I was watching an excerpt of the CEOS of the major financial institutions being interviewed by the Congress and one CEO said, “We need to embrace the new reality”.
This reminded me that Sellers and Real Estate agents need to also embrace the new reality. What this means is that Sellers have to aggressively price their homes; bring them to as model-perfect condition as possible and pick an excellent realtor to represent them in their selling journey. As real estate agents we need to refuse to take listings that are not priced as well as, or optimally better priced than all the competition. We need to keep abreast of the current market conditions which includes previewing all homes that come on the market that are in competition with the Sellers’ home and recommend price reductions based on the new information; call back all agents that show the house for feedback and recommend changes if needed based on the agents comments; let all agents who have showed the home know when a price has been reduced or a minor improvement is made; encourage the Sellers to make the home as accessible as possible–all homes should be on keysafe; the home should be able to be shown with little notice; and the listing agent should not be required to accompany the buyer’s agent — are just a few of the ways to make access easy; and all offers should be encouraged–even a low offer–it makes the buyers more interested in the house and perhaps even if the first offer is way too low, in time the buyers will come up to a more reasonable price. The list of things a good agent should do for the Seller is extensive, but these recommendations are a few highlights that a real estate agent should do in the present market that is very much a Buyers’ Market. It is time we all embrace the “New Reality”.