4 Conversations to Have with Sellers Stuck in 2021

If you've taken a listing appointment in the past year, you've probably had this experience: You walk in with your market analysis, show the data, explain what's happening... and the seller looks at you like you've lost your mind. "But my neighbor got $50,000 over asking in 2021." "Another agent said we could list high and come down." Sound familiar?

The market shifted faster than seller psychology did, and now agents are dealing with the aftermath. In this episode, Lindsay walks you through exactly how to have difficult pricing conversations without losing the listing, without getting into a fight, and without wasting hours of your time.

What You'll Learn:

• How to handle overpriced listing appointments and unrealistic seller expectations
• Listing presentation strategies for pricing objections in today's market
• Frameworks for difficult seller conversations (without being pushy)
• How to price listings competitively when sellers want to test the market
• When to walk away from a bad listing and protect your reputation
• Real estate negotiation tactics that work with stubborn sellers

Resources Mentioned: Grab the free Deal Dashboard at happyagent.co/dashboard to track your numbers and speak with authority in listing appointments.

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Transcript

Why Sellers Resist Today’s Reality

Data As The Equalizer

Track Your Numbers With Intention

Four Conversation Frameworks Overview

Conversation 1: Validate, Then Educate

Conversation 2: Mistimed vs Overpriced

Conversation 3: The Cost Of Overpricing

Conversation 4: Give Choices, Not Ultimatums

When Sellers Still Won’t Listen

Protect Your Energy And Standards

Deal Dashboard: Final Plug And Close

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Hello, friends. Can you believe that it is March already? I sure can't. Thank you for tuning in. I am Lindsay Dreyer, brokerage owner, mom of three, and real estate coach to top producing agents to try to help them get a handle on their business and really help them have a life. Today we are talking about how to talk to sellers who still think it is 2021 or are stuck in the past. If you have taken a listing appointment in the past year, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. You walk in, you bring your comparable analysis, and you're explaining what's going on in the market, you're showing them the data, and then they look at you like you've lost your mind. You're like, I'm really sorry, but uh, we can't get a million dollars to your house anymore. You'll hear things like, but my neighbor sold for$50,000 over asking two or three years ago or in 2021. We were told by my friend that we would get multiple offers, or we were told by another agent we get multiple offers. Um, another agent we interviewed said we could list high and come down if we needed to. And honestly, you're probably sitting there thinking, like, how do I tell them that this was three years ago and the world has completely changed? So here's the thing: this isn't about seller education. This isn't about showing them more data or pulling up the MLS on your phone. They've seen the data. You showed it to them. They just don't want to believe that it applies to them. It's like parents, all of our babies are special. So today we're talking about how to have these conversations without losing the listing, um, without getting into a fight with them, and without walking away feeling like you just wasted two hours of your life. So, this is how do we talk to sellers who still think it is 2021? I want to address a little bit around why this is happening and why it's not necessarily their fault. I think that the frenzy market hangover is absolutely a real thing. For so many years, sellers were told that they could literally do anything. They could overprice their listing and get it. They didn't have to make improvements to their house and they'd still get multiple offers. They could be stubborn and still get top dollar for their home. It would still sell the first weekend on the market. And because that was happening for so long, that became the baseline. And it's really hard to shift out of that because we are dealing with one of the largest assets that people have. And it is a lot of money. So when a lot of money is on the line, the stakes are so much higher. I also think they're not necessarily being difficult. They're really trying to be rational. So, like from their perspective, and like let's jump in their shoes, right? Nothing actually feels different to them. Like their house didn't change, their neighborhood didn't change, maybe their neighborhood even got better. Um, so why would the price change? Because they don't live and breathe real estate like we do. Like they aren't keeping track of like what monthly payments are, what interest rates are. And that really is the key. The other piece that isn't helping and why it's not their fault is that the media has mixed message phobia or obia, whatever we're gonna call it. But it's like they're constantly sending mixed messages. So the headlines swing from like housing market crash to now's the time to sell, to everyone's getting multiple offers, to whatever, and it just depends on the week. So sellers are confused and rightly so they're a little defensive because this is a massive transaction for them. They want to get the most money. And the other piece is they're not experts at it. Like this isn't something they do day in, day out like we do. And so they're stepping into the situation where they really don't actually understand what's going on, or maybe they do, but they just don't want to come to terms with it. So before you even walk into that listing appointment, I think you need to shift your mindset of this isn't about you versus them. This is about you and them on the same team versus outdated information or outdated expectations. And I want you to keep in mind that you're not there to win an argument. Like you're not there to like conquer them, but you're there to give them clarity on what their situation is so they can make a good decision. And that's really it is that we are hopefully giving them enough information. We are discussing everything with them to lead them to a place where they get good info. There are four conversations that I feel like you need to be able to have with the sellers. But before we dive into that, I want to just make a little plug for data. Data is really important. So if you don't have a good data source that really can pinpoint that specific micro area, um, you need to be able to pull days on market. You need to be able to pull um original list price to sale price ratio. You need to be able to pull that really important data. And you also need to be able to speak to how their home would be positioned among the active competition. That is really important. So I'm gonna call that macro data, where we need to really just figure out what's going on in that market for that particular home. So highly recommend finding a good source for that. A lot of MLSs have relationships with data providers. Um, I know but both of the MLSs that I'm a member of have really good resources for that. So find a good data source because data is like the best equalizer. You can't really argue with those numbers. The second piece is that you want to know your numbers. And that's why I track everything in my deal dashboard, which you can grab for free at happyagent.co slash dashboard. It's super simple and it takes five minutes to set up. And then that's going to give you your numbers. So that's gonna track your days on market. That's going to track your list price to sale price ratio. That's going to give you information that you can then come armed to back up your statistics. Like you can use that as a selling point, which is the market's performing at 98.2% in terms of list price to sale price ratio. Whereas my stat is I'm at 100.1 or whatever it is. So having that information, again, it's not like blow, it's great because you're not just bloviating, you're not just making stuff up. So if you want to start tracking your deals, you can get the deal dashboard, which is totally free at happyagent.co slash dashboard. Um, and besides just tracking your numbers, it has some like cool like goal calculators and like lead source calculators. So take advantage of it. It's really great. Diving into the four conversations you need to have. So I'm gonna give you four frameworks that I use in every listing appointment. And these are especially helpful when I can tell that the seller stuck in pricing in the past. So these aren't scripts because I do not believe in scripts. I think they're gross, but they're just approaches and you can adapt them to your voice, but the structure does work. So, conversation one is you need to acknowledge their reality without agreeing with it. So, this is really like empathy and listening 101. So I don't want you to fight their story. Like let them talk about it, and then you're gonna validate it. So, for example, this is how it might sound. You're right. In 2021, homes in this neighborhood were getting$550,000. And that is totally real. And if we were having this conversation five years ago, I would be giving you completely different advice. But here's what's shifted since then, and here's why it matters for you and your timeline and your goals. So that is really the framework of it. And you can riff on it as much as you want. You can throw in like, here's what's changed. Interest rates were 2.8% back then, the monthly payment would be X, and now they're at 6%, and the monthly payment is X. And so that means that the buyer pool for your$550,000 house has shrunk by about 30%. So it just means that we have fewer buyers who can afford that monthly payment. And the ones that are out there, they just have less buying power. So it doesn't mean that your house isn't worth what it was. It just means the market can't support that price right now. And the really important takeaway on this is that I didn't say you're wrong. I said here's the context. And that's a really valuable skill that you have as a real estate agent or that you should develop is painting the picture of the context. Like we are not operating in a vacuum, we are operating in an environment, which could be what's happening in your particular neighborhood, your city, your state, uh, the country, uh, the economy, interest rates. And so you're there to tell the story. So uh what I want you to take away from conversation one is that you validate them first and you're educating them second, and you're painting a picture and placing them in the context of what's going on currently. And it is so important, and I don't think I think most real estate agents understand this, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention it, which is you don't ever correct your client. Like people that just automatically puts people on the defensive. So never lead with correction, just always validate and then always educate. Okay, moving on to conversation number two, which is reframing overpriced as mistimed. And this is a big one. I have really tried to remove the phrase overpriced or the word overpriced from my conversations because it it there's a connotation that there's something wrong with their house. So the phrase that I prefer, um, and it's it really has changed how like sellers hear pricing feedback, I feel like, is it's not that your house isn't worth this, it's that the market isn't ready or isn't in a position to pay that right now. And I think that that subtle phrasing really helps to take the emotion out of it. Because when you say your house is overpriced, like if someone said that to you, how would you feel? You're gonna hear like my house isn't good enough. But when you say the market isn't ready, you're separating the house and the price, like they're not linked, and that really helps to make a difference when you're talking to people. So examples of like how you can like jump into this further. So another thing you could potentially say is in a different rate environment, we'd be having a totally different conversation, or in a different economic environment, we'd be having a totally different conversation. If we were six months into a spring market with lower rates, I would price this differently. But pricing today, this is what I would recommend. That's another piece is like pricing today. This is what I'd recommend. I don't know about the markets you're in, but uh mine are changing literally weekly, like monthly, because the competition can come on the market and like totally skew the strategy and your positioning. So that's another really important piece is in your listing um conversations is to make sure that you're saying, look, pricing is fluctuating. We are in an environment where it is changing on a weekly basis. So if I were to price your home or list your home today, this is the price that I would recommend. Now, once we get closer to going to market or we decide on our list date, that's when we will reevaluate pricing to make sure that we are positioned as best we can be in the market. So my advice is don't ever commit to a price until you are listing, because that positioning amongst your competition is so crucial. Okay, diving into conversation number three, it is all about walking them through the real cost of overpricing. And this is where we get a little bit tactical because I think a lot of sellers think we'll just start high and we'll come down if we need to. And I think it's so important that we get them to understand that that strategy has a cost. So here's basically what I would say. Here's what typically happens when we start too high. The first two weeks, we get showings, but those are mostly people who aren't super serious, and it might be people even touring to get comparables. And by week three, the serious buyers have moved on because your house has been sitting, and if they wanted to see it, they've seen it. By week four, you are stale on the market, and we are only going to be seeing new buyers that have come into the market. So when we drop the price, let's say on week five, buyers assume that there's something wrong with the house. And now we're fighting two battles. The first is that the original pricing issue, that's a battle we have to fight, and then the perception that the house is a problem. And I've seen that happen too many times, and I don't want it to happen to you. So obviously you can say that in like whatever way makes sense to you, feels natural to you, but we're basically letting them know that here's what happens. We're getting our most serious buyer interest in the first two weeks, and we need to nail that marketing price. And if we aren't landing at a marketing price that gets buyers excited about your house by week four, we are playing catch up and we are really trying to fix our mistake. This is also where you can get into your market stats. Like, I think pulling specific examples of homes that overpriced and are now chasing the market are so impactful. Where find a house that's similar to their house that's active and show them the journey that that seller has been taking. Like, show them what the original price was, show all the price reductions and show that it's still on the market. I know that we all have those examples and I feel like it's more and more common. So showing them these like cautionary tales can also be really impactful. This also comes back to your data source of showing like what's average days on market. If it's 18 days, it means we should be under contract within 18 days. And if we aren't, it means that we are not aligned because we haven't hit the average days on market. So you can use whatever tools you want to use. But I do think it is important to walk them through the cost of overpricing because we all know that if you don't nail that launch period, it's an uphill battle from there. Like nailing the launch period with the right price, the right positioning, the right product, like that is so crucial. So don't just tell them that overpricing is bad. Show them the math, show them the cautionary tales, and really paint the picture on here's what could happen and here's why it's going to hurt you. The last conversation is giving them a choice and not giving them an ultimatum. So this is where I put the ball in their court and let them decide because at the end of the day, it is their house. I control the process, they control the decisions. So I'll give them two options, which is we can test at the higher price if you want. Like we can do that. But I need you to know that that's a risky strategy. And I would also need you to commit to a price adjustment timeline if it doesn't work within the first two weeks or we don't get an offer within the first three weeks. Or we can strategically price it from the start and give ourselves the best shot at the cleanest offers, potentially multiple offers. Um, but either way, I'm with you. We can either start at the higher price with predetermined price adjustments, or we just nail our marketing price right off the bat and try to capture the most buyer interest. And then I just stop talking and I let them choose. They'll probably ask questions. This is a hard decision, but a lot of times they will realize that the nailing the marketing price, really being aggressive about your launch is the right choice. So ultimately it is their choice, right? We can't make somebody do something. So this isn't about controlling them, but it is about giving them agency within the reality and what you're willing to do as a listing agent. Um, I also find that by giving them the choice, they don't feel like they're steamrolled. They feel like there's a they're like they have a choice. And I think we all as human beings want to know that we have a choice. And so ultimately you're the expert, you're the one that's given them the information, educated them, but they are the decision maker and you have to let them choose. So I'm sure some of you are like, okay, so I've done all this, Lindsay. What do I do when they just won't listen to me? And seriously, sometimes you'll do all this. You'll validate them, you'll educate them, you'll show them the data, you give them their options, and they still want to list at a price that makes no sense. Like in the in no universe would you ever get this price. So, what do you do? You have three choices. Number one, you take the listing anyway, and you know it's gonna sit, and you plan for the price reduction conversation in three weeks. Number two, you walk away. And I know that that might seem scary or feel a little dramatic, but if you genuinely genuinely believe that the listing will hurt your reputation, which honestly we don't talk about that enough, um, or it's a waste of your time, also don't talk about that enough either. It's okay to say, I don't think I'm the right agent for what you're trying to do. And I think we are now in a market where more agents probably need to walk away, or they need to get better at their negotiation skills when it comes to taking a listing. So we have an option one, take the listing anyway. Option two, walk away. And number three is I think the middle ground, which is take the listing with a clear built-in price adjustment agreement. Um, we'll try this price for 30 days. If we don't have an offer by then, we drop it to X. And are you good with that? And so there really is no right answer here. It just depends on your capacity, the market you're in, your relationship with the seller, um, your broader marketing goals. But what you shouldn't do is take a bad listing and then resent the seller for it because ultimately that's on you. Sorry, tough love, but it is. Um I remember there was a listing I took and it was just a disaster. I knew it from the get-go. The seller was in a tight position, tight financial position, which I felt really bad for them, which is actually what made me take it. And they did not have money for improvements, they did not have money for staging. Um, they just didn't have money and they had already moved out, so it was vacant. Um, and that listing took forever to sell. Um, and ultimately the seller had to be in a kind of crappy financial position and take money out of retirement um to make the deal work. So it was hard. And like what I learned was I can feel bad for people, I can be empathetic to their situation, but it doesn't mean that I need to be a martyr and I don't have to take listings that aren't going to sell or going to be more trouble than they're worth. So I want you to realize it's important that you need to protect your energy. And not every listing is worth it. I'm not gonna lie, like these conversations are hard and a lot of it comes with practice, but I think it's hard now because the market shifted faster than like seller psychology did. So sellers are really still kind of catching up. And that's not your fault, that's not their fault. It just is what it is. And your job isn't to like force them into reality. Your job is to give them the information and the options and then let them decide and have your boundaries on what you will accept. Some of them will get it, some of them won't, and that's completely okay. But the agents I see that are winning right now, they're the ones that have these conversations with confidence. They're able to be empathetic and they are really good at bringing data to back up the story that they are telling. They are not winging it. They are not just hoping that the seller magically gets it. They are walking in prepared, like a true professional. And that's what I want you to do. Like, you need to start walking in prepared. So start tracking your numbers. Numbers, know your market, know the trends, and know what's working. This will be my last plug for the deal dashboard, but knowing your own numbers, like plugging in your listings, your sales, your lead sources, that helps you convert your or sorry, that helps you figure out your conversion rates. Like that's information that you can use to speak with authority in your listing appointments. So if you want to grab the deal dashboard, it is free. It's at happyagent.co slash dashboard. It's a Google Sheet and you just make a copy of it and start using it. It's super easy. All right, that is it for today. If this episode helped you, can you send it to another agent who might be dealing with the delusional sellers right now? Um, and if you haven't already, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you don't miss next week's episode. We'll be talking about the money habits of top producing agents. And I'm walking through exactly what you need to track in your business. Until then, remember you control the process, your clients control the decisions, and I hope you stay happy.