We know that a competitive market price is imperative to getting a home sold. Grossly overpricing a property can cause it to sit on the market and fail to sell. But is price the only thing that effects what a home ultimately sells for?
Let’s look at Mary. She wanted to sell her home so she could move for a new job in St. Louis. She hired an agent to sell her home. The agent happened to know that the next-door neighbor was interested in buying another home in the neighborhood for her in-laws.
Mary’s agent talked to her neighbors and they offered Mary $250,000 for her property. She took the offer. Seems like a great scenario, right?
What Mary’s agent failed to do was to fully advertise the property. Because it was not listed on the MLS and because no sign was ever placed in Mary’s yard, very few people ever knew the property was for sale.
Mary was appalled when just weeks after she sold her property, a nearly identical property in the neighborhood was advertised and sold for $280,000. Could her home have sold for the higher price? She will never know, because her home was not fully exposed to the market.
Bottom line, Mary was out big money because her agent failed to fully market the home.
Here is a similar story. Marsha and John inherited a home in a hot neighborhood. They spent a good amount of time cleaning up the house and getting it ready for the market. They hired an agent from a reputable company and put it on the market.
The agent had a solid marketing plan, used professional photography and got an offer within hours of listing the home. The offer was for the full asking price of $199,500.
Fantastic scenario, right? What the agent didn’t consider, and where he cost Marsha and John money, was that in the competitive market they were selling in-they would most likely receive multiple offers.
Because Marsha and John took the first good offer, they missed the opportunity to receive other offers and negotiate for an over asking price sale. In fact, later in the day, after they had already accepted the first offer, three other offers were presented. Two of those were for over asking price. One was a cash offer $10,000 over asking price.
Marsha and John lost money on their sale because their agent did not allow enough time to receive and negotiate other offers.
Keep reading for strategies that will help prevent you from falling into either of these situations.
To Read this entire series go Here 0r click the image below to get your free e-book: Hoberg Home's Guide to Hard to Sell Properties
