This may shock you, but I recently turned down a listing.
Amid the skeptical raised eyebrows from my faithful readers – and perhaps gasps of panic from my fellow real estate agents – I’d like to explain why. After all, in any real estate market, “she who has the listings has the gold,” or so the saying goes. The purpose of my business is to help hopeful homeowners buy and savvy homeowners sell. So why wouldn’t I take every listing that comes my way?
Not so fast.
The Realtor Code of Ethics is clear: We are not to mislead the public regarding property values. A Realtor should never take a listing at an artificially inflated price with the strategy of badgering the seller into reducing, reducing and reducing again. Of course, market fluctuations sometimes require price adjustments, but deliberately setting unrealistic expectations from the start is an ethical violation.
Beyond ethics, I have a responsibility to my brokerage and my team to ensure we invest our time and resources wisely. A properly marketed listing is more than a sign in the yard and an MLS entry. It requires professional photography, videography, digital and print marketing, social media promotion, ongoing market analysis and strategic adjustments. This all takes time and money – two things I don’t waste on a listing that has no real chance of selling.
The listing I turned down wasn’t a bad property, but it was misaligned with market conditions. In that specific neighborhood, 64 homes were on the market, only seven were in escrow and just four had sold in the past 120 days. The seller disregarded this data and insisted on listing their home $20,000 above what the market supported.
Adding to the challenge, they admitted they weren’t truly motivated to sell – unless they could also purchase another home in the same neighborhood, which they felt was $100,000 overpriced. To make matters worse, they had a hard deadline: If their home didn’t sell within 120 days, they wouldn’t sell at all.
See the problem?
I could have taken the listing, ignored the ethics and wasted my team’s efforts on a property doomed to sit unsold. Another agent may take it, go through the motions and push for price reductions. But it won’t be me.
My clients deserve honesty, respect and full commitment. In return, I expect them to be open to market realities and willing to work with me – not against me.
If you’re thinking about selling your home, give yourself permission to partner with your Realtor, embrace the actual market conditions and avoid the trap of aspirational pricing. Otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
If you’d like to learn more about the current local market conditions, reach out to Theresa Grant, Real Estate Broker (DRE #01202881), at Theresa@HomesInLakeArrowhead.com. You can also follow on social: Instagram, @theresagrantrealtor | YouTube: @theresagrantrealtor. Theresa is a Broker Associate with REAL Broker Technologies.
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