STRIKE THREE YOURE OUT
As a Listing Agent, Strike Three, You’re Out -- Don’t Sell Yourself Short!
This is for all of my fellow hardworking Real Estate Agents.
I love selling real estate, but it is one of the hardest things that I have ever done. My
husband and I have our own renovation company that we started over 11 years ago, and
I thought dealing with home owners concerning renovating their home or getting them to pick out a paint color for a room was difficult; now I know that selling real estate is 100 times harder.
The first sellers I ever worked with had a beautiful home, they had put several years of
hard work into it; wonderful custom cherry cabinets, gorgeous flooring, an addition that
was awesome, every miter cut in the crown molding was perfect; on a scale of 1-10, I gave it a 10. The one thing they didn’t do was update one of the main bathrooms and they left the original front foyer, main hallway and dining room light fixtures in place. These sellers had spent tens of thousands of dollars on all of the remodeling and the addition, but refused to change out 3 light fixtures and update a bathroom.
During the original listing presentation, I commended them on all of the work and how wonderful everything looked. I asked them why they had not included that bathroom and light fixtures in the remodel. Their response was that they didn’t think it would make that much of a difference. I explained that the light fixtures were in the area of the house where prospective buyers would enter, and they would notice…you know, the “5 things counted in the sub-conscious mind when you enter the house” theory; but these sellers were very insistent it wouldn’t matter; this was
Strike One!
Then we discussed the price, and since they had done all of the work themselves, literally
with their own hands, they felt it was worth 3 times as much as the other houses in the neighborhood;
Strike Two!
As we were discussing the listing agreement, one of the sellers said they would not pay more then a total of 4% in commission, because after all, they had the house in perfect condition and all I would have to do is put a sign in the yard, put it in MLS, hold Open Houses, take phone calls from prospective “lookers”, show it, and none of that was very time consuming; was it?
“STRIKE 3.” I’M OUT!!!! I should have walked away at that point, but NO, not me! This was going to be my FIRST listing, come hell or high water!
After months and months of being on the market; guess what? It didn’t sell! Why, because the light fixture in the foyer caught every prospective buyer’s eye the minute they walked in and the bathroom was always a topic of conversation; but of course, the biggest reason was the price. If the seller had invested a little bit more money into their house for the light fixtures and bathroom and had listen to not only myself, but all of the other agents that looked at it and said it was priced too high; it would have sold, since I didn’t go with my gut and insist they complete the work and drop the price, I had no one to blame but myself; I was right on my original assessment, but who cares- the goal was to sell it with a home run; and I didn’t do that. It was a great lesson that as a listing agent once you get to
“Strike Three, You're Out! in your own mind during the listing presentation, YOUR OUT! Take your ball and bat and find another team to play with.
As a Listing Agent, never sell yourself short. There are too many sellers out there to limit yourself to the “3 Strikes, Your Out” kind. Have enough faith and confidence in yourself to know when to call this game and move on to the next one.
Cindy Brooks-
Cindy Brooks, Realtor
Exit Realty of the South
1227 Lakeview Drive, Suite 1
Franklin, TN 37067
615-499-9445 (cell)
615-550-5555 (office)
CindyBrooksRealtor@gmail.com
