Artfully Sloughing Off Seller Requests for Feedback — or, “Minnesota Nice — Realtor Version” The Realtor equivalent of “How are you?” or “Have a nice day!” is telling would-be home Sellers (and their agents) that their client is “just starting to look.” While that may occasionally be true, more often it’s code for one (or...Read More
Proactive Marketing: Exhibit A “Directly behind the property line is a small condo building, not apartments, please let buyers know.” –Excerpt, “Agent Remarks” field on MLS “Nobody ever washed a rental car.” –Anonymous What is the listing agent for this Longfellow (Minneapolis) home up to? (Note: I showed the home a few weeks ago to...Read More
Working With Buyer Objections (Or Not) One of the things that happens when you list a home is that you find out all the reasons it doesn’t work for a given Buyer. So, the home’s too . . . big/small/expensive/cheap/dated/updated, etc. When that’s the case, a good Realtor — with extensive local market knowledge — will...Read More
Knowing When to Move On — or Skip Altogether First, a definition: a “deal breaker” to a prospective Buyer is anything that, all by itself, rules out a particular home. Exactly what that is, though, varies by Buyer. So, from past experience, I know that deal breakers can be anything from a dated Kitchen, to...Read More
Showing Feedback — Upper Bracket Edition “Is the Buyer local?” –Question on showing feedback form for a Twin Cities upper bracket home “I know half of my marketing budget is wasted — I just don’t know which half.” –Marketing director lament The typical showing feedback questions — what the Buyer’s agent fields after showing a property —...Read More
Quarter Half-Hearted Marketing Campaign Given that something like 30% of all MLS listings are cancelled or simply expire, unsold, it seems fair to ask, “why didn’t it sell?” My Realtor’s answer is that, it’s usually never just one thing. So, poor (or no) staging; a quarter half-hearted marketing campaign; too few and/or unflattering photos; too...Read More
