Some Very Broad-Brush Generalizations To Consider

Occasionally, I will pull the current crop of properties that were unable to attract a buyer while their listings were active. This listing is referred to as the Expired Listing.

Of course, I always pull up expired listings whenever performing Broker Pricing Opinions or Comparative Market Analyses… but on days like today – I simply pull up every one of them that expired on a particular day.

As I scroll through the list – and that list is fairly long these days – I scan for obvious reasons why the home didn’t sell. Sometimes it’s obvious… other times it’s not. But it’s often entertaining… at least to an agent.

Although purely anecdotal, it seems like there are fewer expired listings from inexperienced agents. One might attribute that to fewer inexperienced agents getting listings in this tough market; fewer inexperienced agents still working as agents; or a combination of the two. Nevertheless, there are still many listings from inexperienced agents… just fewer than in the past.

The overwhelming common denominator I could see is the utter lack of curb appeal for so many of these listings… that and awful front view pictures obviously taken by the listing service. Yuck. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, there simply isn’t enough room in a listing to counter the impact of a bad image… not to mention that if a buyer or agent is turned off by the front picture – they’re not likely to read any of the ad copy.

While it seems like more properties have interior images… the percentage seems to still be low, all things considered. What good is ad copy that reads "Great renovation! Fresh paint! New appliances!" with no pictures to back it up? To most agents and buyers – that looks suspicious.

I noticed that there are fewer 90 day listings than in the past. When the market was moving quickly, a longer listing period for a properly priced and merchandised property was not necessary. Times have changed. Under no circumstances would I take a 90 day listing these days.

I am always surprised by the number of agents who are selling their own homes… unsuccessfully. Putting your own home on the market as "bait" is an old method used by many new agents to prospect for buyers – but so many of these properties are old school experienced agents desperate to shed themselves of a mortgage payment that they can no longer afford.

I am also surprised by the number of listings that offer a low buyer agent brokerage fee. On high-end homes – I can understand it. But on median-priced or lower than median-priced homes… it makes no sense. It could easily be a factor in the home not selling.

Pricing is always in the equation… but instead of focusing on whether or not a property is actually worth its list price, I will comment on the ridiculous pricing methods some agents use. $317,212? What kind of a price is that?

Look – I can appreciate that you want to convey that you arrived at your list price after careful consideration… but really – do you think that a list price like that conveys such consideration? It is more likely that a buyer or agent will think the seller is trying to squeeze X dollars out of the property – and in a buyer’s market, that could spell disaster.

Equally silly is the notion that you should have a list price that ends in 900; 990 or 999. In fact, it could be detrimental. If your home is priced at $324,900 it will not come up in any searches for homes priced between $325,000 and $350,000. Since buyers and agents are searching within certain price points, you should try to be on a price point that covers the largest number of searches… and prices ending with 900; 990 or 999 aren’t going to cut it.

Here’s a listing that was priced at the price point… but reduced by ONE dollar to a price ending with 999. They actually thought THAT one dollar price reduction was going  to help. The only way a one dollar price reduction will ever help is when you go from, for example, $300,001 to $300,000.

Here’s another example of pricing gone wrong:

First, we have the silly "precise" price. After six months of no action, the price is reduced to a respectable $135,000. Too bad they couldn’t leave well enough alone, as three weeks later they raise the price $500. Like that was going to help. Eight months later, the listing expires. A total of 458 days on the market. Or twice as long as the listing agent had a real estate license when the listing was taken.

And not to be outdone:

With a home on the market since last December – with that silly 777 price point – the seller and agent thought they might raise the price $30,000… and keep the silly 777 price point. To top it off….  it’s owned by the listing agent.

I show the pictures, as I could not make this stuff up.

These are a few of my musings about this particular batch of expireds today. Obviously, each listing and property has its own set of circumstances… and if your home was one of them, none of the aforementioned issues might apply.

Ultimately, there are still more properties for sale than there are buyers to purchase them – so you need to make sure that your home stands out as the best value when compared to other similar homes in your area.

As always, if you have any questions regarding real estate in the greater Atlanta area, feel free to contact me here.