by Neil Jenman
Reading time: Apx 4 mins
When I was an agent, there were two promises I made every seller. But first, I began by saying what I could never promise.
I cannot promise what price I will get you. And I cannot promise you when I will sell your property.
But I will promise you that I will sell your property as soon as I can.
And my best promise is this: Whatever price I end up getting you, will be higher than any agent (or person) could ever get.
Before I listed a home, there was one more point I wanted to make clear. I told the sellers that I could do no more than give them my best efforts. I asked if they expected more than my best.
Of course not.
Well, I then said, when I come to you with a buyer, you will have two choices: You can accept the offer and move on with your future plans. Or you can reject the offer and delay (or cancel) your future plans.
I did not particularly want to know the specific price the sellers wanted. And I certainly did not want them to reveal the lowest price they would accept.
I wanted to work with sellers who said: “We trust you to get us the best price possible in the current market. When that happens, we will sell and move on with our lives.”
Thank you.
What a pleasure it was to deal with sellers who said: “Neil, I trust you to do your best. We can’t ask for more than that.”
And so, whether I sold a property or not, I always kept cordial relations with clients. Treat people well and they’ll treat you well in return.
But sadly, not for everyone. And not all the time. Especially when a market cools.
In today’s cooling market – where the facts are unequivocal that prices are plunging in many areas – two types of sellers are emerging.
The first types are those who genuinely want to sell. They trust their agents (or else they shouldn’t have hired them) and they give a three-word instruction: Find a buyer.
These are the sellers who make it clear that they are willing to accept the reality of the falling market – and provided their agents are doing the best they can possibly do – they will sell for the best price their agent negotiates.
The second types of sellers are different. These sellers are – demanding. Many border on belligerent. A few are downright rude.
These sellers make it clear that they will not accept less than a certain price. Sure, many agents use conditioning to persuade sellers to lower their prices. But demanding sellers seem impervious to logical reasoning. Even if their agents have worked hard and done their absolute best, they are still demanding. Whatever offers they receive – no matter how much the agents plead or warn them – they refuse to sell.
They blame the agents. Never themselves.
These are the sellers whose homes are often languishing unsold in today’s cool market.
One of the secrets to doing well when interacting with other people is to see the situation from their side.
Imagine you are an agent.
In this cooling market you are encountering two types of sellers. The first tell you to do your best and get the best price possible. They assure you that they are genuinely keen to sell and will accept the best – if, of course, you do your best.
The other sellers are the demanding sellers. They tell you the price they want. They will say things like, “We are not in a hurry,” or “We are willing to wait for our price.”
If you were an agent which type of sellers would you want to work with? The reasonable ones who trust you? Or the demanding ones who tell you – If we don’t get “our price” we are not selling?
Of course, you work hardest for reasonable sellers, those who are genuine about selling and have assured you that they will accept the best on offer in today’s market.
In a cooling market, many demanding sellers don’t need an agent. They need a magician.
If you are selling your home in today’s market, here’s how to give yourself the best chance of selling for the best price.
First, do some research and select an agent you can trust. Ideally one that’s not going to charge you should they fail to sell your home.
Second, assure the agent that you will be selling your home. The best words you can say to inspire an agent to sell your home are: “This home is going to be sold for whatever is the best price we can get for it today.”
Third, do not – under any circumstances – be overly demanding. And never tell the agent the lowest price you want. Within a few weeks, a month at most, they will give up on you. Why? Because it’s much easier for agents to work with reasonable sellers than to tolerate the demands of unreasonable sellers.
Fourth, even if you feel disappointed, try not to be rude. If you upset your agent, this can backfire on you. Agents like to work hard for people they like. There is nothing worse for an agent than working hard, negotiating a great price (in today’s cool market) and then getting that price refused – often coupled with abuse.
If you refuse the best offer in today’s market, you may find yourself out in the cold. In a few weeks, as your home becomes staler, the value of your home will drop further (in the agents’ and the buyers’ eyes). Stale homes are like stale fruit – no one wants them.
Don’t compare the price you are being offered today with the price you may have been offered yesterday. Yesterday is gone. But tomorrow is coming. And the way the prices are going, there’s every chance that tomorrow’s price will be even lower than today’s price.
The price you reject today may be the price you wish you could get tomorrow.
So, if the price you are offered today enables you to move on with your life, then seriously consider accepting it.
If someone puts, say, $2 million on the table and you push it back at them, you are effectively buying your own home for the $2 million you could have got.
You’re supposed to be selling your home, not buying it.
So, if you get a fair price today, take it because it may be even less tomorrow.
Unless you are going to be a serious seller – which means that you are willing to accept the best price that the best agent can get you – then you are better off not selling in today’s cool market.
If you can’t keep your cool and accept that prices are doing down, well, don’t sell. Wait for prices to go back up.
When will prices go back up?
No one knows.
And that’s why, if you want to sell today, you need to keep your cool.
That’s the best way to get the best price for your home today.
All the best to you.
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