Pricing of real estate is still one of the most mis-understood items in real estate. Here are some tips for the great agent.

1. Before going on a listing appointment, ask the potential client why they are selling. If their response is unclear, ask again. You need to let them know that the more you know about their needs, the better job you can do in customizing a program to meet their needs.

2. Bring up their motivation to sell every time you speak with them. How are they going to conform to this market unless you keep the vision of the goal line clear?

3. Let them know that surety of close can be as important as price. Let them know the steps you take to add surety to the close. Larger deposits, heavy pre-approval of the buyer, shorter closing times, and shorter contingency times are all methods of adding surety to close and taking the emphasis off of price.

4. Sometimes you have a seller with motivation and the wrong price in mind. Calling them every 10 working days, reminding them of what the goal line looks like and being armed with more comps, comparisons, or feedback will result in a price reduction if the motivation is there.

5. Understand that negatives are greatly magnified in tougher markets. If it is a busy street, there is always a discount in a good market, but it will sell because buyers have less to look at and will overlook it. In a tougher market, they want it all, and it might not be shown enough until you obtain a substantial price reduction.

6. It is not always about a price reduction. Sometimes the seller will turn to cement, resisting any further price reductions even if they have motivation. In this case, we use a list of over 100 value enhancements like including the appliances, buying down the loan, or offering a .5% more to the selling office. I would never get off the phone unless I got something to make the listing better.

7. You, as an agent, need to understand the most important law in real estate. With the MLS and all of the cooperation we get from other agents, there is a simple fact – if there are no showings, you are overpriced. If there are no offers, you are overpriced. Don’t let the seller sell you on the fact that it is lack of marketing. Price is 95% of marketing.