Three Days on the Market vs. Three Months
I don’t know about other Realtors, but my policy as a listing agent (representing Sellers) is to counsel that they leave Realtors’ business cards out the first few days their home is on the market (protocol is for agents who come through the Broker Open or do a private showing to leave their business cards).
My rationale?
Lots of Realtor cards suggests intense, early interest — something that creates a sense of urgency in Buyers (and their agents), and helps get the Seller a better deal, faster.
Three months later, my advice is the opposite: ‘yank ’em.’
My reasoning?
When prospective Buyers view a house that’s been sitting on the market, and see a Dining Room table full of business cards, they wonder what made all the other Buyers pass.
And they do, too.
P.S.: It may be a “Realtor urban legend,” but there’s a story about a listing agent who felt the need to “embellish” the turnout at their Tuesday Broker Open.
So, they a left a slug of their colleagues’ business cards in the home for the Seller to see.
Who certainly did.
Eager to hear feedback “direct from the horses’ mouths” (and not knowing that’s a violation of protocol), they started calling the agents who’d supposedly attended the Broker Open.
They fired their agent that night.
