Sellsius real estate marketing blog

My thought is that real estate agents sometimes think more about themselves than the client. Some good questions - how well did your real estate agent meet your needs? did your real estate agent understand your situation and offer suggestions or recommendations? We don't present information that takes the client or prospect into consideration.

I think that all agents should share with the public all of their transactions within the last 6 or 12 months (whether their clients have something good or bad to say about them).

But there is one exception... For example, I have clients who settled on their house recently that did not want to make it public that they bought a house nor where it was located (for a variety of reasons). I do not include their names nor the street address of that property in the list of transactions I've done in the last 12 months.

I think it is as I said before, what works for some doesn't work for all. I agree that it may hold more value for specialists. I had not considered that. I have listed everything from broken down mobiles to high end waterfront so obviously I am not a specialist of any kind.

I like that it generated the good conversation though. It's always interesting to hear opinions of practitioners outside of my area. Maine is an interesting market to work in, I am in a very pretty rural area half way between NH and Portland.

We have a thriving seasonal waterfront & second home market but locals are pretty economically depressed. We have A LOT of old school agents that are stuck on old ways of doing things. When I was doing my stats in my appointments I was told I was wasting my time and when customers REALLY didn't care I chose to focus on other things. SO that I where I am coming from. In areas that have more competition I am sure any advantage is worth taking!

This is a tough one! Of course!

All of you have make good points and I don't propose to know the answers but one of the purposes of the post is to raise the question whether expertise can be quantified. I think it can be to some extent. I think it is at least worth a try. You folks working in the trenches know better than I what separates you from the competition and to the extent you can quantify it, I think you have a selling point in your favor with prospective clients. Just my opinion.

I think statistics may also favor the specialist--- so, if you've done a fair number of short sales or 1031 exchanges or historic homes or whatever your specialty and I need that specialty, you're my man (or woman)if you can show me the numbers.

What difference will it make . I do quite a few deals, each one has certain circumstances. most not related to the deal prior.

I bet I know what profession the 18% of people who voted 'no' work in ;)

If a potential client asks, do you really have a choice? Are you going to say no? or stutter through some explanation on why stats 'aren't really important' and that they can be manipulated..?

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst...

Mike, In answer to your question: No, I don't believe agents should reveal their statistics in general.

To Joe, I say that I used to do the statistics not only for myself as an agent but for the agency I worked for and Mike is correct. Even using those basic criteria the numbers can still be manipulated...this I know from experience and I only used data from our MLS. No matter how honest your intent others may not have the same interest in being so straight forward and I can tell you from experience that it could cost you deals. I lost more than one appointment because someone else came with their stats, which conflicted with mine...the sellers attitudes was that one of us were lying and in each case both sellers dumped the agents with the stats.

For Jay, If you're going to use statistics in your presentations maybe think about sticking to personal ones. What is YOUR LP/SP ratio, Your Properties Ave. Days on Market, YOUR AVG. Buyer per transaction Savings in Dollars and set them against how the average agent in your agrea performs. Turn YOUR PERSONAL successes directly into customer benefits and you'll never walk away with egg on your face:-) Also You don't need to do statistics to show your cutomer satisfaction surveys. When I was a listing agent I always included excerpts from them in my prelisting packages and I always kept them in my presentation binder. It has been my experience that People DO pay attention to THAT!

Michael brings up a good point. On the surface, Joe's "List of 5" looks reasonable.

But what if I specialize say, in short sales? In short sales, you can probably toss list-to-sold price ratios out the window, and dates almost become meaningless too.

You can "adjust" the metric to reflect a certain specialty, but what if I tend to work in a more general area, that covers a range of homes typically selling from $250K to $800K? Homes at the low range will have different sales stats characteristics than homes in the higher end of the range.

We send out "customer satisfaction surveys" to all our clients, whether they purchase or sell a home or not. It asks them to rate our services on a scale of 1 - 10 for things like communication, responsiveness, knowledge, etc. It's in our listing presentation, but we spend almost no time covering it, and rarely get questions about it.

Joe, wouldn't you also need to add "where", "when" and "what" criteria to the above? We build MLS systems for a living and there is a never-ending quest for the stat that will show someone to be great in some category or, more positively, help them find that "blue ocean" in which they should compete because there is less competition. Also, the timing of the stats and the class of property is important as you want to make sure the person is a successful specialist in the type of property you have, not just a big producer. I've written a couple of articles recently about agent reputation and ranking and generally question the usefulness of any one rank and yet the discussion of stats almost inevitably results in what I call the tyranny of the ordered list. It will be interesting to see where some of the agent ranking systems go in the next year or so and I suspect sales stats will be a key focus.

Toronto Realtor, you make valid points.

So, is it possible to minimize manipulation? Perhaps if we start with just raw data like:

1. list of properties sold
2. list price
3. sales price
4. date listed
5. date sold

...we can build off that?

Yes Mindy,
we can observe a few problems with statistics, the most crutial one is the easy adjustibility of such a statistic to the author's needs. We have to respond ourselves a few questions such as: Who did the statistic? What are the statistics measuring? Who was asked? How were they asked?
Moreover, real estate agencies tend to protect themselves in order to avoid a negative image that could reslut a manipulated statistics(by a concurence?) So what do you think, "Should Real Estate Agents Reveal Their Sales Statistics?" I certainly don't think so.

Here is the problem with statistics: They can be manipulated in anyway shape and form to back up any claim any agent wants to make, and as long as they disclose in really tiny print how they arrived at their figures and where they pulled them from it is ethical. Educated clients understand this and fail to be impressed by them. Under educated clients have no idea what the numbers mean, and most don't care. However, real estate is not an exact science...there is no one tool that works the same way for all people. Showing statistics may be great tools for some people to use and I used to use them religiously now I do not.

It's all about separating yourself from the guy next to you. I say be bold, brash, different and most importantly honest. Smart people can usually see through the BS.

I guess the easiest is a list of all your sales and the time from listing to contract. Listed at/sold at would be nice.

I do like JeffX's idea of using ratios.

Yes, matt. Agreed. No one is suggesting it should be a law or anything but if someone asked would you tell them?

The last time I listed with a real estate agent, I didn't think to ask for it, but I would have loved it if it had been offered. Home owners are skeptical of listing agents, so anything you can do to assure the home owner that you are indeed a professional and not just a part time hack would most assuredly be beneficial. I chose my agent because I had seen her name on so many signs in my neighborhood, so I figured she was familiar with the area. Also, she presented herself well. Her stats would have been icing on the cake.

No, you SHOULD be allowed to run YOUR business any way YOU want.

Okay, there smart guy! Define "stats." :)

I like Missy's idea of including them in a "pre-listing" package. It's there is they're interested.

I'd define a sale as a property which closed title at x price which took x days from listing to contract.

Define "Sales".

Don't need me no numbers.
I just shows up in my Hummer with full graphics proclaiming that I am #1 and that works every time.
Along with my refrigerator magnets and note pads :)

An interesting discussion. I'm kind of a stats freak, in that their typical use irritates me to no end. A number means nothing without context. What's an average without a variance or the sample size?

But I digress.

JeffX - I like your idea of presenting ratios.

I have no issue giving out that sort of figure to a potential client, as long as I'm granted the opportunity to provide context at the same time. If you consider my last handful of buyers, my sale to list price ratio is just about 100%. Does that mean my Buyers over pay or does that mean I was dilligently looking, found them a gem of a property that was priced so excellently that we were in competition to buy it on day 1?

I'll give out stats all day - as long as I get to provide an explanation that is presented equally and at the same time.

Some sales stats I would be interested in knowing:

Listing Side...
Avg Days on Market
# of listings to sales ratio
Asking price to sales price ratio
# of listings sold

Buyers Side:
Asking price to sales price ratio
# of total sales
Avg client time to buy

I don't care how much in dollars an agent has made.

Good point Norm. (and to Matt)
Maybe it's better to say, "Sales statistics upon request". If they ask, you know it's important to them.

Yes, Daniel, it would require explanation. That begins a dialog with a client and it's generally a good thing when folks understand the process.

What has been your experience Missy?

Kelly-- no, not a requirement.

RE Web Designer-- I agree, I would not want a part-timer selling my home.

I do and I have many people who ask. It is part of my pre-listing package.

Joseph,

I have. It's definitely something I'm interested in when hiring.

I would be proud to share my list and sale stats, and I have done it in the past. It's hard to do without feeling like you're bragging.

Why not whats the secret. It is a reasonalbe question and shows if they are full or part time realtor. If they are a busy office compared to others.

If a client wants to know, I see no reason not to tell them. However, the only time I had someone ask me this question, as I recall, was a person I didn't want to work with, nor she me. :)

Not only successes, but I think one should be willing to share failures. Not sure how to do this in a verifiable fashion. I do believe that every transaction brings another kernel of competence.

I share my entire history with anyone that wishes to see it. I have nothing to hide. I have done some well, some very well and a few have not been as well as I wished.

If they should, I guess the question is, why? It would probably require some explanation, since many people mistakenly believe that there is an easy connection between sales volume and income. A lot of times, when people want to know how much volume you did, they really want to know how much money you made. That just leads to bad things.

We share our sales statistics with people, but without context or some frame of reference, it is tough for people to evaluate.

Are you asking if we *should* disclose or if we should be *required* to disclose?

And the corollary - is there a difference?

I guess I know terrible agents who, for reasons I can't fathom, do a lot of business. And good earnest agents who may be newer to the business that are still inexperienced, but are smart and know enough to know when to get help.

From the consumer perspective, does it really tell you anything? There's a team in my town that does probably a couple hundred units per year - it's a churn and burn shop, not a whole lot of personal attention. But I bet their numbers are good.

Perhaps it would speak to experience, but I have a feeling it wouldn't be a reliable indicator of competence.

If you are who you say you are, it shouldn't be an issue at all. Transparency is the name of the game right? This would definitely help consumers know who's a professional full time Realtor vs. someone who does it on weekends.

I think that an agent saying "Mr. Seller, I list 67% more than the average agent in my region, and I 99% of my listings have sold over the past five years" is valuable. Shouting "I'm a multi-million dollar producer" in a market where the average sales price is $500,000 not cool. No other industry shouts in the newspaper how much money they make...

Indeed, why not?

Brilliant...

Have you ever asked them Norm?

I agree with Jay's comment, but on the other hand, why? :) I don't think people are particularly interested in our personal sales stats.

Yes, why not?

Why not?