Four Ways To Boost Confidence When Pricing Property
Typically, when preparing for a listing appointment, most agents will leave their pricing research to a desk review over their computer. If you want to outperform your competition and at the same time...dramatically boost your confidence, go the extra mile and consider implementing these steps to maximize your confidence and accuracy.
1. Preview property every 10-14 days to give yourself a stronger knowledge of your local market, and it will give you more confidence in pricing during the listing presentation.
The more real estate you see, the more familiar you will become and have a keen sense of what a home’s value actually is. No more guessing or wondering.
Gives you the edge over your competition as you will have the ability to reference properties for sale or that have sold, carry a higher level of conversation with both your sellers and buyers and clearly demonstrate your expertise of the market place. A great disguise for new agents or agent that don’t really know an area as well as others.
3. Over achievers, you can mix in some door knocking while you’re out there.
2. Arrive early to the subject property neighborhood and preview your competition before you go on the listing appointment. This will help you better understand exactly how your listing will compare to the others and allow you to have certainty when discussing price and proper positioning in the market.
Go the extra mile, get inside and take notes on the condition, updates or lack of. Is the home dark, bright what direction does it face? Were there any odors that won’t be detected by just looking at pictures, how was the yard size, privacy or lack thereof. All these things can only be discovered by viewing the home in person. Pictures can only tell us so much; a site inspection shows it all.
Gives you absolute certainty when it comes to comparing the condition of the subject property.
Doing this will eliminate any doubt when the seller should comment about their home having this or that compared to those that are for sale.
3. Drive the comps including similar properties that are pending or closed status. Consider only looking at closed sales going back 90 days whenever possible as this best represents current market conditions. It’s critical to know where the properties are located in proximity to the subject property. Are the others on/back to traffic streets, train tracks or some other type physical objection?
Remember, you are the expert. It’s not only the professional expectation to be fully aware of the details surrounds the sales directly impacting your potential seller, it’s what the seller expects of you … and sets you up for a timely sale.
You can use this knowledge to confidently make references to other properties during the pricing or CMA portion of your presentation. This demonstrates your familiarity with the neighborhood which sellers will pick up on. They’ll know if you aren’t familiar too. The more prepared you are, the more easily you can carry on a fluid conversation with the seller about what is taking place in the neighborhood.
Nothing feels better than being prepared and knowing you are ready. Do what others won’t, go that extra mile and do your homework. You will find yourself more relaxed able to focus on getting the listing contract signed instead of worrying about what may be brought up or said next. Don't forget the 5 P's - prior, planning, prevents, poor performance.
4. Having an overall knowledge of your market statistics to create the highest impact. NO ONE CAN ARGUE WITH FACTS. Not the seller, buyer, agents or lenders. Set a reminder in your weekly calendar, make it a routine and do this.
It’s across the board, the majority of the agents don’t really have a firm grasp on market statistics in the areas they specialize in. If we’re the expert, then we’d be sure to know exactly what is going on in the marketplace. Here are some numbers to be tracking, these include:
A. Total inventory (Subdivision, city, county, entire metropolitan area, or all of them.
B. New Pending sales the past 30 days
C. Homes sold/closed in the last 30 days
D. Homes listed for sale in the last 30 days
E. Homes that expired/cxl in the past 30 days
F. How many months of inventory are currently available? Supply demand.
Eliminates being subject to what “others” may be saying about the market. This includes the media, other agents at your office and the general public. Be careful, if you don’t take ownership of the information available to you, someone else will do it for you.
It’s the difference between wondering and knowing. Statistics are unemotional. If you’re looking for a way to bring certainty about what really is taking place in the market, knowing your market statistics will do that for you.
You will notice you’re able to carry on a “higher level” conversation when working with your buyers, sellers or and anyone else you may happen to be having a conversation with about real estate.