The State of Real Estate Professional Opinions by Don Carr, ABR, GRI, REALTOR

Today I was at a brainstorming luncheon on listing presentations and someone said the single most important question to ask a seller is, “What is your goal?” All of us were experienced agents who have listed hundreds of homes throughout our careers. Now, I am sure that somewhere in talking with a seller I ask what their goal is and how soon they want to sell, all the usual and maybe even some unusual questions, but only the one of us said they walk into the listing presentation and the first thing they say is “what is your goal?” I’m going to do that from now on because it really is the ultimate question for the seller and for me.

I guess it should seem self evident that your goal is to sell your house. But that is not always the case, and today when selling is harder than probably anyone doing real estate can remember (expect for a handful who might still remember the Great Depression) the question should be examined carefully. Let’s look at some variations to the question.

Is the goal to sell your home at a preconceived price that you have decided to get? If that is the goal then your goal is not to sell your house. Your goal is to get a certain amount of money and that may not be in the least realistic. I first encountered this approach fifteen years ago when I started out in real estate in a resort area of Florida. My county had just about the prettiest beaches on the Gulf coast, miles and miles of bay with water front, wonderful weather and lots of tourists. Right after Thanksgiving the birds would start coming South for the winter. “Snowbirds” that is, leaving the harsh winters in the Midwest and Northeast and as sure as shootin’ the “For Sale by Owner” signs got taken out of the garage, dusted off and placed in the front yard. Properties that are for sale by owners for many reasons are notoriously overpriced almost everytime, but these were usually ridiculous. Somebody had decided on a price they wanted to get and if someone wanted to pay it, why not, they’d take it. Make a few tens of thousands more than value of the house, why not. But that is why they could take those signs out and dust them off year after year because they were not serious sellers and P. T. Barnum was wrong when it comes to real estate, a fool IS NOT born every minute, not if you are way overpriced. If your goal is get a preconceived price, that is your goal and not to sell your house.

Is your goal to sell your house or to be the winner? People have to win for many reasons and some people just have to win. I remember a few years back I had a client who had a high placed job with a major tech company. He could afford anything he wanted to buy but would turn down a wonderful house at a fair price and always select the house where he could win. Winning generally meant getting the house well below market value. Where I came from we have a phrase about “cutting your nose off to spite your face” and that was ultimately what he was trying to do. The first house had a completely defective septic system that was going to require close to a hundred thousand dollars to upgrade/replace to the new code, but he fought to get the house at $20,000.00 below value so he could spend a hundred thousand to replace the septic system . It took me a few days to talk him out of that because he felt he would be the “winner”. Next he bought a great house that needed some fix up but was on a golf course, had a pool and tennis courts and was a big house. It was priced about right but he finally got the seller to come down about $30,000.00. He was such a happy winner, until he had to put up fifty foot tall screens to protect his children from misdirected golf balls hitting them on the courts or in the pool. Something was always incoming. If as a buyer or a seller you have to be the winner, regardless of value, you may feel like one at the closing table and then like a big looser when you are doing the repairs or trying to sell the house.

Another group who do not grasp the goal of selling their house are the ones who have let emotions or situations get in the way. Divorces, deaths, job loss, illness, all those things on the list of major stress producers can really mislead a person when trying to sell their home. Frequently these situations just plain “P… us off” ( make us mad as hell), but that doesn’t help at all. The divorce settlement shatters dreams and leaves both needing as much as they can get. A death may change one’s financial status at a time when sadness is all one can see for the future anyway. We do not plan the days of our lives but getting even at someone or something that is out of our control distorts our ability to keep the real goal in mind. Get help from a REALTOR who is not personally involved in your situation. This is no time for your mother, uncle, or best friend to be your agent.

Another thing that follows closely on the one above but is just a little different is not being able to face reality. Reality that the market has changed. Reality that what was true a year or two or several years ago is not reality today. In other words, you have to sell a house in real time now. As I have said over and over again, what you want to be the truth does not really matter, the truth is the truth and the market is the market. If you don’t like reality then there are some things you can do. You can ignore it and act like the Florida seller waiting for the gullible snowbird with more money than sense or you can put your home on the market at what you want reality to be and let it languish until nobody cares. You can also change REALTORS over and over because someone will always tell you that they could sell it for what you want. Or I suppose you could just face reality.

Not facing reality, not dealing with events, having to be the winner, or being a perpetual seller all have to do with one thing that answers “What is Your Goal” and that is, your motivation. If you are not motivated to sell then the best thing you can do is answer the question “What is your Goal” with an honest answer. I would much rather hear “I want to punish that so an so I married” than to hear something that is not realistic. Or that “I really don’t care if I sell or not”, and “I just like keeping the house perfect and having people wake me up on Saturday morning”, etc. Then you and I can agree to play a game if we want or one of us can decide that maybe this game is not for me.