A HUMBLE AGENT IS ONE THAT’S JUST SOLD THEIR OWN HOME
A humble real estate agent is one that’s just sold their own home in this market. My wife and I recently SOLD our home. I’m proud to say we did it in 3 weeks and got within 99.9% of the asking price. Our homes asking price was in the slowest selling price range in the Smyrna / Atlanta real estate market. I’ve had several astonished people and agents contact me to see how I accomplished the sale in the current market?
The answer is simple. I took my own advice. I had and appraisal from 2006, I knocked 6% off the top. Got my house in tip top shape and this smoked the surrounding Smyrna /Vinings competition.
I’ve been saying for some time now that price, condition and staging is the winning combination for maximum return. One without the others will not work in most cases. I have a great testimony to share with you. There was another home for sale across the street from mine. It was priced 14K under mine. I felt hands down I had the better home, as all homeowners think they do. In no way was the price enough to make a difference. But I kept noticing that home was getting much more buyer traffic than mine. I knew most of the showing agents so I called them to see why my home wasn’t shown. They informed me the buyers were looking up to a certain price and I was missing the top end price by 14K. I was like… holy, moly, 14 K difference…. give me a break!!! Make me an offer?? But with no showings, you’re not going to get an offer, plain and simple!! This is proof that being in the right price range or bracket is very important. You must consider what your home is worth and then research if buyers are in that price. You must be within that range to sell! If you’re not, then it’s like setting a baited fishing hook just above a school of fish. If you’re not a fisherman what happens is the fish never sees the worm. You have to drop it in their sight! Same difference!
You see it didn’t matter my home was bigger, larger lot, custom wall treatments, finished basement, etc. It was first and foremost about price. We had beautiful curb appeal but it just wasn’t enough to bring the buyers in. We made the downward price adjustment and it went under contract within days. I’m like every other seller out there, I wanted more but I wasn’t going to get it in this market. I feel your pain. It simple doesn’t work in today’s real estate market to start out high and think you’ll get an offer and negotiate from there. The only paper (contract) you’ll see is the AJC newspaper on your front door every day.
A recent survey by Zillow.com claimed 62% of the homeowners surveyed claimed their home had either appreciated or stayed the same in value over the last 12 months; the reality is 77% of those surveyed homes had decline in value in the past 12 months. The day when an agent priced a home just using the MLS comp’s are over. You need an agent that’s in the market everyday and can provide you with numerous facts and data to support the correct asking price to sell to today’s buyers. Pricing your home correctly is very, very important! The slightest adjustment may make things happen! I’m proof of it!
