Why is that strange family in my master bedroom?
This quote from Leslie Appleton-Young, CAR’s chief economist, in this morning’s San Diego Union Tribune:
For sellers, because inventory is so much higher than it was a couple of years ago, the advice is don’t list your home for sale unless you are really interested in selling your home.
This is a highly complex economic strategy written in technical economist speak, so let’s summarize in lay-terms. Take this simple test to determine if the time is right for you to list your home for sale.
- I want to sell my home. a)True b)False
If you answered (a), “True”, you should offer your home for sale.
Tomorrow, Ms. Appleton-Young will be addressing the tricky business of the home purchase. “Do not buy a home unless you want to buy a home.”
Real estate forensics
There is more from our paper’s Currents section this morning:
Hair shafts taken from 10 of the giant beasts yielded a surprising amount of undamaged genetic material, even from one specimen that had been sitting in a room-temperature museum exhibit for 200 years.
Those open houses just seem to drag on forever! If the owners were only really interested in selling, the woolly mammoth could have closed up early and caught the end of the Chargers game. Or, maybe it was the buyers who were the problem.
Long in the tusk
Speaking of the open house, while I have flopped like a bad comb-over on this issue, I am now convinced that this timeworn tradition has seen its finest hour. My strongest argument in defense of the prehistoric ritual has been that the Internet has given the home buyer not the tools to render the agent extinct, but certainly the tools to get a jump-start on the process. We know that buyers are doing more research on their own and finding the need to personally view fewer homes before making a purchase as a result. Consequently, I am also seeing buyers wait until they are much further into the process before establishing a relationship with an agent. Therefore, the open house provides access to the uncommitted, but it is often the blind date.
The counter argument is much stronger. If the open house buyer has not committed to representation, how serious are they about making a purchase? At this point in time, not very. The motivated buyer and the buyer with agent representation will see the homes they want to see with or without a Sunday open door policy. Just maybe, by virtue of the buyer taking a few extra, inconvenient steps to secure a viewing (like making a phone call and scheduling an appointment), they will be demonstrating sincerity and commitment.
Extending courtesies
This, from a phone call to one of our buyer’s agents recently:
Buyer: “I would like to see the house.”
Agent: “Are you working with an agent?”
Buyer: “Yes, I have an agent.”
Agent: “Then why don’t you have your agent show you the home?”
Buyer: “I’m not that serious yet. I don’t want to bother her.”
So, my advice (and since Ms. Appleton-Young just may have the makings of a book, I authorize reprint without permission) is this:
If you don’t want to be a museum exhibit for the next 200 years, do not sentence yourself to open houses. If the buyer wants to see your home, it has been exposed to the world on the Internet and through the Multiple Listing Service, you have a yard sign and shiny brochures detailing every feature to attract attention, you have a website linking photos and tours and your floor plan, and you have an agent aggressively promoting to those who want to purchase a home like yours.
That is, unless you hired the giant beast.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kris Berg is Co-Owner and Designated Broker of San Diego Castles Realty. If not-so static web sites are your thing, go here at once where you will find loads of real estate information including homes for sale, market trends, floor plans and more. Kris's hobbies include fencing and spot welding. She likes kittens. 
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I just had a similar situation happen this week.
Took a new listing and got a sign call before it hit MLS, asked the buyer if he was working with an agent, he said “yes”, then asked me to meet him at the house.
I asked why, and naturally he wanted me to show him the house.
His sister, who is his agent, was “busy”.
I told him it would be a conflict of interest for me when he has his own agent.
She never did show him the house and we already have an offer above the asking price.
I also agree on open houses.
Another old real estate practice that is no longer beneficial.
The old saying is that “an open house is the penance you pay for an overpriced listing” was never more true than today.
You can grow a beard sitting in an open house hoping someone will show up.
Okay Kris, I actually think that leslie makes a really great point in a ‘not so direct way’ for your market. If you are not willing to adjust and roll with a down market, and your wallet is going to be bruised, then sit still rather than ‘on the market.’ Part of the problem is the glut, reduce homes for sale, withdrawn, etc, you increase demand- seems rather blunt to me without the finger pointing…
I see most of the problem is perception created by media, and is why it is illegal in most states to create panic in the market- somehow the media is exempt from this practice.
Benn – Of course that is what she was saying. It was just funny how she said it. And, wouldn’t this “price it correctly or don’t offer it for sale” advice be good in any market?
lol well, I am starting to feel like we’re a little to pc in this country, so I’ll say what Leslie meant- Ditech lied! When was the last time you got cut off in traffic and thought ‘people are smart?’
People who have no need to sell and “aren’t going to give it away” shouldn’t have their homes on the market at this time.
They aren’t going to get lucky, buyers are too smart, and all it does it constipate the market.
In the Boise market, we have about 5,000 homes for sale in our county and we closed 402 in September.
The homes that are in no-apology condition and priced aggressively are the only ones selling.
That’s the way it should be.
Kris,
I just adore this blog! The humor helps so much on a Friday and for that thank you.
I hope that the homeowners understand this in your market, I am sure that some might not but that is the job of the agent/broker to readdress the issue.
But I also agree with the fact that if you want to sell then put the thing on the market. Most understand the up/down so they should understand reductions in a down.
At least I hope so.
Apella – Thanks!
Wonderful insights into the whole breakdown of communication between economists and media/real world people.
If I want to sell my house- THAT’s when I list it? So, if I don’t want to buy a house then I shouldn’t buy one… man- this is finally starting to make sense…
Open houses are rare in Salt Lake with them exception of FSBO’s and certain brokers who charge flat fees to basically be an open house provider while not even putting the home across the MLS (thus SAVING the seller that dirty buyer agent commission).
Today people who want to see the home look at the virtual tour and then call their agent.
We actually have agents who call on homes from our website. We dutifully direct them to the MLS. Usually people who are serious want the best help they can get and that is why they contact the best agents for services.