Using Data Collected to Motivate Your Sellers to Reduce Their Price
The most effective way to get your seller to understand the real value of their home is to use spaced repetition. Instead of insisting that sellers accept the real value on the listing presentation, it is much more respectable to offer data regarding comparable sales and then let the seller decide what the price should be.
This becomes the seller’s strategy. It is our responsibility to implement the seller’s strategy and track the results (ISIT).
If the strategy doesn’t work, then it must be changed. It is critical as an agent that you perform before you request the seller to change his strategy by reducing the price. In advance of gathering data, offer to share the results of the following activities as a way to get a price reduction:
1. Company office caravan– share agents feedback regarding price and other suggestions.
2. Broker’s Open House—once again, share feedbacks about price from all other agents. Remind the seller that 99% of the sales come from other realtors so it’s important to have them believe in your home and it’s price.
3. Open houses—Share buyer feedback about price with seller.
4. Showings—Share feedback from buyers that come with other agents.
5. Lack of Showings—Remind the seller that lack of showings is quite often due to the price being too high.
6. Offers—Most offers seem to be coming in low, but they are still one indicator of what buyers feel a home is worth.
7. Recent Closed Sales– Recent closed sales could be resetting the market even lower so must be watched carefully.
8. New Active Listings—If comparable properties come onto the market lower in price, other agents may use the sellers higher price to sell against the new listing.
9. Bad News About the Economy or Real Estate Market—Continuous exposure to negative information can have a serious adverse impact on prices and should be shared with the seller.
Any one indicator above doesn’t mean much, but all of them combined present a strong case for lowering the price. They also give you an opportunity to communicate the message over and over and over again to the seller that the price is too high. That’s what we call using spaced repetition as a strategy!