Top Listing Agent Tricks (ahem: "Techniques")

According to our Realtor® Code of Ethics, we're not supposed to speak ill of our colleagues. So let's not come right out and say that a sales professional would actually use "tricks" or pressure or play on your emotions to get the listing on your home. No, of course not. You've never seen a salesperson do such a thing, have you?

Still, let's admit it. The most successful "listing agents" (i.e., Realtors® who specialize in representing sellers) do have a few "techniques" up their sleeves, as it were. "Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"

Without further ado, here is our list of some of the most frequently used listing techniques that you may encounter.

• "Buying the Listing"
  On our Price - The Undisputed King" page, we discuss the importance of pricing a home correctly to making sure it sells. Yet as we told you on our home page, even top listing agents only sell their listings some 75% of the time. What happens the rest of the time? Well, sometimes sellers change their minds about moving, or miss out on a replacement home they've put an offer on. Yet for every one listing that's withdrawn when a seller changes his mind, roughly another two listings expire -- that is, the home fails to sell during the initial listing period. (Listing periods are negotiable, but a typical period is 90 days).
   
  If price is so important, why don't top listing agents do a better job of pricing all the homes they list? Part of the answer is perfectly innocent -- agents don't set prices, we simply suggest a price, but the seller sets it. But in some cases, the agent may even suggest a price that's above market in order to get the listing. This is called "buying the listing". You see, the agent realizes that like most people, sellers like to have more money rather than less. They also know that it's a lot easier to negotiate a price with a seller once their home has been on the market awhile than it is when they first list their home. Watch out for agents who tell you "I can get you my price because I sell so much volume and I'm such a great negotiator" or "I can get you more than Agent X because I will hold your home open every week."

 

• Act Now! Time is limited.
  Well, I admit it. I wish I had a nickle back for every "Memorial Day Only" sale or "limited time offer" I ever went for. If you've been shopping long enough to own a home, you're probably already familiar with this one, but just in case, here are a few Realtor® variations: "Harmon Homes Magazine has a deadline tomorrow, so we need to get started tonight to get your house in there." Well, that's fine, and it may be true, but the more likely ways a buyer will find your home -- MLS agents, yard signs, etc. -- will all be around three days from now. Or another one: "Our Realtor® tour is this Thursday, so I really want to get moving." Well, that's probably true as well, but our Realtor® tour is probably going to happen the next Thursday as well. (In some areas they're every other week, however).
   
  
• Something for Nothing
  Ever seen an ad like this one: "List your home for only 1% ! ! !" Be careful here. Certainly you should compare prices, but make sure you're comparing apples to apples. When an agent says he can list your home for 1%, chances are he's talking about only one "side" of the listing -- usually his own. You still have to compensate the agent bringing in the buyer, and typically this compensation runs in the 2.5% to 3% price range. Anything less, and many agents will forego showing your home to buyers in favor of more profitable opportunities.
   
  Another thing to keep in mind is what you're hiring this person to do. Here'a an individual you're hiring to negotiate what for most people is their single biggest asset. If they stay in business by advertising that they give away their own money, how much effort do you think they'll put forth to negotiate your money for you?