Today we’re going to talk about price adjustments and how to do them in order to get your property sold.
Featuring:
Bob Nelson, Eugene real estate investment broker
Marcia Edwards, Eugene residential real estate broker
Marcia Edwards: Used to be when I was a rookie realtor, I felt like I’d done everything I could to sell a property and it was not selling, the toughest conversation or phone call to make was to talk to the seller about a price adjustment. A price adjustment is usually going to be downwards, not upwards although I’ve seen that strategy work in some circumstances. Let’s talk about when it’s time to take a look at the price.
Bob Nelson: You’ve had it on the market and you have exposed it properly. Now that’s a major league assumption because there are ways of marketing a property. If you were to put it in the newspaper with a for sale classified ad, is that marketing the property in your opinion?
Marcia Edwards: It’s not sufficient today.
Bob Nelson: That’s correct.
Marcia Edwards: You find the board. You find the buyers.
Bob Nelson: That’s right. You’re not expressing the availability and the benefits of owning that property to the most probable buyer. They don’t look at the classified ad as such. I’ll probably get a call from the local newspaper blasting me but that’s the bricks of the game. That’s the way it is.
Marcia Edwards: So you’ve got to make sure the property’s completely exposed, that everyone that should know about it does know about it, and you as a seller/owner need to have conviction of that. If you do not, you need to be very, very direct with the person that’s running the marketing efforts on your behalf to make sure that you’ve reached to the very far corners. After you’ve reached the far corners, you’ve got to start listening to the feedback.
Bob Nelson: And if you’re not getting feedback, the market potentially is voting. They are voting. I have seen it. You’re not ringing my bell. I don’t see the benefits in what you have to offer that would motivate me to pay the price that you’re asking.
Marcia Edwards: Exactly and that maybe you also have to look at the message. Make sure that you’ve fully expressed the opportunity and you have expressed it accurately with good photography and a good idea of where it’s located. Things like that. Once you’ve expressed it accurately and you have put it out there to all the appropriate audiences, the feedback, even silence is feedback.
Bob Nelson: Silence is horrible feedback but it’s the most honest feedback you’re probably going to get and what you need is chatter. You need to have people excited wanting to know more about the property, wanting to know is it still available. What are their concern? Somebody’s already nailed it before I could get to it. What happens if I’m not getting that chatter? Is it time for a price adjustment? Now how long would we sit in silence before I would suggest a price adjustment?
Marcia Edwards: I would only sit 21 days in residential real estate.
Bob Nelson: Okay.
Marcia Edwards: It’s a strong seller’s market. Buyers are moving quickly and with confidence still so we’ve got to make sure we’re in front of them and we’ve got to know if we’re missing the boat because the market may not recover it for you. It may be going the other direction.
Join Eugene, Oregon, real estate experts: Bob Nelson, Real Estate Investment Broker with Pacwest Real Estate Investments, and Marcia Edwards, Residential Real Estate Broker with Windermere Real Estate, daily at 5:30 on KPNW for the “Real Estate Today” radio show.
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