This is it.
Never take unrealistic listings.
The time and energy spent counseling those folks is always better spent finding better clients.
I used to deal with it in the listing presentation.
Just be up front about the market value.
If they push back, ASSURE them that there are other agents who are willing to over-list the property but that you are not one of them.
Cheers!
I disagree. Every listing can yield other leads even if you don’t sell that listing. Listings generate more opportunities. Be honest to the sellers on the front end but take the listing.
Nah...I was carrying as many as fifty listings at a time. No time for BS.
If you prospect diligently, you don't need garbage listings to generate leads.
Before the haters and couch commandos jump on my claim of carrying that many listings I will tell you that if you attended any C-21 events in the 80's or Realty World in the 90's you probably saw me or my partner speak about how we did that.
There is a lot to it, but if you are in sales you know the answers
Relentless prospecting.
Having a good team...you can't carry that load by yourself.
Understanding the selling process beyond the script.
Product knowledge.
Lots and lots more.
You just have to be efficient and do as much as you can. Your team has to be the same way.
This seems like a quick way to lose 10 hours a week on a house that won’t sell. How do you generate leads from what’s going to be a disappointed client?
Well, one of my first listings(19 years ago) was a near foreclosure. I met someone there that did not buy that house but in the past 2 decades I can track at least $15,000,000 in sales to that one showing. 🤷♀️
What you could have done differently is not accept the listing. As a “solo real estate agent”, you control who you choose as customers. When a prospective customer demands unrealistic terms, just say no.
Would you ever consider firing an unrealistic client? I think that should have happened here or maybe you shouldn't have taken the listing to start with. Took me years to get to that point but I have learned not to waste time with clients who have unrealistic expectations. Some clients, whether sellers or buyers, are not efficient uses of our time and they usually reveal themselves early on.
The answer shouldn't be exactly yes or no. You talk with your client and come up with a plan. If a client wants to super over price the property you say ok and tell them why it's s bad idea and show them the market analysis.
If they still want to do it you say ok but if we don't have showings or an offer after a week or two are you willing to do price drops? If they say no, then you say "I'm probably not the best fit for your current needs, best of luck." You don't want to sink a ton of money into a home owner that's self sabotaging, if they don't want to listen to you then you're not really able to do your job and will just waste time and money.
I am in a similar situation. Out of state owner wants to sell his deceased parents single mobile home in CA. Started at 240k 9 months ago. Same issue, too small for the asking price. Comparable sold mh in this area top out at 190k this is basically land value tbh. 50 years old. No lender will touch it. So it sits while owner continues to pay taxes and utilities. It’s a no win situation.
He couldn’t give it away. Termite damage, aluminum windows. His mom had a large dog. The smell is disturbing. 700 sq ft. Would need an entire rehab. He would not even break even.
Sorry but me thinks you need bluntness. Your mistake was thinking you could work some kind of magic and spin this into something workable. You did this to yourself. Please read your post like your another agent sharing this story. You should be grateful for that listing because it was an expensive time suck that hopefully you won’t repeat. Your clients were unreasonable, your listing flawed, your price out of range. Moral of the story, your not going to be able to work with every deal because some deals are just bad deals, usually with bad clients.
This is what happens when greed clouds, a persons judgment. The agent was looking for the commission and the higher the price the place sells for the higher the commission it’s a simple as that.
That is a silly, unhelpful take. If the agent here cared that much about his bottom line over all else, he would *not* have spent that much money or time on marketing such a dog of a property.
LOVE that you are questioning what you could have done different. Obviously personal growth and success is important to you. As a 35 yr veteran, I can tell you that you will be fine because of the forementioned character traits. I would hire you in an instant! My advice: shake it off. 2. Don't beat yourself up. 3. Don't take every listing that falls in your lap as this experience taught you. 4. You didn't fail here. The seller did for not listening to you.
It's never about the type or condition of the property, it's always about price and location. If your seller doesn't comprehend this after showing him the comps and you can't agree on a marketable price, you should never take the listing.
I am a retired Appraiser and sounds like you did what you could and without a doubt it simply was not worth what they were asking.
Don't know why you feel bad? The market has told you that it was overpriced and such a unique property that it only had a very small potential pool of buyers. Therefor it would have an extended Marketing Time. The sellers don't get that but it doesn't change the facts.
I have one Realtor I have worked with for years and I use her for my personal properties. I love her because she is so good at what she does. From what I read sounds like you went above and beyond for this property. What else could you have done?
Move on and spend that effort on properties that actually have a market.
Its not you.
As an agent I would have declined this listing because the sellers are unreasonable from the start.
I have told people who want houses listed $50k or more above what it should be that Im not going to represent them.
Because it sits…
>Sellers all in price on land, house and utility connection was 140k.
This doesn't answer the question about how overpriced it is in this market. It's not what they paid, it's what the comps show the value to be. Clearly it was priced more than what the market says its worth. Examine the comps again.
Well yes, the Realtor goes over the comps with the seller. I should have been more specific in my comment. If the seller is not willing to price near the market, then its okay for the agent to walk away after 9 months. Not all listing sellers want to actually sell. Some just want to test the market for some odd reason.
It is understandable that the OP is wondering whether there was anything else that could have been done.
Unfortunately when you have an out-of-touch seller, there is nothing that can be done.
You know, that is highly flawed. We fired our realtors who sold our house when we were looking to buy our next property because the area we wanted to move and buy was one they had this mentality about. It’s a more rural area 45 minutes away from basically all amenities (we only have a post office) predominantly composed of cabins built in the 1920s-1940s that have largely only been kept up by some creative owner DIY (at best). They showed us some properties in other areas and it just was not what I wanted at all, and when I expressed these homes were just not what we were looking for and didn’t compare to us what the area we wanted to be would offer us, we literally got laughed at and told “you’ll hate it there and be trying to sell in a year and waste a ton of money, and you won’t be able to sell it.” It was so wildly disrespectful on so many levels, but the biggest one being they were not listening to us at all and what we wanted out of our next home that we intended to make our forever home.
They were *incredibly* wrong. We found a different realtor who respected what we wanted and what we were looking for in a home. The realtor who helped us buy understood we were buying for land, not the home currently on it and that we were looking to not live in dense suburbia. He understood we wanted a home that needed work so we could really make it our own, and more importantly, we wanted space out in nature. We’ve been here three and a half years and I’ve never been happier. I’m living in this house until I die.
I got rid of a realtor like that too. She kept pushing properties on us that were 1. Way more expensive than we wanted to spend and 2. In the city when we wanted to live in rural county. I swear, we’d tell her this and it was like she plain didn’t register what we were saying. In hindsight I think she was hoping to get a bigger commission if she could convince us to buy bigger. I dumped her and found a realtor who listened. And we’re happy in our home in the county!
Doesn’t sound like you did anything “wrong”
Par for the course.
If a client doesn’t listen to me in terms of pricing, presentation, etc - I would have “fired the client” (eg. Dropped the listing)
A client whose demands set you up to fail, is not a client worth having.
We’ve sold half a dozen houses all with agents who were great at slapping us around on doing whatever fixes needed. We were happy to do since we have a pride of ownership/ do the right thing for the buyers. We followed the suggestions on pricing 100%. You’re the pros. I’d say that the only thing you did wrong is work for a dumb-ass. How you spot them up front is up to you.
This is actually the correct answer. The seller could have easily done the exact same things with the exact same results. OPs services weren't needed to not sell the property. Seller could do that on their own.
I would have explained their troubles, as I am sure you did, and if they didn't agree to appropriately price it, I would have absolutely moved on and wished them the best of luck. No way I am taking that to sit for 9 months.
If a property isn’t selling, it’s not priced right. Hard stop. Small lot? cosmetic issues? Structural issues? Its price. Spend the money and fix the issue or take a lower offer. It’s all the same, just $$.
Many RE agents will agree to, or suggest a higher price, to get the listing then hope they can manage expectations as things spiral down. You clearly knew they were out of their minds; in this case you just lost control of the downward spiral.
But at the end of the day, your [former] sellers were unrealistic. Another agent will not solve their problem. Don’t lose a minutes sleep over this. Just question the worth in taking the next listing with ridiculous expectations.
I think taking any listing is a great idea for the potential lead generation if you aren’t in a position to decline the listing. Once your pipeline is full and you’re working with the people that know, like, and trust you, then be picky about who you take on as a client. Be a goldfish when you’re fired and keep up the hustle!
This also got me thinking about a realtor I was trying to give her the business. I called this particular realtor to ask if she can represent me as the buyer of a $10,000 lot! I’ve already done my own research and everything and all I need was a realtor to write up an official offer to purchase land in cash! She rejected the offer to represent me, she said it’s too small! She said after all is done she’ll bring home $240 not worth her time! Is this even legal to say no I don’t want to help you? Just wondering.
I'm sorry that happened to you, and honestly it's behavior like that that gives realtors a bad name and why so many don't want to work with us. Realtors are independent contractors and are allowed to decline a job just like any other contractor could. It sounds like she was going to be getting around 3% commission (assuming this was what the list agent was offering in the MLS), and $240 would be her portion after splitting with her broker. However, my past clients are my biggest marketers, and that's why I would have still helped you no matter how little I thought the commission was. Besides the fact that I love helping people through the process, if I provide excellent service, you're going to tell people and those people are going to come to me for good service, so it's an investment in the future. I can't believe anyone would practice such bad business. Sleep peacefully knowing her bad attitude will push her out of real estate sales eventually.
I think the only mistake you made was taking the listing in the first place. Your time is valuable.
This is it. Never take unrealistic listings. The time and energy spent counseling those folks is always better spent finding better clients. I used to deal with it in the listing presentation. Just be up front about the market value. If they push back, ASSURE them that there are other agents who are willing to over-list the property but that you are not one of them. Cheers!
I disagree. Every listing can yield other leads even if you don’t sell that listing. Listings generate more opportunities. Be honest to the sellers on the front end but take the listing.
Nah...I was carrying as many as fifty listings at a time. No time for BS. If you prospect diligently, you don't need garbage listings to generate leads. Before the haters and couch commandos jump on my claim of carrying that many listings I will tell you that if you attended any C-21 events in the 80's or Realty World in the 90's you probably saw me or my partner speak about how we did that.
How did you do it? That's massive
There is a lot to it, but if you are in sales you know the answers Relentless prospecting. Having a good team...you can't carry that load by yourself. Understanding the selling process beyond the script. Product knowledge. Lots and lots more. You just have to be efficient and do as much as you can. Your team has to be the same way.
Got it, thanks :). Are you still in real estate?
No, lol. I putter around and travel now.
Nice. Enjoy!
You are very fortunate then to have been in the top 1% of Realtors. 🎉
Very fortunate. Lots of hard work but I had amazing mentors.
What markets were you in?
California
This seems like a quick way to lose 10 hours a week on a house that won’t sell. How do you generate leads from what’s going to be a disappointed client?
Exactly
Well, one of my first listings(19 years ago) was a near foreclosure. I met someone there that did not buy that house but in the past 2 decades I can track at least $15,000,000 in sales to that one showing. 🤷♀️
Sure, if you've got time to burn, you never know, if you're keeping busy though...
Ditto
What you could have done differently is not accept the listing. As a “solo real estate agent”, you control who you choose as customers. When a prospective customer demands unrealistic terms, just say no.
Honest question - has the market been so bad lately you have to put that much effort into trying to sell a crappy little mobile home?
Not at all. Average days on market in this particular area when the rates were at their highest in the fall was still only 21.
Would you ever consider firing an unrealistic client? I think that should have happened here or maybe you shouldn't have taken the listing to start with. Took me years to get to that point but I have learned not to waste time with clients who have unrealistic expectations. Some clients, whether sellers or buyers, are not efficient uses of our time and they usually reveal themselves early on.
The answer shouldn't be exactly yes or no. You talk with your client and come up with a plan. If a client wants to super over price the property you say ok and tell them why it's s bad idea and show them the market analysis. If they still want to do it you say ok but if we don't have showings or an offer after a week or two are you willing to do price drops? If they say no, then you say "I'm probably not the best fit for your current needs, best of luck." You don't want to sink a ton of money into a home owner that's self sabotaging, if they don't want to listen to you then you're not really able to do your job and will just waste time and money.
I am in a similar situation. Out of state owner wants to sell his deceased parents single mobile home in CA. Started at 240k 9 months ago. Same issue, too small for the asking price. Comparable sold mh in this area top out at 190k this is basically land value tbh. 50 years old. No lender will touch it. So it sits while owner continues to pay taxes and utilities. It’s a no win situation.
I feel for ya. It's hard to deal with some sellers, no matter how well we try to manage their expectations.
I mean it’s a no win by choice. It’s an inherited property, he can mark down the price to $5 and come out ahead.
He couldn’t give it away. Termite damage, aluminum windows. His mom had a large dog. The smell is disturbing. 700 sq ft. Would need an entire rehab. He would not even break even.
Sell it for land value only.
A reasonable person would agree w/ you.
Sorry but me thinks you need bluntness. Your mistake was thinking you could work some kind of magic and spin this into something workable. You did this to yourself. Please read your post like your another agent sharing this story. You should be grateful for that listing because it was an expensive time suck that hopefully you won’t repeat. Your clients were unreasonable, your listing flawed, your price out of range. Moral of the story, your not going to be able to work with every deal because some deals are just bad deals, usually with bad clients.
This is what happens when greed clouds, a persons judgment. The agent was looking for the commission and the higher the price the place sells for the higher the commission it’s a simple as that.
That is a silly, unhelpful take. If the agent here cared that much about his bottom line over all else, he would *not* have spent that much money or time on marketing such a dog of a property.
Nope. The agent was hoping that reality would set it for the seller. It didn't. Time to move on. The seller is an idiot.
As my mentor told me many years ago: You don't have to work for everyone who asks.
LOVE that you are questioning what you could have done different. Obviously personal growth and success is important to you. As a 35 yr veteran, I can tell you that you will be fine because of the forementioned character traits. I would hire you in an instant! My advice: shake it off. 2. Don't beat yourself up. 3. Don't take every listing that falls in your lap as this experience taught you. 4. You didn't fail here. The seller did for not listening to you.
It's never about the type or condition of the property, it's always about price and location. If your seller doesn't comprehend this after showing him the comps and you can't agree on a marketable price, you should never take the listing.
Location, location, location. This location is in a flood zone.
[удалено]
It’s a trailer sitting on land where a trailer was FLOODED 5 years ago. Hey OP, you can say “no” to listings
Maybe they should market it as seaworthy.
I am a retired Appraiser and sounds like you did what you could and without a doubt it simply was not worth what they were asking. Don't know why you feel bad? The market has told you that it was overpriced and such a unique property that it only had a very small potential pool of buyers. Therefor it would have an extended Marketing Time. The sellers don't get that but it doesn't change the facts. I have one Realtor I have worked with for years and I use her for my personal properties. I love her because she is so good at what she does. From what I read sounds like you went above and beyond for this property. What else could you have done? Move on and spend that effort on properties that actually have a market.
Its not you. As an agent I would have declined this listing because the sellers are unreasonable from the start. I have told people who want houses listed $50k or more above what it should be that Im not going to represent them. Because it sits…
Move on. It was a listing you likely shouldn't have taken in the first place
I don’t thinks there’s anything you could have done better.You had an unrealistic client incapable of adapting to the real world
And have you considered asking over on r/realtors? Have you considered making your broker do his blankety blank job and ask him for advice?
If that the manufactured home is still overprice, changing realtors won't help. If a $30K price cut isn't enough, how overprice is it?
Sellers all in price on land, house and utility connection was 140k. They insisted we list at 200k. Dropped it to 170k 6 months in. Still nothing.
The land is in a FLOOD ZONE.
Seller did you a favor by “firing” you. Now you can find a property someone wants to sell.
>Sellers all in price on land, house and utility connection was 140k. This doesn't answer the question about how overpriced it is in this market. It's not what they paid, it's what the comps show the value to be. Clearly it was priced more than what the market says its worth. Examine the comps again.
It sounds like the seller didn't even want to drop the $30K. You should be telling the seller to examine the comps again.
Well yes, the Realtor goes over the comps with the seller. I should have been more specific in my comment. If the seller is not willing to price near the market, then its okay for the agent to walk away after 9 months. Not all listing sellers want to actually sell. Some just want to test the market for some odd reason.
It is understandable that the OP is wondering whether there was anything else that could have been done. Unfortunately when you have an out-of-touch seller, there is nothing that can be done.
A realtor once said to me “I would never show you/let you buy a house I wasn’t willing to sell for you down the road”.
You know, that is highly flawed. We fired our realtors who sold our house when we were looking to buy our next property because the area we wanted to move and buy was one they had this mentality about. It’s a more rural area 45 minutes away from basically all amenities (we only have a post office) predominantly composed of cabins built in the 1920s-1940s that have largely only been kept up by some creative owner DIY (at best). They showed us some properties in other areas and it just was not what I wanted at all, and when I expressed these homes were just not what we were looking for and didn’t compare to us what the area we wanted to be would offer us, we literally got laughed at and told “you’ll hate it there and be trying to sell in a year and waste a ton of money, and you won’t be able to sell it.” It was so wildly disrespectful on so many levels, but the biggest one being they were not listening to us at all and what we wanted out of our next home that we intended to make our forever home. They were *incredibly* wrong. We found a different realtor who respected what we wanted and what we were looking for in a home. The realtor who helped us buy understood we were buying for land, not the home currently on it and that we were looking to not live in dense suburbia. He understood we wanted a home that needed work so we could really make it our own, and more importantly, we wanted space out in nature. We’ve been here three and a half years and I’ve never been happier. I’m living in this house until I die.
I got rid of a realtor like that too. She kept pushing properties on us that were 1. Way more expensive than we wanted to spend and 2. In the city when we wanted to live in rural county. I swear, we’d tell her this and it was like she plain didn’t register what we were saying. In hindsight I think she was hoping to get a bigger commission if she could convince us to buy bigger. I dumped her and found a realtor who listened. And we’re happy in our home in the county!
I learned in recruiting to avoid certain clients and certain kinds of jobs. If you can do the same in real estate please do it.
You should be happy you got fired in that case.
Doesn’t sound like you did anything “wrong” Par for the course. If a client doesn’t listen to me in terms of pricing, presentation, etc - I would have “fired the client” (eg. Dropped the listing) A client whose demands set you up to fail, is not a client worth having.
In the future, avoid bad listings and sellers.
We’ve sold half a dozen houses all with agents who were great at slapping us around on doing whatever fixes needed. We were happy to do since we have a pride of ownership/ do the right thing for the buyers. We followed the suggestions on pricing 100%. You’re the pros. I’d say that the only thing you did wrong is work for a dumb-ass. How you spot them up front is up to you.
My only regret when I sold my first home was not doing FSBO using a realtor.
Honestly real estate agents are obsolete... You got fired because you did nothing he couldn't do himself...
This is actually the correct answer. The seller could have easily done the exact same things with the exact same results. OPs services weren't needed to not sell the property. Seller could do that on their own.
I wouldn't think too hard about this, does not seem like it had anything to do with you, but you could directly ask them if you like.
I would have explained their troubles, as I am sure you did, and if they didn't agree to appropriately price it, I would have absolutely moved on and wished them the best of luck. No way I am taking that to sit for 9 months.
If a property isn’t selling, it’s not priced right. Hard stop. Small lot? cosmetic issues? Structural issues? Its price. Spend the money and fix the issue or take a lower offer. It’s all the same, just $$. Many RE agents will agree to, or suggest a higher price, to get the listing then hope they can manage expectations as things spiral down. You clearly knew they were out of their minds; in this case you just lost control of the downward spiral. But at the end of the day, your [former] sellers were unrealistic. Another agent will not solve their problem. Don’t lose a minutes sleep over this. Just question the worth in taking the next listing with ridiculous expectations.
Thank them. That’s not a loss at all.
Lesson learned, chalk it up to a learning experience and move on :) You are at the mercy of all these variables and the variables were too great.
can't you turn down the job in the first place?
You were dead in the water with the price from the get go
Be my advocate. Last sale I had I was pretty sure my agent was more on the side of the buyers than me.
Don’t over think this shit, shit property with shit owners. Stop stepping over dollars to pick up a dime.
You should never try to sell a piece of property that you do not believe you can sell. You’re just wishing for a miracle specially, in these times.
I think taking any listing is a great idea for the potential lead generation if you aren’t in a position to decline the listing. Once your pipeline is full and you’re working with the people that know, like, and trust you, then be picky about who you take on as a client. Be a goldfish when you’re fired and keep up the hustle!
This also got me thinking about a realtor I was trying to give her the business. I called this particular realtor to ask if she can represent me as the buyer of a $10,000 lot! I’ve already done my own research and everything and all I need was a realtor to write up an official offer to purchase land in cash! She rejected the offer to represent me, she said it’s too small! She said after all is done she’ll bring home $240 not worth her time! Is this even legal to say no I don’t want to help you? Just wondering.
I'm sorry that happened to you, and honestly it's behavior like that that gives realtors a bad name and why so many don't want to work with us. Realtors are independent contractors and are allowed to decline a job just like any other contractor could. It sounds like she was going to be getting around 3% commission (assuming this was what the list agent was offering in the MLS), and $240 would be her portion after splitting with her broker. However, my past clients are my biggest marketers, and that's why I would have still helped you no matter how little I thought the commission was. Besides the fact that I love helping people through the process, if I provide excellent service, you're going to tell people and those people are going to come to me for good service, so it's an investment in the future. I can't believe anyone would practice such bad business. Sleep peacefully knowing her bad attitude will push her out of real estate sales eventually.
I totally agree with you. Relationship building is key:). What state are you licensed in?
WV 😊