Real Estate Agents Rejecting Delusional Sellers
In Boston, where the market has cooled faster and more dramatically than in New York, real estate brokers are figuring out that it’s a waste of time to take on clients who have overinflated ideas about what their homes are worth. At ERA Boston Real Estate Group, brokers were specifically told last week not to…
In Boston, where the market has cooled faster and more dramatically than in New York, real estate brokers are figuring out that it’s a waste of time to take on clients who have overinflated ideas about what their homes are worth. At ERA Boston Real Estate Group, brokers were specifically told last week not to bring in any “grossly overpriced listings.” Brian Rugg, an executive vice president at ERA, put it this way: We are telling people you have to go after everything you find – and you have to price it realistically for today’s market. So how ’bout it brokers: Are you finding yourself walking away from listings because of the unrealistic expectations of sellers?
RE Agents Nix Overpriced Listings [Boston Herald]
I think that the gross overpricing we see on some properties is a combination of agressive sellers and desperate agents. When an agent is faced with something or nothing, many will choose something (meaning the overpriced listing). Personally, if I think the seller is fair and maybe just wants to “test the water,” I will price it where they want, but I make it absolutely crystal clear to my sellers that a price reduction is in order if there is no activity on the property (even though this is not ideal). My duty as an agent is to make sure my sellers have the best and most accurate information to base their decision on. If I truly feel that a seller is unreasonable, then I will pass on their listing b/c in the time that it will take me to attract interest to their overpriced listing, I could have sold a few properly priced ones. Just my thoughts though…
Angry Young Broker,
Your post was excellent and well put. Have you thought of starting your own website? I sense there is a lot of pent up anger amongst you brokers. Your site would give you and your brethen a place to commiserate. Even though I’m just a layman, I’d check it out regulary. Just an idea. . .
It makes me feel suspicious & alienated when people use the word “competences” the way that Abe H. just did. I wouldn’t buy any of those technologies, no matter how much competence stood behind them.
some sellers are nuts! their house was worth about 500k and their neighbors were selling for that. so i offer them about the market price for it. they were selling theirs for 750k, they laugh at me and hangup on me. and i call back to make sure i didnt get the wrong number. so i made the offer again and they laugh and hangup! the house didnt sell for over a year.
Dear Angry Young Broker: If you want to get away from the high expectations blame game drama, do not go to law school. All the best people are getting MBA’s nowadays.
As a broker, I want to make deals, not let a property sit on the market for six months getting offers that the seller won’t take. We have listings where the seller has a bottom line and WILL NOT BUDGE if they fail to get the desired amount, regardless of the condition of the home, comps in the area…For example, if the seller wants $850K in his pocket, we need to get that plus our commission. If we get an $851K offer, we get $1,000…that doesn’t even cover our advertising costs. We have many sellers who are simply not motivated. They do not need to sell, nor do they particularly want to unless the price is astronomical. Like an above poster mentioned, they think they are going to hit the jackpot. These are the same people who don’t allow you to put a sign up and make it very difficult to show the house. After a while, we stop advertising and showing the property. It’s a waste of time and money.
In addition, it is so hard to get listings as it is, we will take one with an unrealistic price. We will try to get a price break just to rid ourselves of the property, however, we do have fiduciary responsibilities to the sellers to get them the best possible price.
I can’t speak for all brokers, but I find the sellers to be the ones that are greedy, not just the brokers. In markets such as Red Hook, sellers are pricing properties they purchased for peanuts and without any major renovations for outlandish prices that the market is just not ready for and they can be downright nasty to you when you bring in an offer that they feel is too low. I think we get the short end of the stick in most scenarios because we are always getting blamed.
Is it too late for me to go to law school?
seems to me that the market is functioning. people ask too much for something, noboby will buy it, eventually the price goes down. lots of people want something, the price goes up. real estate is a very clear market, if you take the emotion out of it. why blame people for trying to get the most money they possibly can for their property? if someone buys, good for them, if not, they’ll sell for less or not sell at all. this isn’t “killing the market”, this IS the market at work.
Actually, it’s overly greedy sellers that have killed the market. Everyone expects to make a windfall akin to winning the lottery when they sell their house.
I’ve turned down overpriced listings. I just sold one that came back to me at a more reasonable price. There are always going to be agents that take an overpriced listing; they can get buyers out of it, at least.
Bloggers’ opinions of real estate agents are so funny. Supposedly we underprice to sell things quickly (I’ve read that hear many times before), and then we are responsible for “killing the market” with our overpricing. Which is it?