I really love my job! I deal with people every day, and when my efforts are successful my clients are happy. I deal with agents every day too (yes, they are people too), and there aren’t so many who are happy these days. Some people who are trying to sell their homes in today’s market aren’t happy either. Everyone wants top dollar for their home and, in their perception, they aren’t getting it. Frustration ensues, and a feeding frenzy of negativity between agents and sellers surrounds them like a huge, dark cloud. It just doesn’t have to be that way.There are several things that sellers can control when placing their home on the market.

• Timing - Most of the time sellers can control the time of year their property is to be introduced to the market. Some times are better than others.
• Price - Completely controlled by sellers. Realtors may recommend a range in which to price but the listing price is solely controlled by the owner of the property.
• Condition - I always recommend areas of improvement when preparing a property to list. Sometimes a home needs paint, sometimes cleaning, sometimes a whole lot more than that, but sellers control the maintenance and condition of the home. If you have a property for sale and it is messy or cluttered, only you can correct that.
• Terms - When an offer comes in, your tolerance level dictates whether it is acceptable. Most of the time a counter-offer reflects what you really want, but sometimes sellers aren’t ready for what they see. An offer can start a chain of events that takes time, but the events are sometimes consolidated into 24 or 48 hours. Not good! Read on.

There are also a couple of things that are controlled by the market. They are simply beyond a seller’s and agent’s span of control:

• Competition - Houses are placed on the market every day, and pricing these days is sometimes not reflective of actual market conditions. Nevertheless, it’s out of our control. We don’t decide the prices of other homes. We instead want to use them to your advantage.
• The Economy - We cannot control interest rates, the media, or general buyer sentiment that results from economic issues.

What do agents control?

• Promotion - We control how to market your property for sale, where and how to advertise, and use our networks to help get your house sold. My marketing plan is similar in some respects to that of other Realtors, but I am a lot more personal about it. List with me to find out just how aggressive I really am…but I digress…this isn’t about me! I want to write about seller’s loss!

So, out of all of these elements and so many variables between them all, who controls how quickly a house sells? Is it the agent? Sometimes, but he controls only one element of the sale. Is it the seller? Sometimes, but she controls only four of the elements of the sale. Is it the market? Sometimes, but interest rates and the economy wiggle every day. Is that crystal clear to you?

Let’s look at the primary element of any given home sale; the price. If your home is priced right, given all of the other variables in the home sales equation, it will sell. I promise!

Let’s say seller x lists his property at $700,000 when everything comparable to him in his neighborhood is selling for $600,000. (more…)