The Biggest Mistakes Home Sellers Make (That Cost Thousands) | Episode 1

Many home sellers unknowingly make mistakes that can cost them thousands of dollars when selling their home.

In the first episode of Real Estate Unfiltered, Guillermo Altamirano and Chris Caldwell break down the biggest mistakes sellers make when listing their homes and how those decisions can directly impact the final sale price.

Drawing from decades of combined experience and hundreds of real estate transactions, they share real stories, pricing mistakes, marketing failures, and negotiation pitfalls they’ve seen happen time and time again.

If you’re thinking about selling your home or just want to better understand how the real estate market really works, this episode gives you an honest behind-the-scenes look at what happens during a home sale.

🎙 Real Estate Unfiltered

Hosted by Guillermo Altamirano & Chris Caldwell

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Sellers right now are making mistakes that are costing them thousands of dollars when they're selling their houses, and they're not even sure why. So let's get into it. My name is Guillermo. I'm one of the co-owners of the Oscar Tortola Group, and I'm here with my co-hosts.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

My name is Chris. I'm with the Oscar Tortola Group. I'm one of the beginning founders back years ago. And um, we've been growing since.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Chris, give me some uh things that sellers are doing right now or or their agents that are basically not getting them the most money for their house.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I like how you phrase that because it's not really sellers because you're hiring your agent to guide you and they should be getting you the most money. So the biggest thing I'm seeing right now is agents or sellers are pricing their houses, I guess, 2021. You know, so they're overpricing their um their houses and then they're trying to find the market with um with price reductions.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah, they're still thinking that, hey, I could just put my house on the market, I'm gonna have 20 people banging on the door. Right. They don't like, hey, I have an offer and you're gonna get they don't realize the market has shifted.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

I mean, rates have gone up, so houses aren't flying off the market.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah. I mean, the best way to explain it is, and I always tell clients this, it's we're back into a quote unquote normal market. Right. We haven't seen a normal market in what, eight years, nine years.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Everyone's gotten into this COVID years, so they kind of don't realize what a normal market is. Back before COVID, it was taking 30 to 40 days, regardless, to sell a home. Yeah. So they just kind of got to get get it in their head that we can't overprice the houses anymore. It's got to be more, you know, with the market. We have to be strategic. What's that? We have to be strategic. Everything's strategic. You can't just throw a price on it. There's a strategy behind the whole thing. Yeah. And that's a lot of people don't understand.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

No, yeah, exactly. So it's it's the the strategic marketing, it's looking at what the market trends are doing. And it's not just trying to throw something at the wall and seeing if it sticks. Man, what's the biggest problem when you overprice a house?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Just sits there. Just sits there. It starts becoming stagnant. Then in the end, you end up netting less than what you would have if you priced it right to begin with.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yeah, exactly. And and you're gonna have these buyers and and other agents and smart agents too, that they see a listing that's been sitting for 30, 45, 60, 100 days. Right. What's the first thing they're gonna say? Hey, we have leverage on them. Let's let's start knocking down the price as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Correct. So I mean, obviously, there's steps, and maybe we can discuss kind of our strategy. What's that breakdown to look like, other than just throwing a price on it? What do we obviously have to talk to our sellers about?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah. So, so first off, so going back to the strategic pricing thing, it's showing them what the comps are doing. Right. So, like me personally, I'm not even showing clients what has sold because I don't even think that matters right now in this market. You want to look at what's in escrow, pretty much in escrow and what your competition is. Right. Um, because if there's five other houses, six other houses, which is normal right now, that are not sellers, so that's not gonna do you any justice. No. And those are the ones that are playing the market that was six months ago where things might have been selling at this price, right? And then a lot of these other sellers and agents are chasing that price, and now it just keeps going down. Exactly. So if you're trying to put yourself in the mix with those other listings, it's not right.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

But then I think that like you said, it does come down to the agent. A lot of agents, not to put anybody on blast, but they're looking for deals. They don't have business, so they're just being the yes man trying to list your house because they need a listing, and then they get a sign in the yard and they're just gonna hound you for price reductions over and over and over again. That's exactly what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

They're looking to put a sign in the yard, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

I'm here to sell your house. Um I'm not list your house.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Correct. So so and and one of the things I always tell clients too is I'd rather upset you now by telling you things that you don't want to hear, but I'm telling you things that you need to hear. Need to hear.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

We're gonna be honest with you up front. Yeah. So I mean, so I mean, just after you go through those steps and you've you're with a client and you've kind of come to agreement on a price, I mean, I mean next step, I mean like condition of the home. Yeah, that's something that everyone kind of overlooks.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

So let me ask you this. So with the condition of the home, so on my notes right here, so buyers don't want projects, right? Correct. So one of the things that I do to tell client or my sellers is we have to put a little bit of money into the house.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

And it doesn't have to be much either.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

No, because buyers are overly picky right now. They don't want to have to put any money. I mean, obviously, rates are high, prices are high. It just it is it is what it is. You buy a $600,000 house with minimum down, you're at five grand a month almost, give or take, somewhere around there. So those buyers, they don't want to come into a project. Two things are happening. They either want a great deal or turnkey. Or yeah, or the very best house on the block that has every single upgrade, has the paid-off solar, has the pool. They're willing to spend the money for that, but they're not willing to spend the money for the mediocre house that's right in the middle just because it fits their thing there's a lot of things that you can do to your house that's not gonna cost you an arm or a leg.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

I mean, first things first, I mean, just declutter. That's free. I mean, the object of this is to sell your house. I mean, yes, I love your knickknacks, I love your decor, but the new buyer might not. So we are gonna be in the process of moving here shortly. So let's use this time to start packing some of those things away. It opens up the house, it shows nicer, and that's just one cheap free thing that you can do. That's easy and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

And especially with pictures too. Like if you have big furniture or you have a lot of things around, it'll make a small room even smaller or a big room that actually looks big in person look a lot smaller. And I mean, buyers shop with their eyes, right? It's just like when you're at a you're at a restaurant, you you eat with your eyes first, and then you get it. So um, yeah, the decluttering is a big thing. Um, even little things like the landscaping, the curb appeal, right? Everyone talks about the curbapel. That's the first picture that they see.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

That's the first thing that they see when they pull up. So, yeah, the curbapeel can be even just mowing your yard, trimming everything, and maybe adding new mulch that's been sitting there and faded away.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Exactly. Well, yeah, mulch is huge, right? It's what five, eight dollars a bag, but it's gonna give that pop of color, that contrast, and even a few handful of plants, right? Five dollar plants, ten, fifteen dollar plants.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

I'm telling my clients now, too. Like, we've had all this rain, weeds are just popping up all over the place. You just would do want to do a once-over cleanup, it's gonna make a show just that much nicer.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah. Um, and we have those contacts too. So, like, one of the things that I always tell my clients, like, I have all those people available. I have landscapers, I have carpet cleaners, I have house cleaners. We refer them so much that I think they give us a great deal. Yeah, we have better discounts on on what we do. Um, and the other thing too, I mean, and I'm sure with your vendors that you use, and the same thing with mine, it's people that I personally use in my own house. So it's not like someone that just, hey, I'll give you a kickback if you if you refer me, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Yeah, but I mean, then on top of that, I think the next biggest thing would probably just be a deep clean in the house, even though you everybody you can be the cleanest person in the world, but it's nicest to have a nice clean house. It gets rid of any pet odors, if if any, because obviously, again, that's the first thing that is a buyer's gonna hit him in their face when they walk into the house. So, I mean to think like the one we walked into a couple days ago. Yep. Um, so again, just doing those small things can help you just get ready for the next stage to help you get the most money.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

So, going back to what you said about the deep cleaning and how someone always thinks, oh, my house is clean or whatever. Right. So I had this conversation with a client. Um it's never a fun conversation. Well, so it was it was a good conversation. It was she said, I always keep my house clean. And like they have big dogs, so there was the uh pet hair, so she knew about it. But she's like, I keep up to my house, it's clean, and it looked clean when I was there, but it didn't look like that extra little bit. Right. So I'm like, hey, let me just send my guy, my, my c uh crew out here, let's do a full deep clean, whatever. I went back the next day for photos, and she's like, Oh my god, my house has never looked this clean. I'm like, I told you. But it's just that little, I mean, you could like tell, like you feel that shine, you get that little extra smell when it is a freshly cleaned house.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

And one of the my biggest pet peeves is the smallest thing is please replace all your light bulbs. Trying to showing up for your photos, and this light's working, that one doesn't. I mean, it's just again, small little details can help you out. Or miscolored lights. Yeah. Just small things definitely help you out in the end. Yeah. Um, so what else? So those two things. So I mean, so that what wouldn't mean, yeah, we'll just go to strategy and marketing after that.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

So even the basic thing too. So like deep cleaning too. So I always tell my clients the two, if you're gonna do anything, deep clean and get the carpets and floors professionally shampooed and cleaned up. Because that's gonna show the best. Because when people look around, if they see something's amiss, whether it's decluttering um or even go into like minor repairs. Right. If a client or if a buyer walks in and sees like something amiss or something's broken or something like that, and if it's very minor, they're gonna think, okay, what else is wrong with the house? Um, so and that's why I'll go around when we walk around with listings and clients. It's like, these are the things I'm looking at your house if I were a buyer. So I want to get those obvious things out, nothing major. So it's like, oh, my AC is not working properly. Cool, we'll deal with that at inspections.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Or there's whatever, you know, that's obviously a good thing to tell your sellers, like, yes, you're a seller, but let's look at it through a buyer's eyes. Correct. I mean, without telling them, you have to tell them nicely, if you walked into your house today, would you pay $750 for it? And nine times out of ten, they say no. Yeah. So I think that's the best scenario just to set them up for success.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah. So all right, let me ask you this. So condition, the obviously the first steps when meeting with a client is getting the house ready, pricing. We kind of talked about that. Uh, what about marketing? So let's start with there. What what do you do that sets yourself apart from other agents that we're able to tell those sellers like, hey, we're not here just to put a sign in the front yard, cross our fingers, and like, hey, let's hope the house sells.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

You definitely have to have a marketing budget. You can't just go in, like you said, and just put a sign in the yard, bake some fresh cookies to make it smell good. Well, that doesn't help sell the house. That doesn't help anymore, no. Um, but no, everybody has technology, everybody has phones, you know, cameras in their pocket. So you need to be out in front of many people as possible. So, I mean, baseline is just professional photos. You have to make the house look as good as possible. I mean, then from there, I mean, everything is growing. They need to be if have videos such as more advertisement for that for that client. And then again, that there's there's so much you can do. There's just Facebook boosting to put your house into other people's feeds, and then just even down to the easiest thing is just client interaction. We sell a lot of houses, so we can call somebody who showed a previous house, they didn't buy it, like, hey, I have this coming soon. So it's also agent interaction as well. Yeah, it's it's I mean, the very base thing with sales, right? It's who you know, it's who you know, and the more business that we do, the more clientele we have. I mean, I think it just helps out as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Yeah. So, and I mean, going back to photo, so most agents nowadays do have a little bit of a budget to do photos. So that's starting to be be the main thing. But how many times have you come across a million, two million dollar house with someone walking around with cell phone photos?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

And it's like what's going on in the mirror. Yeah. I mean, they're just gonna get scrolled right over. You have to have yourself stand out, you have to spend the money to get that house again and fight as many eyes it as possible. We we can't guarantee that's gonna turn into showings, but we can just do everything on our back end to market your house as best as possible.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah, and going back to what you're saying with the with the marketing budget and setting ourselves apart with that. So doing the professional photos, that's a bare minimum, obviously. Now we're transitioning to a lot of the videos, and and it's not even the basic videos anymore that you see with like the slow music. Oh, here's the kitchen, here's the living room.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Through me over here.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yeah, so you have to get something. I mean, everyone's attention spans the the uh memory of a goldfish, right? What three seconds or whatever they say it is. So having those things that are gonna catch those buyers or sellers or whoever online and keep their attention for the next 30 seconds is what you want. And then from there, like, oh, that's a funny video. Oh, but that's a good looking house. Like, let me find some more information.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Exactly. Um, but they might not even be the buyer that sees it, but they might know somebody, family member or potential of somebody else. So again, it's just getting in front of people and then they can pass it along and share it as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah. Well, so in perfect example with with marketing in senses like that, where it's gonna reach people that may not be buyers, right, but might know people. So that one I did in Corona, the two million dollar single-story ranch house. So with that one, um, I sent out my normal stuff, like my normal advertising, online advertising, the postcards, things like that. And one of the neighbors down the street just sent it to his friend, like, hey, look at this postcard I just got. Uh, he lived in like at the far end of Corona, just in a normal house. And he's like, Oh, yeah, that's cool. And he calls me up. He's like, Hey, my buddy sent me this house. I want to look at it.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Ended up being the buyer, and I'm the one that got the buyer as well. So I double-ended that one.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

You I mean you never know where the buyer's coming from, so you have to be in all avenues.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Yeah, exactly. So it's it's playing, it's playing all those different cards because buyers aren't going to come from one single place. Correct. Um, and that's why all of us and the entire team is we do we do the online. So we do the normal Zillow paid advertising. We do homes.com now that we pay for advertising, the advertising that we pay for on Facebook and Instagram and all those different avenues.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

And that's a lot of things that sellers don't know on behind the scenes either.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Yeah. So um, and then from there you have um even going back to like the photos and stuff, you have the 360 virtual tours that we do. Um, there's the the matterport stuff now that we do, the postcards that go out, even old school stuff, the the hard postcards is you don't know who's not on Facebook, on Instagram, and things like that. You want to just get that property in front of as many eyes as possible, which a lot of agents don't do because they either don't have the budget or just don't want to spend the money. Right. Or don't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

It's definitely not cheap to do at all, but yeah. If you want to best for your clients and make them the most money, because again, you want to try to get it sold within the first couple weeks before it sits on the market too long. So yeah, you want to get all that marketing out to try to get um people in there as quick as possible.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah. Um, so okay, marketing out of the way. What about like negotiations? What things can sellers know about that they need to kind of keep in their head when they're negotiating with buyers?

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Um, well, again, it doesn't come down how long it's been on the market. If it you want to have that conversation, if they're sitting there for quite some time, the buyer might ask for some credits. But then that's when you and I come into play that's better at negotiations, and we're gonna try to get them the best possibly price and not give credits away. We've been on the market for two weeks. But then even after that, when you have an offer accepted, it's almost like the sellers have this thing of aw, it's sold. There's nothing else that's gonna happen in this. So they have to realize there's more steps that go through this, you know, contingency periods, um, inspections, requests for repairs, and things like that. I mean, obviously we do a lot of stuff behind the scenes, put out a lot of fires that they don't know about. Correct. Um, but the goal is to get this isn't just to get the offer, it's to get them to the finish line and get it closed for them.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah. And and one of the things that I like I always tell my sellers when it comes to like repairs or termite stuff or or issues that arise at the beginning, it's we're trying to minimize what the cost is for the seller, right? Yeah. Um, and I always tell them, hey, a buyer's able to do any inspection they want. They could do roof inspections, termite inspections, plumbing, whatever the case might be. Um, older houses or even newer houses, you're gonna have a laundry list of stuff. It's not a brand new house. It is what it is. Um, and there are some buyers out there with their agents that will just give you the summary sheet and just say, I want all of them. I want every single thing. It's like, oh, there's a 10 cent um cracked outlet cover. I want that replaced. It's like, really? Come on.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

A lot of times, especially if they're paying you full price, they think they should get something in return. Correct. And and again, that's just a conversation you have to have with your sellers. Um, typically when we're looking for safety issues, stuff that's actually the broken, yeah, all these nitpicking stuff, then yeah, we're not gonna be fixing all that for you.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Big big ticket items. Yeah, exactly. Um, so and one of the things I do too. So if it's a newer house that you're not expecting a bunch of issues or major issues, right, and we did get a full price without credits or anything like that, then I'm a little bit more I'm a little bit more lenient with my client. I say, hey, look, they gave us a full price offer, really didn't nitpick, but they're asking for nitpicky stuff. I'm like, let's just give them a thousand dollar credit. Here you go.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

It's makes them feel like they actually got something.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Yeah. And it's minimizing anything because they could come in and say, hey, I want $5,000.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Right. And then sometimes giving them a little just makes for an easier transaction going forward. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Um, and then the other thing too is so let's say it's an older house and there is a bunch of nitpicky stuff on there, and then there's like two or three big ticket items, those are the things we have to be concerned about. So at that point, it's I almost feel like, hey, ignore everything else. You and I, Mr. Seller, Mrs. Seller, we have to talk about the big things because the AC is broken. That's gonna be a big ticket item. Exactly. The there's something wrong with the roof, or there's a roof leak or a plumbing leak, whatever the case might be. Because the problem now is if we don't address those with this buyer, they obviously have the ability to walk away with no penalty to them.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

I'm gonna have to address this with the next buyer.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

The next buyer, because it's gonna be the same thing that comes up. Um, and what a lot of sellers don't know too is now that we know something's wrong, if they didn't know about it about it, we have to disclose it. It's material fact. Um, so having those issues and rectifying it now is gonna be cheaper than losing these buyers, getting back on the market, not being certain if we're gonna get that same purchase price or have to give credit just to get it. More days on the market. More days on the market. Now we're looking a little bit more desperate. Sellers kind of already have that itch, like, I was so close to being out of the house, like we just need to get rid of it. And then the new buyers, like, why did it cancel?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

What happened? What you know? Oh, inspection issues or whatever. Now the house is falling apart, they don't want it.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yeah, now we have to prove it and things like that. So so that's the thing is really educating your clients up front or during the process and saying, hey, buyer, don't, don't get um what's the word uh that word. Um that word so don't narrows it down. Yeah, right. Um don't get don't get emotional when a buyer comes in and says, Hey, I want all these things repaired. Yeah, don't feel like they're saying your house is shit, basically.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Yeah, a lot of times they do, that they get mad at that point. They're like, Well, my house is perfect. It's like, you know, it's just another negotiation process. Yeah. I mean, and to be honest, we're we don't even have to respond to the request repairs if we don't want to. But I mean, we typically do because we don't want to, you know, steer things up with the other side of the other client, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

And that's just experience too, because we know that there's a lot of buyers, agents, and other agents that don't know we don't have to respond at all. Right. They're like, oh, hey, I'm not removing contingencies because you haven't responded. I'm like, I don't have to.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

That has nothing to do with contingencies.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

I mean, but at the end of the day, it's in no one's best interest to ignore something, especially in this type of transaction or or whatever the case. Um, but yeah, it's going back to really just setting that tone with your with your sellers or even your buyers, but setting that tone like, hey, there's always gonna be something. I don't care if it's if it's a brand new house, we get an inspection, there's gonna be something on there. If it's a five-year-old house or a 50-year-old house, there's always something on there, but it's how we navigate that process with our clients, how to limit what cost is gonna come out of their pocket, and making sure that we don't lose a buyer and still have the same issue on the next um the next one. Right. Um, same thing with termite repairs. Termite repairs, it's typically one of those things where you always have to do lender required.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

It's hit or miss. I mean, obviously, depending on the house, a lot of the older houses you might have more issues. And that's something I think both of us look at while we're there at the listing appointment. I mean, a lot of them have the old like wooden patios that's something, hey, this is probably gonna have to be addressed. Um, but again, a lot of the of the newer houses, I don't think we come across that very much issue.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Not really, I would say, I mean, 10 years old, give or take, is when you start seeing dry rot stuff and then termite stuff, you're at 30-ish give or take.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

So that's something they can know that's gonna be addressed, or maybe we can even get get it inspected ourselves so they know what it's gonna cost, you know, when they finally get it.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

So, okay, here I like that you said that because I have this conversation with my clients a lot. I don't like doing that.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

It just depends on the situation. If it's like a big patio cover, it just well, okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

So here's here's my reasoning. So with an older house, you typically know there's gonna be some termite or dry route, there's gonna be something on an older house, always is. But if we do that inspection prior, and let's just say it comes back, oh hey, there's a bunch of stuff in the attic you didn't know about, it needs to be tented. $10,000 later, this is where we're at, right? Yeah, but now we know. What if we get into a situation where it's multiple offers or a buyer and an agent just don't ask for a termite inspection? Hey, we have that report now. Now we have to bring it up.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Yeah, but yes, that does make sense on that aspect though.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

So that's that's why I don't like doing it because it has bit me in the butt before because I thought I'm like, hey, I'm being proactive. Let's just see what there was. And it was like $12,000. I'm like, oh, that sucks. Um I I was able to get it negotiated down because it did happen to be a multiple offer situation where I was able to use it as leverage, like, hey, I know about this. We have multiple offers. Whoever's not gonna make us do it is gonna get the get the thing. But in another situation where it's only one offer that we get 45 days later, they didn't ask for the termite report on the on the um on the contract. No, and I'm like, hey, material fact, I do have this, and we ended up having to do it. So it kind of kind of bit us, but that's why I don't like doing that.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Another thing is kind of knowing the contract, but when they asked in the contract for termite repairs, I mean, I we all I'm sure you do as well. You we always counter it out because we're not going to agree to fix something that we don't even know what's there yet.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Yeah, we don't we don't want to write a blank check.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

You have to protect your sellers because at the end we work for them and try to make them the most money in the end.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yeah. So I mean exactly. Yeah, we I always counter it out and say seller will only pay for termite inspection. Right. And then they could ask for whatever they want on the repairs. We deal with it at that time. Exactly. But if we if we just agree to termite um termite clearance and and section one repairs, then we're just giving money away that you don't even know about. Yeah, it's uh it's an open book. And I I've been on the buyer's or a blank check, and I've been on the buyer's side because on buyer's side's I That because obviously I'm trying to get the best deal for my client as a buyer. And there's been times where it was nine thousand dollars and like, hey, we're not paying that. I'm like, sorry, read your contract.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Sorry. So I think I mean, kind of following that that strategy, pricing, marketing up pricing your house correctly, getting it cleaned, staged, and ready. All the professional marketing and stuff that we do, I think if you follow that strategy, it's gonna help you get your house sold quicker and make you net more in the end.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

It really is. It's it's coming up, it's coming to the table with a plan, right? Um, because a lot of sellers are looking for the net number, right? They this is what I want to make. And they don't care how they get there. So sometimes if you get an agent that's not prepared, they're just gonna say yes, right? It's a yes man. Hey, I want to put a sign in the yard. And guess what? They're gonna be sitting on the market, they're gonna be upset. And how many times do you get a call from a seller that you went to the listing appointment, they didn't hire you because of whatever the case or fees?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Actually, two weeks ago, I went on a listing appointment and the I sell a lot in like in the community. So the highest model sold, actually, I I sold it. And so now they're like, I'll give you the listing, but I want to price it at XYZ. I'm like, I'm I'm not gonna tell you now that's not gonna work. Yeah, and you guys are your net is very minimum as it is. So you we need to be strategic and price this right at the get-go so we can get it sold for you. Going that route, I mean, it's not it's not gonna work. So it's it's I kind of had to say no to it, but in the end, I mean, again, I'm not gonna say yes just to have it sit there.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah. We we have to set our source set ourselves apart as the professionals, right? Because there's so many agents in this industry that again, they don't have that budget. They are relatively new. They got an industry during COVID where you did put a sign in the front yard, you had 20 offers banging on the door. Um, so it's being strategic. And I've done the same thing too. I've turned down listings or I've not gotten a listing because I was set in my ways. I say, hey, this is how I do it, this is how I run my business, and I have the track record to show it.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Yeah. Again, it comes down to the house. Maybe it merits a little bit more. If they wanted to do it, maybe five, 10,000, maybe it's like, okay, let's do it this way for two weeks. But if they're coming in just drastically, where no, that's doesn't make any sense. There's not a single comp that's ever sold. It's I'm not, I'm I'm gonna do you a disservice if I do it that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

So yeah, there's points in times where you could gamble a little bit. Right. And and I have those clients. If it is fully upgraded or it has nice upgrades, like it shows well. Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm willing to gamble a little bit, still having that conversation. We say, hey, if if nothing happens in two weeks, two, three weeks, we're having a different conversation. But I'm willing to gamble. Yeah, but I'm not willing to gamble on the ones that don't deserve it, that are just builder standard, nothing overly special.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Case by case correct. So I think we we've covered pretty much everything. Um I have to have some notes here, maybe just some quick questions. Go for it. Let's just see here. Right now, are buyers in control?

SPEAKER_01 24:58

I would say yes and no. I think we're kind of on that weird edge where it's right between a buyer's and seller's market. I would say buyers have the edge or have leverage when a property's been sitting on the market. So if it's a stale listing that's been on the market 60, 90 days, if it's overpriced, whatever the case might be, I come in as a buyer's agent and I'll say, hey, we have a better chance of getting this one, getting a good deal on it because it's been sitting on the market.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

The flip side of that is the houses that do deserve those higher prices and quick sales, they're still selling fast. Yeah. I I have houses right now or in the in the last few months where they've been selling it four days, a week, 10 days, two weeks.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Just depends on the house, the location, and again, just price-wise.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Yeah. So so it goes back to setting up your client properly from a buyer's perspective. It's setting them up and saying, hey, if it's a house that's brand new on the market, has everything you want, is upgraded, priced well, whatever the case, and there's nothing else like it, we're going in strong. Right. Versus, hey, I could find you a great deal if that's what you're looking for. If if cost is your biggest concern, yeah, we could find you a house that gets that done that's been on market for XYZ days.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

So kind of next question. So you're sitting down with Mr. and Mrs. Seller. Unfortunately, for some reason, this house is not is not selling. What would you recommend? A price reduction or offering credits to the buyer?

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Um I would say to get the attention of buyers is the price reduction. First and foremost, it's always price, right? Because most buyers don't have conversations with their agents or lenders or or vice versa, telling them, hey, a price, a lower price house doesn't necessarily affect your payment all that much. Right. Versus credits, yeah, you always want to get credits. That's more money in your pocket that you don't have to spend. But no one's gonna know that. And going back to the whole um advertising aspect where buyers are looking online, doing their own research, and then telling their agents what they want to see, if they see a drastic price reduction, that's gonna pique their interest a little bit more than reading through the description that they normally don't do. Say, hey, sellers willing to offer a five, ten thousand dollar credit.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Okay. Last question here. I had I had quite a few, but we'll skip over a few. Should buyers wait for rates to drop?

SPEAKER_01 27:18

No. That's a fun one. That's uh, I mean, you probably get this call all the time. Hey, I've been waiting, so and so. So going back to what I was just saying about that leverage aspect, if you're obviously people that are waiting for rates to come down, they're waiting for lower more uh monthly payments, right? Right. So going back to that leverage aspect, right now, I could get you a better deal and get you a lower rate because I'm asking for credits. We could get a cheaper house that's been sitting on the market months at a time or for months. That's gonna put you in a better position than waiting. Because most of those people that are waiting, they're probably renting. So you're throwing away $3,000 a month. That's not benefiting you anyway. And then let's say rates do come down. So right now they're averaging 6%, give or take, somewhere in that vicinity. Um, so let's say rates get down to 5.5%. Guess what? You have that whole bunch of buyers that are sitting on the fence that waiting pool, they're just gonna be jumping out. They're already pre-approved, they've been waiting. They're waiting for that jump. Guess what? They're gonna jump in the market. Now we get back to almost that COVID feel where you're competing with a bunch of buyers, multiple offers, over asking price, you lose your leverage. You're starting to have to not ask for credits, offer full price, offer over asking price, remove your contingencies up front. It really doesn't help you. And in the grand scheme of thing, if you if you weigh out the actual math, so if you go from let's say the house is worth $600,000 right now, right, and the rates change drastically and prices go up because the demand goes up, now that $600,000 house could be $650,000 or more. But you lost half a percent of interest, but your payment is actually gonna be higher still, or close to what it'd be right now. Where if you buy right now, get the leverage, yeah, interest is a little higher. Guess what? You could refi, you're gonna get the house that you wanted at that lower price, re-fi to that lower rate, and your payments even gonna be lower.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Yeah, kind of piggybag off that. It was the worst saying ever. What is it, a year or two? Um Marry the house, date the rate. Yeah, you sounded so stupid saying that, but the people that actually took that advice, they had their house at the lower rate. Now they're all all refined and they have equity. Yeah. So if you can't afford the payment for six months to a year, but and you have your dream house, it's almost worth just toughen it out and then re-again, refine and in the future.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah. Well, I mean, so that this is obviously really drastic, what I'm about to say right now, but during COVID, no drastic comments on your key, but PG. So during COVID, how many buyers did you have say, Oh, I'm not paying $60,000 over asking price? All of them, right? So those people that did pay that, guess what? They're sitting on two, three hundred thousand dollars worth of equity right now because the prices have gone up.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Um, and it's the same thing, like during the the last crash or everything. Hey, everyone's waiting for that next crash, the next crash. Cool. I have clients that have been uh been talking to me since 2015, 16, just waiting for something, waiting for something to happen, and then nothing happens.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

Everybody's always waiting. Wait, when's the perfect time? Or even sellers, they ask when's the perfect time to sell? And I always tell them there is act, in my opinion, no perfect time to sell your house. Yeah, it's gonna come down when the numbers make sense to you. That's when it's the perfect time. This bottom line is what you net. If that's the number that you want, then now's the perfect time. Because we we don't know what the future's gonna hold.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

So, do you have any other things you want to throw out you want to tell the people?

SPEAKER_00 30:39

I think that's it for now. I think that was a pretty good segment. I mean, if anybody has questions or anything that we discuss, obviously they have our information and can reach out to us.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

But yeah, so uh I guess this is the close. So if you're thinking about selling and you want strategy that actually works, feel free to give us a call. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Thanks for watching. Peace. Have a good one.