Do agents ever have home sellers who want to overprice their listings? That’s like asking if you’ve ever met a kid who likes candy!
As a top agent, you know how critically important it is to price your listing right in order to get it sold. Overpricing guarantees your listing will languish on the market. Languishing means that the home usually sells for less than it could have, had it been priced correctly from the get-go! That’s why we spend so much time trying to convince our sellers to price their home correctly on day 1.
The two most common hard ways to determine that magical “right” price are:
1. Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) - Search the MLS for comparable closed sales. Add or subtract for relative strengths and weaknesses of your listing.
PROS: Scientific and factual.
CONS: Sellers latch onto whatever information gives the highest price.
2. Peer Agent Pricing Opinions – Invite other agents to render their opinion of price. Throw out the high and low and take the average.
PROS: Closer to real market value.
CONS: Only as good as the agents you invite. Seller latches onto the highest opinions and dislikes those agents with lower opinions.
And the easiest way to price a listing is? (Drum-roll, please…)
3. Ask Seller for his Price, then subtract 10-20% - During the listing presentation ask, “What do you think is the right price?” Depending on property and market, the correct price will be 10-20% below that.
PROS: Super easy and most accurate.
CONS: Requires you to convince the seller that he is unrealistic.
Check it out for yourself. Examine your last few closed sales. Recall what price the seller originally told you they expected and compare that to the closed price. Unless you are in one of those rare, multiple offer markets you’ll find that most of your listings closed for 10-20% below the seller’s stated valuation!
Congratulations to Joshua Burns of Top Agent Network Marin whose Mill Valley, CA “1Br House” listing was published in this week’s “Best properties on the market” section of The Week magazine (click to view). That makes TAN’s 17th placement in the past 10 months!
Congratulations to David C. Gilbert of Top Agent Network Marin whose Belvedere, CA “Carriage House” listing was published in this week’s “Best properties on the market” section of The Week magazine (click to view). That makes TAN’s 16th placement in the past 10 months!
Congratulations to Bert Aronson of Top Agent Network / Monterey Coast whose Carmel Valley listing was published in last week’s “Best properties on the market” section of The Week magazine (click to view). That makes TAN’s 15th placement in the past 9 months!
Congratulations to Patricia Navone of Top Agent Network/Marin and Regina Magid of Top Agent Network/Santa Barbara who have recently had their listings published in The Week’s “Best properties on the market” section. That makes TAN’s 13th and 14th placements in the past 9 months.
Particia Navone’s Tiburon, CA listing scored with its “Balcony” theme in the
August 5, 2011 issue.
Regina Magid’s Santa Barbara, CA listing scored with its “Sports Court” theme in the August 19, 2011 issue.
Be on the lookout for next month’s themes announced via email. Your listing could be next!
TAN just completed two research studies on real estate market dynamics and TAN usage. We thought you would want to see these exciting results: There’s power at the top: 
TAN helps member agents in powerful ways:
This overview of the pocket listings market published in the 5/4/11 New York Times highlights the powerful advantages to real estate agents and their clients of using Top Agent Network (TAN). TAN was designed to help top-producing agents do this kind of specialized, off-market networking extremely efficiently, giving agents and their clients immediate access to vital, otherwise private, information and more strategic options for effective home sales. Read the article:
It’s not Listed. But It’s Definitely for Sale.
Congratulations to Maureen Wilbur of Top Agent Network’s Contra Costa South chapter whose listing, featuring an elevator, appeared in last week’s “Best homes on the market” section of The Week magazine.
The Week reaches 500,000 highly affluent and educated print readers and over 1 million web viewers.
Three member agents from San Francisco hit the jackpot by getting their listings placed in this week’s issue of The Week Magazine. TAN works closely with the editors of the week to showcase the listings of our member agents. As a result of these efforts, this is the fifth issue in three months that featured properties from Top Agent Network members. Each “Best properties on the market” feature is read by 500,000 print readers and 1 million web viewers. Clients have been very impressed!
Congratulations to TAN Members Pete Brannigan, Joan Gordon and David Cohen, and Ana T.L. Dierkhising for making this week’s section of “Best Properties on the market”.
Top Agent Network’s (TopAgentNetwork.com) new public-facing website is designed to help bring you new clients and impress existing ones. It does so by specifically pointing out to buyers and sellers the many competitive advantages of working with you, a TAN member agent.
With its clean bold look and crisp layout, new clients will find you and your existing ones will be glad they did!
Add this to your continually expanding list of TAN marketing resources