By Scott Gaertner
It happened again! I recently wrote an article in this paper describing how choosing the right real estate agent to sell your home can make a huge difference in terms of dollars, time on the market and overall peace of mind. In the article, I shared one of my favorite client success stories that happened last fall – our team took over a listing that had been on the market and not sold for five years with seven different agents. We created a great marketing strategy and sold it in just eight days, for a full price that was higher than the last agent’s listing price.
Well, a similar client success story happened again this month, but this time with a twist. This time the agent called me and asked if I would take over the listing. Maybe this will be the second in a series of articles on how we save sellers in distress, but I can assure you that we don’t look for these failed listings – they find us. I promise you that we are not the people who continually call you when your listing expires. We do not do that, ever!
In this case, the home had been on the market for 1,192 days, or just over three years. The agent told me that the seller asked him to call me, and he asked if I would consider taking over the listing and paying him a referral fee. I agreed.
I told the seller that he wasn’t overpriced, he was undermarketed. We went in and made some pretty dramatic but simple changes to the marketing. The seller was absolutely incredible and did everything we asked – including starring in a video! (This guy was a captain of industry, but I think he may have missed his calling as an on-screen personality.) We raised the price by $10,000, put it on the market with the new marketing strategy, and received an offer the very first day. After a few days in negotiation, we are now in escrow waiting to close and our seller will get move on with his life.
As I write this, it feels uncomfortably braggy, which turns my stomach a bit. But I think this is very important information to convey to you. My point is this: marketing matters and the agent you choose to sell your home matters. (By the way, I purposely didn’t name the seller, the previous agent, or the property to avoid embarrassing anyone.)
We don’t mind helping distressed sellers in need, and we absolutely love the success stories. But it is counterproductive to have a home sit on the market for a long time. The listing becomes stigmatized as potential buyers wonder what is wrong with the home. If you want to sell a home quickly and for top dollar, skip all those headaches and give us a call first.
To see the article about our first client listing rescue story, go to: scottsdalenorthnews.com/does-it-even-matter-what-real-estate-agent-you-choose/
Scott Gaertner is an Associate Broker with Keller Williams Northeast Realty, who for the past 25+ years has helped more people to find their lifestyle niche in the Scottsdale North area than anyone else.
