Looking for ideas here from more experienced agents.

We have a great buyers market that really is killing our listings. Comps continue to go down month to month, and it's not just SS, Foreclosures, and REOs. Seems some sellers are quick to cave and sell for less.

One client wants us to make it clear they are very motivated. We just reduced the price 10K. The home shows well and don't really get negative comments on showings. Plenty of traffic but no offers yet.

The real question is, does adding "Motivated seller" in the MLS do any good. Something like "Will look at any offer" maybe? I've heard you're just asking for low ball offers if you do that (might make the client happy anyway). Any other wording that anyone has found to produce results?

Other clients are starting to get "Motivated" too so I need to come up with a plan to get something going other than just the price reduction option (which never makes them happy).

Thx
Dennis

I don't like putting motivated or will look at any offer in my listings. Tends to bring out the lowball offers. If the house is priced right and you are marketing it you should not have a problem getting an offer. If it is priced too high still you could have the seller lower it again. I would rather show motivation in the price then tell people the seller is motivated.

I think it's an eye-roller...along with "HURRY WON'T LAST AT THIS PRICE!" The best way to show you're motivated is to price is VERY well. IMHO

Well we were priced well until 3 houses in the area sold for 25K to 35K less than our listing. The seller already has to bring money to closing. Having dropped 25K already has not made them happy campers.

And of course it's our fault..

So they are motivated to sell at their price, not what the market is willing to pay? If they would have started 25K lower to begin with, perhaps the property would have sold.

They don't sound motivated to me.

Yes, but the market was a better then. Hindsight thing ya know...

can they offer incentives? help w/ closing costs?

I've seen that offered. Does it really work?

not on overpriced properties. LOL

This is a sad story repeated many times over. About 18 months ago there was a nice house listed for $129,900. It really wasn't bad and I didn't even think it was overpriced. My buyers however would only go to $115,000 on their offer, the sellers would only come to $120,000. Everyone was mad and walked away. I never heard from the buyers again and they bought another house because they were just convinced it was MY fault that the seller (not my client) wouldn't accept their highest and best. LOL

I showed the house a few more times (and have had inquiries over it as it shows up on my IDX) and each time I wondered...what is it that I can't see about this house that buyers won't buy it? It is a little dated, yes, but still, it was clean, tidy, basic...nicer than many homes in the same area...to my knowledge there was no offer, no inspection to be bad.

I had buyers interested in it last month but they were only going to offer 72,000 - and it is NOW listed at $109,000. BOY OH BOY did that tick me off! I could have sold it for $115,000!!!!

Now everyone thinks there is something terribly wrong with the house and the only thing I can think of is that the sellers were too stubborn and missed the ONE buyer that really wanted the house. Over $5,000 - and now they can't sell it for less.

Sigh.

I had a client who was stubborn, rejected several offers because they thought their house was worth more. Then it lingered for a month, no showings. They had already bought another house so were paying 2 mortgages. They were desperate to get rid of the property.

They already knew they were going to bring money to closing. I suggested we make an offer to the past agents who had shown the property. We came up with an attractive number and made the offer CCing everyone so all could see who the offer was made to.

4 agents showed the property again, 1 accepted the offer we made and sent us a contract.

Had my client been more open and negotiable months before, they would have been better off. Still would have brought money to closing, but less, and that does not include the monthly cost they incurred by holding the property.

The goal of taking a listing whether that be commercial or residential is to accelerate the maturation process of the seller as to what is going on in the market and that they are highly motivated.

If you put a chart on paper showing a listing life cycle you can show how being priced at the top of the market and chasing it down will cost you much more in the long run. I also point out that even if they hold onto the property interest rates and cost of borrowing will likely be higher in the future deminishing their buying power.

I don't pull any punches. You will never win with a seller.If you price it right and get multiples then we priced it to low and left money on the table.If it is priced to high and the market is going down then you didn't market enough to sell an overpriced property.

Either way psychologically the sellers will have remorse either way.

It might be time for your sellers to rent it out.It sounds like they don't have enough cash to reduce the price to bring to closing.

They could also contact the bank with the mortgage and see with the lien interest if for example 120,000 is owed if they could release for 100,000 and then have an unsecured promissory note for the remaining 20,000 to pay over time.

You have to present the hard choices to them and make a choice as the market is getting worse.More properties are selling with the summers months coming but nationally property prices are declining even though sales are picking up.

The reason is nationally there are 300,000 residential foreclosures listed for sale.Another 700,000 have been foreclosed on but not yet listed for sale by the banks.The banks are putting on the market in waves to limit losses and massive price depreciation.

There is also 3,000,000 residential properties in pre-foreclosures with many on trial mods that will end in bk or foreclosure.

So we are a LONG WAY from a recovery.Yes some markets do not have foreclosures and are the exception.

Dennis, pricing a property at the bottom spectrum of its value says that the seller is motivated in ways that words simply can't. Best of luck with the sale.

Prime example of chasing the market. If they were motivated it would've been priced right from the jump. The price was simply too high if others similar to it sold for less. Either they need to lower the price or rent it out. Our market is great here, and that's at a 50% drop since two years ago. It's great because people are still buying and you can actually sell the house if you need to, you just have to have it priced right from the beginning and let the sellers know from the beginning or either tell them don't try to sell, pick another option. Send them through the 5 stages of grief upfront if you know they are going to have to take a haircut, bath, or blood bath on the final sales price.

I always get the sellers to agree "in writing" that it is okay to describe them as "motivated". I've had sellers complain that I had compromised their bargaining position by doing things along this line, so I now get it cleared with them before doing anything that applies adjectives to them or their situation. I also get permission to put something on a sign like "MAKE AN OFFER !" because it could suggest that they would consider something less than the Asking Price. (Oh Really ?)

Sometimes when people are stripped of their control over a situation, they grasp at anything that still gives them a semblance of power, even when in reality, they're being reduced to a condition of meaninglessness. As a Broker, we fill that niche for a whipping post.

They also whine when I describe their home as cute, rustic, compact, efficient, antique, or anything that could be interpreted as meaning small or being old . . . . anything that transfers the responsibility for failure to sell away from price and onto the Broker.

Thanks for all the replies. Some good info here.

In this case, they were fairly well priced but others listed after them from much less, and sold for even less. So I've tried to explain their neighbors are killing them, but it's still our fault.. They don't have to sell, but want to for reasons I won't go in to.

My original question was just what to do with clients that are motivated. I've been surprised on buyers / agents who love a home but won't bring an offer because of price. I thought the purpose was the agent would help the buyer in the offer price, regardless of the listing price. It's called negotiations.

So what's it take to get buyers to make offers, even low ones? This at least may get the sellers thinking on what we tell them the home is worth..

Price, thats it. Make the price low enough that offers come in. AS described above, don't chase the market, set the market.

You are putting a value on the house. Thats not your job, thats for the appraiser to do. Your job is to find out what your clients needs are. Find out HOW soon do they want to unload the property? I can sell ANY propery in 7 days or less. You likely won't like the numbers, but thats on you (as the seller). I could also get you whatever price you want, the time frame is going to be VERY long though. What I can't do is get you your number in 7 days. So whats your motivation to sell ?

The longer it lingers on the market, the less appealing it becomes, the angrier your client becomes. The next agent will come in and get the price reduction needed to get offers coming in.

I might have to mention that on my listing appointment tomorrow. Well...I might actually wait until they let me represent them first :P

I much rather be on the listig side than the buying side but I agree, you are always going to lose with sellers.