Last year I wrote a post called Misconceived Pricing Strategies? about some of the thought processes I see with buyers and sellers. Obviously, both are fighting towards the same (and yet opposite) goals.
Category Archives: fsbo
Detachment…
- Friday, 31 October 2008 10:48
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 0 Comments
Being detached has its advantages. It’s being at an arm’s length…
In rockcrawling, there is the driver, and the vehicle… but that isn’t the whole team. There is another person. The other person examines the line, tunes it, pushes, pulls and cajoles the driver and the vehicle to get him through the course.
Dirty Little Real Estate Secret…
- Monday, 28 July 2008 22:54
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 1 Comment
I keep seeing and hearing about “dirty little secrets” that real estate agents won’t tell their clients. Most of them turn out to be pretty stupid points. However, today while going through my morning routine (dead-heading, so my brain needed something to do) I thought of the dirty little secret that FSBO companies don’t tell their customers.
What would my agent do?
- Wednesday, 30 April 2008 21:05
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 0 Comments
A month or so ago, I posed a question on ActiveRain. It was interesting, and another post I recently ran across brought it back up in my mind.
If you have a real estate license, would you still hire an agent to sell your home?
It is an interesting question to ask real estate agents for a couple of reasons:
- One of the reasons that REAs (real estate agents) give to unrepresented sellers (FSBOs) that they should hire an agent is because of the emotional detachment a neutral agent can provide.
- I see a lot of agents poorly representing themselves.
- Quite often on forums or venues that have a lot of anti-REA support, consumers will say that in order to save money they would be better off getting a license and doing it themselves.
And there are two comparisons I’m drawn to immediately when I think on this question.
- A mechanic will usually do their own repair work. They know that they can trust themselves to take more care of their car than someone else. They have all of the tools (and as REAs, we should too!). They have the ability.
- Lawyers generally don’t represent themselves. They pay another professional to handle it… while remaining emotionally uninvolved to the same level. Even though they have the tools and ability, it is in their best interest to hire out the job.
In the interest of complete disclosure, I don’t know if i will sell my own house when it is time to move. I think that I would market it better than another agent might… but I don’t have that emotional distance. My sons are growing up here. My wife and I bought this house from DisneyWorld while we were on our honeymoon. I don’t know if i would want to save the money, or if I would decide to hire it out.
But, the real reason for this post is this: I have been seeing a lot of agent owned properties for sale lately… and they are so poorly represented it isn’t funny. Few and/or poor pictures. Showing restrictions. Bad staging. Lousy descriptions. Over-priced. Every sin we rail against… right there for the world to see.
I know I won’t be hiring one of those agents…
Ready to actually sell your property? ZAG!
- Wednesday, 02 April 2008 14:09
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 2 Comments
Everyone in the real estate industry is zigging… ok, not everyone, but enough. Most real estate agents (and unrepresented sellers) think that tossing a couple ads on Craigslist and claiming the house on Zillow is an Internet Marketing Strategy. Most real estate agents are actually cutting back on their marketing efforts… money is tight, slow the spending is the mantra. Everyone is clamoring for buyers… afterall, it is a buyer’s market, and sellers are having a hard time competing… so abandon them and concentrate on buyers, they are bringing the money.
I’m going through the MLS looking for something in particular. And what do I see? I see properties in the MLS with no pictures. We are allowed a dozen. About 10% of listings have that many. Only about 20% have a virtual tour of any type. Property specific website? Almost immeasurably small percentage.
In order to sell, sellers need to have their property WELL represented and marketed.
When I started in real estate, I came in as a buyer’s agent. That still represents most of my business. At that time, agents wanted listings. Buyers were a dime a dozen, and listings were hard to come by. I saw a need for good buyer representatives. I was amazed at what I saw… and as the market reality shifted, I became more and more amazed.
When we were in a seller’s market, it was normal to see properties listed with two or three pictures (eight was the limit then). Descriptions were sparse. Online marketing was almost non-existent. Sales were easy, why spend money and time? But as the market shifted, sales weren’t so easy, and a new excuse was needed to not really market a property. Back to Money is tight, slow the spending.
I am transitioning to listing more properties. Sellers need someone that understands buyers. Being an agent for 100 years isn’t enough. I have dealt with too many “listing specialists” that have totally forgotten what sells houses, and have only managed to focus in on what sells themselves. Imagine having an agent that is supposed to be representing the best interests of the seller tell you… “It’s a numbers game. I know that only 20% of the listings will sell, so I just take more. If the seller isn’t realistic about price, that’s ok. I get business from having my sign in their yard.” And yes, that is a quote.
I can proudly say that my selling/listing percentage is 4x the market average… and climbing. I have built a portal that offers buyers a unique perspective on property, and is tailored to unique buyers. Instead of just an ad on Craigslist (which I have regularly), I am building a an internet marketing presence that works for properties with better than average garages. I am building single property websites with some killer options that are just not used in this market.
Google cool garages Atlanta or garage home Atlanta or house cool garage or 4+ car garage gwinnett. Did you notice that there were a lot of top spots held by Active Rain (for one of my blogs), LaneBailey.com (this blog), Blogspot.LaneBailey.com (my old blog, points to this blog) and GarageHomesUSA.com (my website)? I have page 1 rankings for ALL of those terms and many more. Everyday I get better in the Search Rankings for those and similar terms.
If you are selling a home in Gwinnett or the surrounding areas, I am ready to put this to work for you.