Many of my current short sale sellers have been trying to sell their home before they opted to short sell with me, most have attempted to sell for many years with other real estate agents.  These sellers have great homes and in great locations, so why are they at the end of their rope?  They chased the home pricing spiral.

Chasing the home pricing spiral means they have been behind the curve of dropping values.  When they were priced at $250k they should have been at 235K, by the time they lowered to 235K they really should have been priced at 225k.  Once the seller finally agreed to lower to 225k, values were sitting around 210k.

Let’s face it, not all Realtors are like me.  I am like the Dr. Phil of Realtors, telling you like it is.  Sometimes my no holds barred talk gets me in trouble but in real estate it is exactly what you need to hear (whether you want to hear the truth or not)!

I would say I average 3 calls per day from sellers interested in having me list their homes for sale.  I do not rush out to take these listings, rather I prequalify them over the phone.  I ask them about their property, pull up comps and discuss expectations.  Gone are the days of breaking ceiling heights in neighborhoods, sellers have to be realistic on where home values are.  They are not where they were 2 years ago, some areas not even where they were 6 months ago.  Most sellers are surprised when they say “we don’t have to sell our home, we don’t plan on giving it away” that I respond quickly with “If you do not have to sell your home then DON’T SELL YOUR HOME”.  This is not the market to put feelers out to see where buyers are nibbling.  I know where buyers are and they are not looking at overpriced homes.  To be quite honest they aren’t looking at homes priced at fair market value either.   Buyers are looking for deals and they have quite the inventory of foreclosure and short sales to choose from.  If you aren’t willing to compete at or near that level then you shouldn’t be on the market.  Sure there are plenty of agents out there ready to take your overpriced listing, but they know good and well that it will not sell.  They are just hoping to pick up a buyer lead off their sign in your yard.  I am not one of those agents, my listings SELL!

Proper pricing is crucial in this market, more crucial than ever before.  While most of the markets I work seem to have stabilized (some even slowly inching up a touch in values) you still need to be realistic about your values.  Every neighborhood has been affected differently, some East Cobb neighborhoods have only seen a 6-8% decrease in values whereas some neighborhoods in South Cobb have decreased more than 35%.

For a no obligation market analysis of your home, feel free to contact us for more information.  Dr. Phil impersonation is optional