No, but it happens. I don’t know who your agent is, and honestly, I don’t want to know. What has become common in our industry is that a seller will want their home priced at a certain amount. Maybe not a realistic amount. Since prices have skyrocketed in this area, everyone seems to want a million dollars for their home. Even if the real estate market does not support this sales price for your home. But sometimes an agent will go along with your request, so they can get your listing under contract. Then when the home doesn’t sell, or gets an offer, or gets much interest for that matter, the agent will recommend that the sales price be lowered. This cycle will repeat itself again, and again, if the home still does not sell.
I wrote an article a few weeks back on properly pricing a home when you first list it. This is so critical. Your home will receive the most interest from agents and buyers when it is first advertised for sale. If the price is too high, you will lose that window of opportunity. Sure, you could get lucky and a buyer will pay your high price, but that is rare. In my decades of selling real estate, I can think of only one such occasion where this happened. A home I had sold for $600,000 was resold in three years for over $1.1M. No additions or improvements had been done to that home since I sold it to these folks. In fact, it had aged in some areas. I turned down the listing because in my professional opinion, the price was too inflated. Another agent took the listing. A buyer came along and paid the asking price in cash, with no inspections or appraisals being done on the home. And once they purchased it, they found out that it needed a new roof. An expensive roof as well at over $40,000. I know the roofer. So, yes, you could list your home at a high price and get lucky. The challenge is that if it does not sell at that price, the listing will age, and you will not get as much interest as you did when you first advertised it for sale. Agents know this, so now that they have you under a listing contract, they will tell you that your price needs to be reduced. And if it still does not sell this request will repeat itself. Is this ethical. No. But all industries, whether it is real estate, manufacturing, retail, have issues.
Any home, any product for that matter, will sell if the price is low enough. Is this truly selling? No, it is giving the home away. You don’t need an agent if you’re going to give the home away. Put a for sale sign in your yard advertising a low price and see what happens. The moral of the story is that when you first list your home for sale, price it properly. We all want a million dollars. We all believe we have the best home in the neighborhood. The best football team. The best dog. You get my drift? You need to detach yourself from the fact it is your home and look at it as a buyer would. Price your home properly. Hire an agent that will be real with you. Hire an agent that will not go along with all of your wishes. That should not be their job. Your doctor, accountant, attorney will advise you as to what is proper and correct, even if you don’t agree. Your real estate agent should do the same and lay out the facts as to what your home should be listed for in TODAY’S real estate market.
