“On a recent listing presentation, I did a market evaluation for an older, dated home. I concluded that the house was valued between $420,000 and $425,000. My suggested listing price was $429,900. The Sellers, however, wanted to list at $489,900—$60,000 more than I recommended.
I decided to take the listing and was surprised that there was good traffic, but it was still overpriced. I finally convinced the sellers to reduce the price to $439,900. That’s $50,000 less than they wanted, but now only $10,000 above the price I think it could sell at.
Within weeks after the price reduction I did get the sellers two offers on their home. But the problems didn’t end there, as two of the three sellers refused to include an existing old fridge and stove in the deal. Several back and forth offers later, the deal died.
After the listing expired they decided to list with someone else at $449,900—$40,000 dollar less than the original list price when I was working with them, but still overpriced. I still don’t think the home has sold.
If I could’ve convinced these unreasonable sellers to list at my suggested price of $429,900 from the start, the home might have sold in a few weeks because we did get traffic through the home. With a 3% commission, I calculate I lost $12,897—not to mention the time and expenses I put in. The listing presentation is the time to get sellers to agree to a price reduction, or walk away from the listing!”
