Being a Realtor has its ups and downs. Not every appointment is a success. Not every offer we write for a buyer is accepted.
Last year, I met with a widow who was selling her Glendale home. She had a reverse mortgage, so each month she owed more money. I met with her in March 2024 and explained the pricing strategy of negotiating up rather than down. Her home consisted of two bedrooms and one and a half baths. The house was not without its charm, but there were incurable defects. There were numerous flights of stairs. One leading to the front door, and then a two-story home. She had a tiny yard, just a small patio. There was a bonus room or golf cart garage, making it ideal for someone who was an Oakmont Country Club member. I suggested a list price of $1,499,000 and believed we would get multiple offers pushing the selling price into the $1.5m range.
I followed up with her via calls and texts, but she ghosted me. In April 2024, she listed the home with another agent for $1,599,000. Fast-forward ten months, and the home went into escrow. It fell out of escrow in March, and the price was reduced to $1,550,000. Remaining on the market for five more weeks before going into escrow again. It finally closed escrow in May for $1,450,000, thirteen months after the initial listing.
Lesson learned: When you interview Realtors and receive widely different suggested list prices, choose the agent with the higher number only if you include a clause in the listing agreement that cancels the listing if they later ask for a price reduction. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
Thirteen months is sure a long time to sell a house. Puts your whole life on hold