Today's MSNBC has a great article all Realtors should read:
Part of the article says:
A recent Coldwell Banker report showed that more than three-quarters of its real estate agents surveyed said most sellers have unrealistic initial listing prices for their homes.
Likewise, an unscientific study released last week by real-estate Web site Zillow.com found that half of homeowners polled think their home's price has increased or stayed the same in the past year.
I personally seem to spend more and more time of my day consoling home sellers and assuring them that YES the reason we are not getting showings/offers is that the market has FALLEN. And yes, your home, too, has fallen in value. No it's not nice. No it's not fair, but it's true. The above article should be printed out and sent to every home seller we have who believes their home is immune to today's market.
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Erica Ramus is Broker/Owner of Realty Executives in Pottsville, PA.
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Erica - I missed the article but will check it out. Reality can be a hard concept to take heed too.
All sellers think their homes are worth $$$$$$$ and buyer think it's worth $ (especially now). Getting sellers to see their personal upgrades aren't worth wht they paid for them... it's so hard.
Erica, I just got off the phone with a client, who believes this to be true, She currently off the market and I've given her the comps, here comes the battle again...
Looking for some Divine intervention here!!! Please
Good luck Paul!
We all like to believe our houses are worth more then the one down the street and you CMA doesn't mean much because they know of houses that have sold for more.
Erica - I have some buyer clients who had a home to sell on the west coast. They were in denial about the falling prices and we sure that their home's value had not dropped. Now after 10 months and finally dropping the price significantly their home has sold and we have a contract on a home in Virginia for them. She emailed me last week with the link to this article and said that if she had listened to her agent instead of being in denial about her home's market value it would have saved her a lot of grief.
I noticed this problem more rampant last year (2007) more significantly than this year. They seem to be more realistic after seeing the expireds, price reductions that I bring to the meeting. I'm always upfront and prepared for these objections.
Gene--How true. Most sellers seem to have an inflated perception of their value. It's so personal to them, it hurts to think their house could be worth less than a neighbor's or less than what they have into it.
Pam--If only they had listened a year ago!
Loreena--YES. I find it's easier to get price reductions this year, after you show them the numbers. Could be the media's negativity is HELPING us with this one.
Thanks for sharing this article since I missed it. I have had several of these kinds of sellers and I have also walked from several listings recently when sellers were in LA LA land.
Tim