In the past month, the sales market has slowed down. Yesterday, it was announced that new mortgage applications have dropped to their lowest level in decades. Fewer people can buy apartments, meaning some homes stay on the market longer than usual. This is a tricky market to navigate, and whenever the market is tricky and property isn’t selling as fast as a seller wishes, sellers get upset. But if a home isn’t selling, there are two main reasons.
1. The price is too high or
2. There’s something wrong with the way the home is showing.
Of course, most sellers don’t like to admit that their home is overpriced or less than perfect, so they rationalize that the apartment isn’t selling for another reason. They blame the agent, and they fire them.
Don’t get me wrong; not all agents are effective, and often, a change of agent and broker is warranted. But a lot of the time, it isn’t, and right now, many agents are getting fired.
In the past week, I’ve been contacted ten times to come in and take over listings and buildings that have been languishing on the market. Some of them, I’m confident there are things we can implement to effectuate a sale, but on some of the others, I’m not sure what the original agent did wrong to warrant a change. It seems like the seller wanted to blame their agent instead of admitting that the asking price was too high or that the apartment needed to be cleaned up, painted, and staged.
I’ve also been on the other side many times and fired more times than I care to remember. I was fired not that long ago from a large project after selling 56 apartments at the asking price after a period of two weeks. Broker number 2 came in but couldn’t sell 15 apartments for a 20% discount in the following three years. I hear now that Broker 2 is being fired to bring in Broker 3. They would have been better off staying with Broker 1.
There’s a saying in the industry that “You don’t want to be the second broker on a listing; you want to be the last broker.”
The best option is to work with a seller who values your expertise and takes your advice instead of using you as a scapegoat.
Side Bar:
Finding peace and remaining “present” is a constant challenge. I’ve been meditating on and off for almost 40 years and have found that I’m much happier when I consistently get into a rhythm – even if it’s for only ten minutes a day. Sam Harris has an app I highly recommend called “Waking Up.” He has ten-minute daily meditations that are easy to use and very effective.
Let’s do this!
-Shaun