That's good!  I'm going to copy you! ;)

My "friend" thought his home was worth $425K.  I SHOWED with him $389K.  He hired another agent who told him what he wanted to hear.  It's still on the market, listed at $415K ... after an amazing 230 days <evil grin>.

The bad news is that NOW it's worth even less because of sellers who HAVE HAD to sell in the last 6 months.

So true Sheryl! It's the "Law of Substitution"...people will not pay more for something, when they can get a similar or same product for less. That is what dictates price. As many of us...I've seen and experienced the booms and the busts...funny how the booms are so much easier..isn't it? lol

Steve,

Know the feeling on what your saying.  Unfortunately in my short time in Real estate I have met more unethical scoundrels than people like you or I.

I always tell my sellers up fromt I'm not here to have your home sit on the market and I'm giving them a price of what it would take to sell the home today.  It's frustrating!!

Well done Sheryl, I once had a seller who wanted as much for his current home as the new one he was buying, I asked him if he would pay that much for his home, of course he wouldn't, it priced right and sold within 45 days. I don't think this is the kind of market to "buy listings" by overpricing with the hope of reducing it later as marketing technique.

I'm with you Howard. Buyer's are pretty smart nowadays too. I read in another post how what buyers are looking for nowadays is a deal. You can talk about home and cozyness all you want, then bang.."can you get me a deal on it?.."

Some people will literally log in to Zillow if they like a home and accept that hard data over their agent's. Funny enough, Zillow is notorious for having skewed data...

To get my clients, buyers and sellers to have a cutting edge view of what's going on with home values in their neighborhood, I use pending/backup contingent sales to point at what kind of homes and where buyers are making offers. I also try to go up and down 25% in square footage in case I missed some.

Pending sales are a good source in this market. I see that Catalist homes in San Diego is offering up Pending and Expired home sale data, as well as cutting listing commission to 3%. NAR, California AOR as well as their local MLS are pretty steamed about that one. I think there's a lawsuit but I don't know..

Anyway, I either turndown sellers if they want to overprice, or employ the reverse technique and price it low at first and then after two weeks raise the price in increments to where they want in 45 days..

I've had overpriced listings and to tell you the truth, it is not cool..In Los Angeles (I'm sure everywhere else too), an overpriced listing and stubborn seller is not fun.

People are not always rational about the sale of their property.  One of my buyers put an offer on a condo just the other day that was very reasonable for the unit.  However, the seller had just bought the condo (closed a month ago) and had changed his mind and wanted to sell.  He had paid the tenant, that had been living in the unit, to end the lease early and had the closing costs and selling real estate fees to pay and he felt that it was reasonable to expect to sell at a price that he would not lose any money.  His agent actually thought that it should sell for more (or so he kept saying, but then the agent had actually told me not to tell my client what it had sold for and when, so I wouldn't trust him no matter what.  I had already discussed it with my client anyways because it was the right thing to do. but I digress)  The seller and his agent kept saying that they did not want to make money, but they just didn't want to lose money, like my client should take the loss instead?

Anyway, we came up in price but they pushed for more and we started to scrutinize the property and came to the conclusion that with the garbage dumpsters only 2 floor below the balcony there was a potential for smells that my client would not want, so we walked.  If they had taken the offer my client would probably never noticed any smells but the potential along with the price was too much and he would have had to stay for more than a few years if he didn't want to loss on the purchase.  I am glad that he walked as I felt his upper limit for the unit was a little higher than it was really worth., not by so much that he would lose money if he held the unit for a few years but still a few thousand more than I was completely comfortable with.

So we are off looking for more condos and while I know I will find my client a better place for the price, I doubt that the seller will get a better offer. (even though their agent kept on insisting that they had 2 offers coming in "tomorrow")

As Sheryl said in starting this post, the property is really only worth what the buyer will pay. What the seller thinks the value of the property is irrelevant, it doesn't matter what he/she paid, whether he/she will profit or lose is of no consequence. It is only a ready willing and able buyer who sets the value based on the offer.

zillow doesn't matter with their "zestimate" nor do any of the other online valuation sites, the tax assessor doesn't matter, friends, neighbors and relatives don't matter, the appraiser matters only in the sense of advising the lender of the value of the property in order to satisfy underwriting and close the loan.

I'm amused when I see listings that indicate the property is priced $$$$ below recent appraisal. If the property was worth what the recent appraisal stated, then it would have already sold for that, not be offered below that figure.

I'm frightened by the thought of an agent who thinks that the buyer agent will not advise the client about the history of the property including the most recent sale price of a month previously. And I'm certain that 2 additional offers were not coming in the next day considering the ethics displayed by that agent.

Sheryl - I like the way you handle your seller/price objections - putting them in the buyer's shoes for a moment makes a lot of sense.  Well done. :

Cheryl - I totally agree with how you quickly gave the sellers a reality check.  When asked if they would buy their own house for that price, the look you get in return is "priceless and says it all".

Unfortunately, for those agents picking up the pieces from an over bought listing, the sellers feel as though the home is being stolen from them.  They have a very difficult time understanding that it was an inflated value and was never really theirs to begin with.  I for one am looking forward to Spring and hope that it brings a balanced market.

Hopefully the sellers list at a reasonable price.

The Sellers set the "Listing Price" BUT it's the Buyers who set the "SALES PRICE"

http://TorringtonMLS.com