[Music]
Hello everyone and Welcome once again to
another episode of the Selling
Greenville podcast I'm your host Stan McCune
realtor right here in Greenville
South Carolina as always and we are
recording this episode on Wednesday June
the 10th I usually record my episodes a
little bit later in the week but I will
be camping at the end of this week
hopefully
and so I wanted to go ahead and get this
episode out to all of you to make sure
that we don't skip a beat just because
I'm going to be out camping and doing
other things and so yeah here we
are a little bit earlier than normal but
hopefully this will be some content that
you guys like but before we Dive
Right In little housekeeping as
always you can find my contact
information in the show notes reach out
to me if you have any questions or need
a realtor for anything and if you
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in the different podcast platforms
that everyone is using today we are
going to be talking about home home
selling gimmicks there are a lot of home
selling gimmicks out there and a lot of
Realtors using them in order to try to
get more clients these aren't
gimmicks that are well the ones that
we're going to discuss that don't work
these are gimmicks that a lot of
Realtors out there are are trying to
convince their seller clients do work as
an effort to get more list
so they'll they'll try to play it off as
like they're doing something that nobody
else is doing in order to for someone to
be like oh well I'll list my house with
you the the other realtors that I talk
to aren't doing anything like that the
problem is that some gimmicks work some
gimmicks don't we're going to discuss
five that don't work and five I wouldn't
call them gimmicks but five strategies
that are similar that do work
so let's Dive Right In five gimmicks
that don't work for selling a home and
five strategies that do work for selling
your home gimmick number one and this is
something I am seeing more and more
frequently and to me this is borderline
unethical I think probably some Realtors
are going to start getting flag for this
but we'll see the gimmick is to list
the home well below what you intend to
sell it at maybe 15
$220,000 below what you intend to sell
it at and then about 30 minutes later to
hike the price back up to what you
actually intend to so for instance if
you were planning to sell a home for
$300,000 you start by listing it at like
275 and then 30 minutes later you
increase the price to 300 the reason why
I can imagine people are doing this is
because when it pops in at 275 it
instantly notifies a lot of people and
it and a lot of people are starting to
get MLS emails and a lot of people might
get notified you know with whatever app
that they're using realor.com or or
quit it or whatever it may
be people will get instantly notified
of the lower price and then they go they
pull it up on their phone and 30 minutes
later the price has just gone up by you
know 25
$5,000 that is a gimmick that doesn't
work and I'll tell you why when people
see that they get so upset and yes maybe
you're reaching a broader audience maybe
you're hitting some of those people that
have you know their system set up to
tell them of houses that are coming on
the market below you know
280,000 or something like that and so
you're getting those eyes on that
property and I guess the thinking is
that maybe one of those people will be
like oh you know what well maybe I can
afford that home
for several tens of thousands of dollars
above my budget maybe I maybe I should
just be able to to come up to that price
point most people are not going to do
that so expanding your Market to people
that don't want to
to to buy your home is not a helpful
strategy but then it also ticks off all
those people all those people that are
willing to go up to 300,000 now they've
just seen that you listed the home at
275 and then immediately raised it up
that upsets them maybe they saw it right
away before the price went up they
flagged it to the realtor they started
making preparations for seeing the home
and then all of a sudden they go back to
it and it's listed at 300,000 it either
makes the listing agent look like the
list agent doesn't know what he or she
is doing or it just looks like things
are being shady that is not a winning
strategy and I don't recommend doing
it what is a winning strategy how about
basing the list price on the competition
this is something that I try to do when
I'm when I'm trying to to make a
recommendation to one of my seller
clients for what we should list the
house as I look at the competition
what is currently on the market what are
we up against and you can base your
price
Loosely well you want to base your
price a lot off of the current inventory
levels but then
specifically you look at so for
instance if you are trying to sell for
$300,000 maybe there are 10 homes within
a a close area of where this home is
being listed that are listed for
$300,000 if you can undercut them by
just a little bit this is why you might
see listings at 299 900 something like
that you might be able to undercut them
a little bit and then you'll show up
higher on the list when people are
searching maybe there are some that
are listed for 2999 you could undercut
them to 2998 or
2995 lot of lot of possibilities there I
like that because that puts you higher
on the list when people are running
searches they'll see that list listing
before they see the one all the way at
the bottom if they if they've done their
search all the way up to
300 and there's that psychological
Factor we all know it's true that when
people see
299 for some reason our mind doesn't
fully Embrace that it's 300,000 now some
people are smarter than that I
understand but there are some
subconscious things that work in the
mind there as well and so that is a
strategy
that does work listing low then hiking
up the price that doesn't work in my
opinion what's another gimmick that
in my opinion doesn't work that is
something I would avoid as a home seller
generally speaking I would say
listing well below the market in order
to drup a bidding war now there are
caveats to this one is Ian from SoCal
if you're listening to this you have
mentioned that in SoCal in California
this strategy can work part of that
might be that the home prices are higher
I'm not I'm not sure because I'm not a
realtor over there I have done a ton of
research into that
market over here listing well below the
market in order to drup a bidding war
generally doesn't work in this market
usually what you end up is with more
stressed out buyers more stressed out
Sellers and in the end everyone is a
little bit on edge and usually the home
doesn't end up going for the full amount
that it can again here in this market a
better option A better strategy is to
come up with a range that the home is
worth and this is part of what I do I
look at the look at the comps let's look
at what has sold in the past and I look
at the inventory what's currently on the
market what are other people going to be
seeing when they're searching for homes
in this area and based on all of that
data and based on the the property
condition a lot of other factors I come
up with a range here's what I think this
home is worth and we can sell that on
the lower end of that range or or I
should say we can list that on the lower
end of the range we can list that on the
upper end of the range and there are
different strategies different reasons
for doing one versus the other depends
on what you're trying to do as a seller
but generally listing well below the
market to drup a bidding war the
the times where that works the best is
typically when it's an Asis sale and you
you have a property that needs some work
and you just need to to get as many
eyes on that as possible because you
need a a broad Market because you know
that nine out of 10 people
that look at that property aren't going
to be interested in it because it needs
too much work and so you need to list it
below the market to get as many eyes as
possible on it that's the only time that
I'm I'm really happy with that if you're
just a normal seller selling your house
or you've got a home or a property
that's in good condition in the upstate
of South Carolina you want to sell that
and list that within the range that it's
worth if you list it for 20 $30,000
below it's worth you are not going going
to make up those gains more than likely
I would say I see it happen maybe 10% of
the time that I see a home that's listed
below like well below what it's worth
like greater than 10% what it's worth
that that 10% or more is actually made
up more often than not it's not
because in this market here in the
upsate and again this might be different
than other markets but people don't want
to go too far above what a home is
listed for they're not really interested
in putting in those those crazy offers
that are 2030
$40,000 cuz here you know an average
home sale is in you know
260 range so if you go $40,000 above
what a home is listed for you're going
over 10% what the average home sale is
listed for on on that home and that's
probably a cheap home to begin with so
so there's a lot of psychological things
that play generally that that gimmick of
trying to drup the bidding war by
artificially listing a low price that
generally does not work out for all the
parties this is a a similar gimmick
but but not quite the same but
similar is stringing out a buyer in
order to drup other offers I've seen
this happen before we've run into this
multiple times lately and what I
mean by this is let's say that you list
a house and you immediately get an offer
from someone you have three options
basically you can either accept that
offer you can counter that offer or you
can reject that offer in at least South
Carolina we don't have an option for
wait and see these offers they have
expiration dates on them so if there's
an aggressive expiration date which
often times there is of of you know 12
18 Maybe maybe 24 hours usually once
it expires that buyer is gone now you
can try to string them along you can try
to to you know pacify them in some way
or maybe give an unrealistic counter
back to them in an effort to keep your
home on the market longer because you're
trying to drup a bidding war more
often than not that doesn't work be
straight up again this is why listing
your home for what you want it to sell
for is so important because if you get
an offer let's say you list your home
for 300,000 you immediately get an offer
for 295 that would be a normal a normal
offer you can either just accept that
or just counter that back to 300 but
you don't want to have a situation where
you're alienating buyers because you're
trying to string them along in an effort
to to get more offers I had a seller
recently that on a a on a property
that I had listed for him he was asking
me after we got an offer right away can
we just can we just have them hold off
for about a week and I was just like no
no that's not that's not how this works
I mean I can tell them hey can you wait
a week while we try to drup other
offers or you know obviously I would try
to portray a little bit better than that
but they would know they would know what
we're trying to do they would not
appreciate it the golden rule is is
always a good thing to apply in real
State because if you're looking at
buying a house would you want someone
else to to try to string you along to
try to to try to drup other offers
when you give a price when you give a a
an offer that's very close to what
they've listed for maybe at or even
above I had a situation earlier this
year where we put an offer that was
above what the home was listed for and
this is a case in which which we're
about to get to here in a second we had
a a fee for service listing so the
listing agent wasn't involved we were
dealing directly with the sellers the
sellers didn't know how to negotiate and
they were just like okay well we'll
respond in three days well in three days
my buyer client no longer wanted the
property we looked at other properties
and there were there were other ones
that he was interested in by that point
and so it doesn't usually work if you
are here's a strategy does work if you
are confident that your home will get
multiple offers or that what your
property that you have listed will get
multiple offers let's say that that's
that's the kind of thing where you know
maybe like before we mentioned for Asis
sales where you list them below the
market in order to get as many eyes on
it as possible there's a very good
chance of multiple offers then go
ahead and get out in front of that go
ahead and tell people hey we're not
going to accept an offer until this date
that that feels like a legitimate
strategy to people for the most part
again it depends on the listing but at
least getting out in front of it people
don't feel like the wool has pull been
pulled over their eyes they don't feel
like it's a bait and switch type of
situation where you list the home but
then you're you're not you don't
actually want to sell it and there
are actually some some ethical
aspects here as a realtor that
actually in South Carolina really we
have to respond in timely manner to any
offers that are presented so so really
if we're going to get into the
nitty-gritty of the ethics and the
legalities of this we as Realtors really
aren't allowed to try to string
buyers along we have to give some type
of response to offers as they're coming
in we have a a actual rejection form
this isn't a form that the seller needs
to sign only the listing agent needs
to sign it but it's a an official
rejection form your offer was presented
to the seller and it was rejected
without a counter offer we have to
legally send that if we don't respond
with either an acceptance or a counter
so there's no form that allows us to
just string someone along you could
try to do that by by countering and by
dragging things out with counters back
and forth again it usually doesn't work
out you're risking losing that buyer in
the long run that's a gimmick that I
don't
recommend all right so so those
gimmicks have have all been mostly
dealing with how you price and how you
how you handle you know offers in
comparison to your list price my fourth
one here is a little bit different and
it's about the photography and this is a
gimmick that I see happening a lot
particularly when you have listing
agents that aren't using professional
photographers and it's when they take
really up close photos of light fixtures
of upgraded faucets they they might even
take try to take some artsy photos
showing you know a c a countertop like a
bathroom vanity or something like
that and this the idea of behind this
gimmicky way of marketing house is that
hey look at all these updates let me
show you this up close picture picture
of this light fixture look at this nice
light fixture how it was updated and
and and the I guess the thinking is that
people are going to just be wowed by by
these updates and I guess the thinking
is that people can't ascertain that
there have been updates by looking at
just pictures of the entire house
pictures of entire rooms I don't
think that this works I have clients all
the time that send me list things
that are like what's the deal with why
are they taking such strange photos of
the light fixtures and a weird angle of
the countertops and whatnot i' I've
never heard someone that has been like
wow that light fixture that they took
that picture of I really want to see
that house now like I I didn't really
care for it but after I saw the the
upgraded light fixtures and the fans
that they that they highlighted in
their in their pictures I definitely
want to put an offer in or I definitely
want to look at that property
now so this is a gimmick that I've
never seen work what I prefer to do a
strategy that does work is to market the
house holistically rather than
marketing it as individual pieces pieced
together a house is a house it is a lot
of things that come together a lot of
individual parts that come together to
form to form a house to form a good
listing and taking pictures of a few
individual pieces does not capture that
and so I'll I'll just mention a few
things here that to me are you know a
part of my marketing strategy when I'm
marketing house first off photos need to
be done by professional they need to be
someone taking the photos who that is
what he or she does for a living they
take professional photos they it's
really great if they are Real Estate
photographers because then they really
understand how to do it with some
properties drone photos I think can
highlight things so there's a lot of
things with the photos that need to be
done but they have to be done by a
professional and a professional will
know not to take that closeup of the
light fixture and I'm not going to ask
them to I'm going to ask them to take
the photos that they deem are
appropriate and I might if there are a
few aspects of a home like maybe a
wet bar that would be like an individual
feature that's like let's let's just
highlight the wet bar well that's that's
different than highlighting the faucet
in the wet
bar and so a professional will
understand how to do that will
understand the need to do that and won't
focus on these little individual parts
of a home Additionally the photos
need to plac in an order that shows the
important features first it really
drives me crazy and I apologize if I I
can't can't remember if I've mentioned
this on the Pod before but you get these
listings where the first five or six
photos are just of the outside of the
house and the reason why they do that is
because they're just taking the photos
that the photographer sent them and just
uploading them and not rearranging them
but you don't want the first five or six
photos to be of the house you you always
want to start with the outside of the
house because people are expecting that
the outside of the house does provide
for you you some quick things to
identify is it a ranch or is it two Lev
is it try level what condition is the
does it look like from the outside of
the house what's the front yard what's
the curve appeal etc etc I always start
with that but then you need to move on
very quickly because people as they're
flipping through photos you don't want
them to have to flip through 15 photos
before they get to your kitchen so I
always make sure that the photos are
arranged in such a way that
the first few photos really highlight
the main aspects of the house
including the backyard I will pivot to
the backyard early in order for
people to see it because that's such a
big deal to some people and then I'll
come back to the backyard at the end in
order to for people to kind of see all
the different
angles so there's a a lot a lot that
goes into that but I'm just going to
kind of leave it at that the order of
the photos and the fact that not every
photo that the photographer sends should
be uploaded some of those are redundant
you don't need the left side of the
house and the right side of the house
and you know you don't need every
angle of every room in there get a
couple of angles so that people don't
just get tired and and you know as
they're scrolling through the photos
don't just think they're looking at the
same thing over and over again and in
the MLS we can label photos this is
particularly useful when we're talking
about a vacant home where several
different rooms might look more or less
identical label the photos you want your
listing agent to identify okay this is
the the front bedroom this is the back
bedroom or or or bedroom one two three
however you want to do that so that when
people are looking at it they can
quickly identify which is
which and then I use the listing
description to kind of paint the picture
for what people are seeing in those
photos there are going to be photos
don't don't tell everything there's
going to be gaps in information that the
photos don't
reveal and so I Tred to use the listing
description to kind of fill in the gaps
what is as I'm looking through the
photos what are some questions that the
average buyer might have or what are
some things that can really highlight
what people are looking at when they
look at these photos that's what the
listing description is for odds are they
don't care about that $150 light fixture
that the that the seller got from Lowe's
don't focus on that focus on the house
and the the entirety of the house a
holistic marketing strategy that's what
I think is the best strategy all right
last but not least gimmick number five
and this one obviously is close to
home but gimmick number five is trying
to shave the realtor missions down and
this is happening in both directions
we're getting situations where homes
are being listed by I've already
mentioned once fee for Service agents
these are agents that they there's a
few different things that they can do
but the most common version of a feif
for service agent is that they just put
it on the MLS maybe they take the photos
they put the information on the MLS and
they don't do anything else the seller
is directly negotiating
with potential buyers with Buyers
agents they are responsible for all the
paperwork they're responsible for
everything but they pay a lot less
for the listing they might pay you know
a th000 bucks for the listing or 1,500
bucks or whatever it may be but they're
having to do all the work that's one way
this is happening and then the other way
is homes are being listed with a
lower buyers agent commission a typical
buyers agent commission on a home
that is you know listed above 50
$60,000 is typically going to be 3% and
so you you have these firms out there
that are listing them for 2 and a half%
2% whatever that that's what the buyer
agent is getting all right let's start
with that why I think that that's a
gimmick that doesn't work yes in theory
it does save the seller money if they
have to pay less to a buyer agent the
problem is that that the default buyer
agency agreement in South Carolina
actually has a commission number on it
if you look at what we call the
exclusive right to buy a buyer agency
agreement here in South Carolina
really the most natural way of using
that paper form is to actually write in
the percentage that's the minimum
percentage that the buyer's agent is
going to receive as a result of the
transaction and so a wide percent
percentage of Buyer Agents in the market
are writing in 3% so what happens that
is an agreement now with the broker and
with with this buyer the buyer goes
under contract for a house that's listed
where they're offering 2% to the buyer's
agent now the buyer has to pay the extra
1% well that's either going to be
an issue or at the very least an awkward
conversation between the buyer's agent
and the buyer I mean there's just a
whole lot that goes in there that that
is not a pleasant conversation but aside
from that when people list the home
for with a buyer's agent that's below
the norm they are failing to see that
the marketing for a home isn't just to
potential buyers you need to market the
home to actual buyers agents and to
actual brokerages they are the ones that
are going to be looking at homes most
frequently and sending those listings
over to their clients they're the ones
that are going to be saying to their
clients oh yeah I really think that this
is a good property to look at you need
to look at this immediately versus
saying I I don't know this this home
doesn't look great I I don't think we
should pursue this and let me tell you
right or wrong and I try not to do this
as a buyer agent but there is natural
human tendency when you realize that
you're looking at three or four
different homes one of them pays you
dramatically less than the other the
natural human tendency is to to not be
very positive about that again I try not
to do that but I know a lot of Agents
out there that when they see that
listing where they're not getting paid
as much as the other and they either
don't want to have that awkward
conversation with their client or you
know maybe they have an agreement that
they'll just accept whatever commission
that the listing brokerage offers
they will sour on that property and
there's a a whole lot of ways that a a
buyer's agent can can sour on a
property and can can make it to where
it's like I don't know I don't think
we should mess with this one or you know
this isn't a brokerage that I've had
good experiences with and this is why
it's important to consider that you're
not just marketing a property to a buyer
but to a buyer's agent all right now
with regard to the flat fee listing
service or the fee for service listing
service where you've got someone that's
just listing the house cheaply and then
the agent just basically walks away into
the background and the seller takes
care of everything from there I
actually T thought about doing an entire
episode on this my wife told me to do an
entire episode on this and maybe I will
because so many of my horse stories from
work have to deal with these types of
situations where I'm Comm where I'm
directly communicating with a seller and
the seller doesn't know what to do and
I'm having to do double the work etc etc
there have been very few positive
experiences that I've had as buyer agent
with transactions that that are done
like this where the seller is doing all
the negotiations and all the paperwork
and all the communication themselves and
the listing agent isn't involved and I
have seen over and over again that
because the seller doesn't seem to know
what they're doing because they don't
have all their ducks in a row because
they don't understand how the real
estate game works that transactions fall
apart and and I I referenced this
just a few minutes ago where we had a
seller that thought he could just string
out my buyer for three days and during
that time of course I'm showing showing
him other properties and and he he
really wanted that property and he gave
a great offer on on their property and
then when they tried to to do what a
realtor well I should say what a good
realtor would never do in stringing
along the buyer for multiple days
without a an official counter or an
official response to the offer my
buyer client just just moved on he was
he was ready to move on
it usually doesn't work out well
there's a reason why listing agents have
been around for so long it's because our
experience in the marketplace is
valuable and that's just a Shameless
plug for me as a listing agent for other
listing agents out there if you don't
understand the repair procedure in South
Carolina you're probably going to pay
more on repairs if you don't understand
how to list a house for for what it's
worth your probably going to end up
selling having having it you might have
it on the market for longer than it
should be you're probably going to end
up selling it for less than it's worth
you're you may end up getting hosed
on the language of the contract in one
way or another because we have you know
like a an eight page contract now here
in South Carolina and Realtors we we
know all the ins and outs of all of that
and we understand it the average seller
does not and so you need to to keep that
in mind that's an important
consideration and a better strategy is
to on both these points is to market the
home to the buyer and the buyer's agent
and to actually just use a listing agent
that can actually assist in the
transaction that can get the property to
the closing table get you the most bang
for your buck get you the most value for
that house that's going to be a better
strategy more often than not than trying
to Chisel away and save all these other
costs but then you find yourself in a
situation where you're kind of out of
your league doing dealing directly with
Buyer Agents that's it that's number
five that's all we have for today if you
have any questions please feel free to
shoot me a text or send me an
email again all my contact information
is in the show notes I will be camping
this weekend but I will be available in
so far as my phone has cell phone
service so please feel free to reach out
to me at any time and until next time
stay safe
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