Expert: Dick Dennis - 10/2/2010

Question
So far I have sold three houses in my lifetime and yet to have a satisfactory experience with real estate agents.  We had to move due to needing a house big enough for my mother to move in.  However, our old house has been on the market for quite some time.  We have lowered the price, brought in a professional stager, offer a closing incentive, offer a buyer referral incentive to our neighbors, advertised in off-the-beaten path websites, conducted open houses, etc....  The kicker - each one of these were my own ideas after researching the internet and then calling the agent sporadically over a 4 month period, only to have her say "I never heard of that idea - so neat!" to some of them.  What is the trick to find the real bulldog of an agent that will be passionate and creative?  To select an agent for this house, we learned from our past mistakes and interviewed four different agents at our house and asked particular questions about marketing.  We didn't realize that the one we picked was a great presenter but then virtually disappeared after we signed the contract. On top of this, I am just now discovering that on her personal agent website, our house is still with the old (poorly written description) and old pictures.  As a licensed attorney, I am about to take the test, receive the state real estate license, and devote myself to selling.  But - it shouldn't be this hard.  It shouldn't be this hard to find the good agents.  Can you tell us how?

Answer
All those marketing ideas you present are quite familiar to me, Christy. In fact, I know of a bunch more. You chose an agent after interviewing four of them and THAT is the one you chose? One thing I totally abhore is when an agent takes a listing and then hides, expecting another member of the MLS to sell it.

Even if the price was too high, that agent should have let you know what kind of work she was doing from time to time. In my 40 years in this business, I have never taken a listing without being in contact with the seller at least one of two times EACH WEEK. In most cases they actually were sick and tired of seeing me! But it gets sold.

I hope you realize, Christy, that there is only one reason why a house will not sell: the price is too high, even if you lower it. It is too high in relation to its location. Or it is too high in relation to its condition. Or it is too high in relation to its terms. Or it is too high in relation to its availability (owner allowing it to be shown). Chances are one of those apply to your situation. Guaranteed.

In your area is an agent or two or three who are crackerjack Realtors. Even if sales have dropped to virtually nothing, this Realtor gets his properties sold. In this kind of market in which it is difficult to find a buyer who is qualified to buy ANY house, the agent should sit down with the seller to let him/her know the facts of life. Foreclosures or short sales sell first.

While standard sales are indeed being made, the seller must realize that the competition are houses that belong to banks or they are about to be. So, it is the wise seller who gets down to the level of the bank houses plus. Plus meaning the standard sale means the seller will sell the house all right, but it will mean the condition of the house is A-1. For example, I hope you lowered the price AT THE SAME TIME OF HAVING THE STAGER doing her work.

Finally, if you bought your house in 2005-6, you are probably swimming against the tide. If you added a second mortgage on to the title, again you made it difficult to sell, too. It's not the company you are looking for. It's the agent, even if that agent works for a smaller, but producing company. I do wish you well.

Dick Dennis
CA Broker Lic. #00349415
dixiedee13@aol.com

I have written an ebook: "Finding the Best Realtor"