Don't You Want to Sell Your Home?

    An old friend called me yesterday.  Many years ago when I was very new to the real estate business and she was the Office Manager at the first agency I hung my license at, she was very kind, very helpful and very encouraging to someone who didn't have a clue as they say and for that I will always be grateful and appreciative.  But yesterdays call was not to re hash old times or even a pleasant chat.  We both now run Agencies of our own and my friend was calling to complain about the behavior of one of the Brokers in my office.

   It seems that the Newcastle Square Realty broker had driven up the driveway of one of my friends Listings with a client.  The client liked the look of the home, they subsequently called my friend, made an appointment to see the home, toured it and now we quite possibly may have an offer coming on that home.

   What's the problem you ask?  Isn't that what real estate brokers do?  Take people who want to buy homes to see the homes of people who want to sell their home. Well yes.  And no.  My friend, the Listing Broker in this case, had marked in the instructions on MLS that there were to be no "drive bys" of this property.  A "drive by" is when a potential purchaser drives by a home listed for sale to see if they like how it looks in person, what the condition might be, what the neighborhood is like.  The types of things that can't necessarily be seen in a small picture on an MLS data sheet.  And, in this case the home could not be seen from the road so they actually had to pull into the driveway to see it.

  There are over 900 homes listed for sale in Lincoln County.  In the month of August, 31 homes sold. If I was selling my home or if I was a broker expending time, energy and cash to get someones home sold, I would thank my lucky stars that someone was taking the time to look at that home.  I would consider that a very good thing.  But instead this Seller was mad that someone had driven up their driveway.  Their broker was upset enough about it that she was taking the time from what I'm sure was a busy schedule to call and complain. Even though this transgression resulted in a very positive showing.

    I am completely baffled and mystified by this. We are Real Estate Brokers.  We SELL homes (and land and condo's and businesses).  The only way that someone is going to buy your home is if they can see it.  If you don't make it easy for that to happen, they will go look at another one.  They have a LOT to choose from.

      I once asked a broker from a large regional company with its closest office over an hour drive away, if he found it difficult to list and sell property in our area.  No, he sniffed, if people had to wait a week or more for an appointment they would think the property was more valuable and would be willing to pay more.  I have noticed that his listings tend to stay on the market a long time.  A very long time.

   Here at Newcastle Square Realty we have put away all of the old signs which used to be so much in vogue, that said "Shown By Appointment". We use a real big sign that says "FOR SALE" . We often have custom signs made that put pertinent details and the price right out for everyone to see. We put as much information on the Internet as we can fit.  We put tons of pictures.  We put virtual tours on our website and Realtor.com. We encourage buyers to drive by homes and look at them.  In fact we hope buyers will drive by homes and look at them. If buyers call us we will move heaven and earth to get them into that home they want to see just as quickly as we possibly can.  We will do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for them to buy the home they want.

   At Newcastle Square Realty we only know one way to sell homes.  Very aggressively. If you are ambivalent about selling your home, don't waste your time or ours.  If you want your home "added to a portfolio" there's another guy in town you can call.  If you're not ready to clean your house up, touch up the chipped paint, and make it easy to show, maybe you don't really want to sell? 

   But if you are ready to sell don't you want the company with a reputation for results?  If you're ready to buy don't you want to work with a broker that will help you accomplish your goal and not put up roadblocks?  Call us, we may be out driving by homes with buyers but we'll get right back to you.

Jim Cosgrove

   

Comments

[condo in philippines]

I want to sell a home, but not my home.Lol.. nice post again Jim, thanks for sharing your ideas, I'll take a note on them..

-david

[condo in Philippines]

It was long ago since I visit your blog and its mhe again, visiting and reading along..

Deirdre G