Price and Time

BY GARY PITTARD

TTTwo winners were talking. They discussed the sale of a property one had for sale. The winner said, “In this market, if we don’t have it sold in two weeks we’re in trouble”.

From the perspective of both lister and seller, this has interesting connotations. In previous times price was all important. Thanks to the speed of digital marketing, there are now two factors to consider: Price and Time.

The winner explained it this way: “Buyers show up whether you’re priced right or not. They view and move on. If your listing is overpriced you might not get them back”.

In cooling markets this could become more relevant as buyers have more properties from which to choose.

The implication for today’s sellers is simple: leave a property languishing on the market for too long and you can lose the best buyers.

And for today’s listers, “List and hope” is not a strategy (if ever it was), neither is “List very high and take your time reaching market price”.

More than ever, listers need to consider whether the sellers they are about to list are deadly serious about selling, and whether they are prepared to meet the market sooner rather than later. After all, they have to meet the market if they are going to sell, so why waste good buyers and time?

Work with your sellers and help them understand the urgency in entering the market at or near a fair market price. Remind them that if the property goes stale, they have missed their best chance to sell at the highest price.

Stale properties often require a massive drop in price to get them sold.

Don’t put your sellers through that.

BY GARY PITTARD