-jf

Some real estate brokers are really looking at their numbers and stepping up to say “this is the reality of the market, we’re wasting our and our clients money if we don’t adjust.”

A two part answer, yes and no. I don’t believe I have ever lost a listing by explaining to sellers that it is a poor use of marketing dollars. On the other hand when a home has been on the market for longer than it should be, sometimes by doing that little extra thing that deep down inside my clients just “know” it will work, helps me preserve what could become a strained relationship. It is the same with open houses which are a great way for agents to prospect but in the scheme of things does little or nothing to actually sell the home. Yet there are sellers out there who act like they believe me but do not feel that they are getting a full service REALTOR who is doing everything possible to sell their home unless they see some open houses. After all their neighbors home sold, as did their friends home and both had open houses and newspaper ads, and when they discuss it all to their co-workers who are always experts they are told that the home is on the market because that lazy REALTOR isn’t even advertising it in the paper or having open houses.

Some brokers pool their open houses and run an open house tour. We have never done it so we do not know whether it increases the effectiveness in sales. Maybe the Art of the Open House has to be perfected, perhaps it is beyond hope. We just dont know but we’re open to suggestions & experimentation. Do open houses sell in any scenario—new construction?

Even if Open houses rarely bring sales of the house shown, they may have other benefits. Many brokers do them to get buyers for other property. Open houses can be a lead capture device. Many brokers use them just for that purpose.

“great dialogue everyone. i usually try to answer everyone who comments on my posts but in this case, i’ll just give some general thoughts.

i guess it really boils down your local market. in the post, i provided the example of how newspapers classifieds in manhattan are still a go to source for buyers, sellers and real estate agents. then i started to think why is that? i know manhattan is different mostly due to the fact that there is not a central mls database that everyone participates in. it’s also different because sub agency is still practiced here. that means that you represent the client who in 99.9% of the cases is the seller. i hear that dual agency is generally frowned upon by the department of state.

so this specific market condition may help fuel some of the reliance on newspaper classifieds. but you may be asking why? well, many times, it provides agents with the opportunity for a direct sale = receiving both sides of the transaction. they work FOR the client[seller] and WITH the buyer [customer]. i have noticed that outside of new york, things sure are different with regards to agency relationships and compensation as well as advertising.

besides the unique niche of old schoolers who still use the print to search for real estate, i wonder if this unique new york dynamic is just a figment of my imagination or not. maybe if some more new yorkers chimed in we’d have a better understanding of why newspaper classifieds are still popular especially the new york times.”

Stated another way: if the seller wants it & you know it’s a bad ROI (& despite your explanation, they say they still want/expect it), do you do it anyway? If so, is it because you wouldn’t otherwise get the listing?

–curious jf

Home sellers are smart people. They want and expect you to have the facts and give them your professional, expert opinion as to how best to sell their home. When you have the facts and you present them confidently, they will listen to you and take your advice. They want to be persuaded that you know what you’re doing and have their best interest at heart.

If for some reason you cannot persuade the seller that you’re marketing plan is the best route to take, you have one of two choices to make. You can either walk away from the listing, or you can spend a portion of your marketing budget on a medium that you know isn’t going to work and chalk it up to a cost of doing business.

Sellers want us to tell them what to do. They want to hire an expert who can sell their home and earn the most money doing it. It’s no different than you trusting a doctor to find the cause of your headaches and telling you what needs to be done to eliminate them.

The real estate professional who knows the facts and presents them with confidence will never have to worry about customers spending their marketing budget on things that don’t work.