the phone with the seller, I sat down to discuss the results of my analysis. It was easy to see why her home hadn't sold. It had been previously priced about $50,000 higher than it should have been.
As I discussed my findings, it was clear that the seller was not prepared to price her home to sell. She tried to tell me that I was going about this all wrong. You see, her previous agent told her to take the price she paid, add the REALTOR's commission and then her desired profit to get the listing price. I informed her that her previous agent was incorrect and that was not the way to price a home.
She tried to go on and on about all the features her home had that others did not have to justify her asking price. Since I had just been in the other homes the day before, I knew her home had no additional features to justify her price. And because the floor plan was a less desirable plan, the best thing to do was price it less than her current competition.
After showing her all the recent comparable homes and even showing her photos of these homes with my iPad, it was clear she was not going to price the home right. I apologized for taking up her time and said there really wasn't anything further to discuss.
She was shocked. She had never heard of an agent turning down a listing. That's crazy. Who does that kind of thing? I do.
You see, Mrs. Seller, I spend a lot of time and money to market your home. If you're not going to price it right, then it is a total waste of my time and my marketing dollars to try and sell it. All the marketing in the world will not sell a home that is not priced right. I'm not in the habit of taking listings that won't sell.
If you agree to price the home to reflect the current market value, then we can do business. Otherwise, there is nothing in the Code of Ethics that dictates that I must take your listing. Mrs. Seller, I can decline your listing.
If you are currently looking to sell your Franklin TN home and want to meet with an agent who will prepare a very thorough Competitive Market Analysis, then give me a call. However, if you're not prepared to price your home correctly, then it's important for you to know I can decline your listing.
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Tammie White, Realtor® in Franklin TN
Cell Phone: (615)495-0752
This posting and the contents written here are the intellectual property and opinions of Tammie White of Benchmark Realty LLC. Providing real estate services to clients in Franklin, Brentwood, Nolensville, Thompsons Station, Spring Hill, Fairview, Leipers Fork, Nashville and the whole Middle TN area.
