LAZY AGENTS MEAN LOW PRICES
by Neil Jenman
READING TIME: Apx 3.5 mins
Does this describe you – or someone you know?
Your house is listed for sale with an agent and nothing’s happening.
You call the agent and get voice-mail. You leave a message. The next day the agent calls. You are told to reduce your price. You will probably be given feedback based on “what the market is saying”.
You may also be asked to pay for an advertising “upgrade” on a major property web site.
DON’T DO IT.
Don’t drop your price and don’t hand over (or agree to pay) more money.
You feel miserable.
When you first thought of selling, the agent was promising you a high price and saying there were lots of buyers looking for a home such as yours.
But now, nothing.
Well, not quite nothing. You are being asked to do one or two things: Lower your price or spend more on advertising.
It’s infuriating.
Guess what? You are not alone.
Currently, there are more than 300,000 homes for sale in Australia. Thousands of home sellers are suffering the same frustration. Their home has been for sale for weeks. Nothing is happening. Other than low or no offers and the demand to lower your price or fork out more money for more advertising. Some agents love spending or giving your money away.
How things have changed from when you first interviewed the agent. As time goes on, your misery is likely to morph into fury. You start to get angry, really angry.
Well, in addition to anger, try and stay calm.
Understand what’s going on and try and fix things. In other words, get your home sold without having to “give it away” for tens of thousands below what you expected. Or what the agent promised you when you first signed-up.
Essentially, there are two ways agents can sell houses.
The first and most common way is the ‘place-ads-and-sit-and-wait’ way.
Yes, the agents put ads on the internet and sit back, like sleepy fishermen with lines in the water, waiting for buyers to bite.
If no buyers appear, the agents tell you to lower your price. If that doesn’t work, the agents will ask you to lower your price again.
Keep lowering your price until it sells.
To persuade you to lower your price, agents use what’s called “conditioning”. You get bombarded by gloomy news until you can’t take it anymore and you sell – at any price.
This is how most agents sell most houses. It’s why homes are short-sold. The cost of commission is tiny compared to the amount houses get under-sold.
What you must understand is this: Agents get a big commission whether they sell your home for a big price or a little price.
Therefore, the main aim of most agents is to make a sale at any price.
The second way that agents can sell houses is what the great real estate sales trainer, Tom Hopkins, called the “GOYA Method”.
This means “get off you’re a—” and do some hard work.
Agents, instead of sitting on your backside waiting for buyers, go looking for buyers. With enthusiasm.
Most agents get hundreds of enquiries each month from prospective buyers. The best agents follow-up prospects relentlessly. They will get on the phone with the sole aim of selling one house and they will call dozens, even hundreds of buyers and tell them about that one home.
They will say to each prospective buyer, “I have got a really lovely home I reckon you’ll love. When can you see it?”
They will make appointments with lots of buyers. They show the home with real enthusiasm because they know that: “Selling is essentially “transference of enthusiasm”.
This is exactly how one sales lady, Ning Widjaja, recently sold a home in Epping. When things went quiet and no calls were coming from buyers, instead of asking the owners to lower their price, Ning got on the phone and called dozens of prospective buyers. She told them all, “Hey, we have a lovely home, come and see it.”
After plenty of inspections the home sold for a great price and the owners were delighted.
As they later said, “Mr Jenman, she has done everything by your book. We are very happy.”
Big difference to the way many sellers are feeling these days as more agents use the “pandemic excuse” and scare owners by saying: “If you don’t drop your price, you’ll have to accept less when prices crash.”
So yes, there are two methods agents can use to sell a house. The sit-back-and-wait method or the GOYA method.
In summary, of course, there are two types of agents: Lazy agents and hard-working agents.
If your home is for sale and not selling, ask yourself: What sort of agent do we have?
If you have a lazy agent, do not even think about lowering your price. If you do lower your price, you are paying for the agent’s laziness.
If, on the other hand, your agent is hard working and has genuinely called dozens, maybe hundreds of buyers, and cannot get a sale, well, maybe you can consider changing the price.
Note we are not necessarily saying “lower” the price, we are saying “change” the price. And that’s another topic for another day.
For now, make sure your agent is not asking you to fund their laziness. The house in Epping was sold because the agent called dozens of prospective buyers. It may have sold for much less had the agent been lazy.
Don’t hire lazy agents.
And, if you are stuck with a lazy agent, dismiss them. Do it now. Call us on 1800 1800 18
There is nothing surer in real estate than this: LAZY AGENTS GET LOW PRICES.
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PLEASE NOTE: Our focus is upon helping consumers. Abuse from agents on our web site or Facebook page will be deleted, ignored or well publicised – it depends on our mood.
But one thing will never vary: We will never stop doing what we love most – helping polite and honest consumers get the best deal possible in real estate. And, of course, if any agents are serious about taking care of consumers, we’ll help you too. Thank you.
July 27, 2020 @ 10:46 am
How will I know if the Agent is hard working?
When will you be writing on the topic on considering to ” Change the Price”?
Thank you,
Elizabeth
June 26, 2021 @ 12:49 pm
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September 2, 2021 @ 6:50 pm
Hello. And Bye.