Dear real estate agents,
A week ago I made the mountainous 100-mile drive from Los Angeles to Bakersfield to visit a friend who was selling her house.
My friend, Mindy, (her name is not really Mindy, but she requested anonymity in order for me to discuss the details of her home sale. She also specifically requested I use the pseudonym "Mindy") needed to sell due to changes in her life.
But she was nervous about the process, and was a first time home seller after acquiring the site in 2018 for $208,000. The home also required repairs that she had not totally completed.
Mindy found a local real estate agent through a professional colleague, who put the home on the local Multiple Listings Service (name: "Golden Empire") on Friday, March 5, listing it at $285,000 -- a price Mindy worried was way too high.
By Sunday, March 7, Mindy received firm offers on the house. By Monday March 8, she signed a contract to sell the home for $290,000, 40% more than what she bought it for three years ago.
Mindy's story, I suspect, is a routine example of current housing demand. But it raised a couple of questions:
One is, agents, once you have a listing (and I understand getting a listing may be hard) is the home selling process, well, easy? How common is it for you to get a listing, put it on the MLS, field a bunch of offers, and -- bam! -- get your commission in a matter of days?
Also, Mindy wanted the home off her hands. How many of you would persuade such clients to hold on and wait for a better offer?
I wonder if there is a disconnect between agents aware of the current high-demand, low-inventory market, and clients who see home sales as not a money-making opportunity but a massive, scary chore. When do you nudge those clients, and when do you see it as your duty to not nudge?
Please send your thoughts to mblake@housingwire.com, and (like Mindy) I will not attribute anything that you write without your express permission.
On that note, I am receiving thoughtful responses about the purpose of a brokerage, and will relay some of those next week. I know we have many readers from the biggest brokerages, like Keller Williams and Coldwell Banker, and I'd especially encourage more feedback from agents there.
Until then,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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