Pricing: Why A Seller Should Never Let Their Listing Grow Stale
Powerfact: Using an analogy or metaphor is the best possible way to communicate a point or handle an objection.
By Real Estate Coach and Speaker Darryl Davis, CSP
I had a Power Agent® come to me this last week with an issue that I wanted to share with everyone, because it’s important for a few reasons. The agent explained that she had a listing appointment with a client who wanted to list her home, but that she wants to have it listed for a year, if necessary. She has listed it previously with other agents in the past, but this agent wasn’t sure if this listing was worth taking. I had two things to say in response.
Avoid the Stale Listing 
This is a prime example for a bread analogy. When a loaf of bread sits in the kitchen of a restaurant, or on a grocery store shelf for too long, what happens? It becomes stale. If it’s stale, most times you have to throw that bread out because you can’t use it anymore.
If this is a normal listing where the average time on the market is around 3 months, but the homeowner wants to price it so it sits on the market for a year, that’s not good for the homeowner because just like the bread, their property will become stale.
Now, when bread in the grocery store becomes stale, what do they do? They slash the price dramatically just to get rid of it. The homeowner will have to cut their asking price dramatically just to sell it, which means they lose a lot of money in the long run just by having their home on the market past the natural time frame.
That’s not all, though. There is also the perception that buyers will begin to form about the house. When a house sits too long on the market, buyers begin to think there is something wrong with the house, because if there was nothing wrong with it, then it would have sold.
People want what other people want. It’s natural human instinct. When a home sits on the market for a very long time, it sends this message: “Don’t like this house at this price.” Then, any new buyers looking at homes will think, “Well, I don’t want to own the home that nobody else likes.”
Don’t Be More Committed to the Sale Than the Homeowner
We, as real estate professionals, help homeowners sell their homes. We can’t be more committed to that sale than they are. If you have a homeowner who is committed to price and not committed to moving, then you can’t help that homeowner.
If the homeowner is aware that the pricing is too high and that it might sit too long and buyers are no longer interested, and if it works for you to have the for-sale sign on the property where it’s going to generate calls and business and it’s going to benefit you, then go ahead and take the listing. As long as you are clear about this up front
Now, on the flips side, if a homeowner isn’t clear on this, and they expect you to do open houses every weekend and spend the money marketing their home with ads that you won’t get any return with buyer activity, then you are wasting your money and it’s not a good listing for you.
Also, if the homeowner expects you to perform like you are selling the home in 30 days, but you know it’s going to sit for a year, you are going to have an upset homeowner calling you every day because you weren’t honest upfront, and it becomes an emotional drain.
All you can do is present the options and be clear about what choices they have and what drawbacks can result, and let them make their decision.
Ready, Set, Go!
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