SOLD in 1 day!
Have you ever received one of those postcards in the mail where an agent has “Sold their Boston condo listing in 1 day” plastered across the front of the card. The obvious purpose of this boastful post card is to let the neighbors know how good an agent they can be because they sold it so fast, so in the future, they will call this agent to sell their Boston condo. I can’t help but wonder, when I get one of these cards, what would have happened had the agent had not accepted the first offer to come along. Is “selling in 1 day” the best thing for the seller?
Let’s get multiple offers
Today I heard a story from another agent in my office who showed a Boston condo to her buyers who really liked a home. They were there for sometime, in fact, they were there until late Sunday viewing the property. This was the second time that the buyers looked at the home. Obviously these were serious buyers. This morning, the buyers agent called the listing agent to say that her clients wanted to make an offer. The listing agent said she was sorry but they had an accepted offer already at 9:00 am on Monday. Yahoo… SOLD in 1 day! Here is the problem. The listing agent had a steady stream of potential buyers through the home the first day and did not bother to call all of the agents to see if their clients had an interest in the property. Had she done that, she most likely would have gotten additional offers that may have boosted the selling price for the seller. Especially bothersome is the fact that this agent had an interested family viewing the home until late yesterday and that buyers agent never got a call from the listing agent to see if the buyers had an interest in making a “competing” offer, something this agent SHOULD be doing to get her clients the best price and best situation for selling their Boston condo. In all of my years in the business I have never had someone at one of my listings stay late on a Sunday open house unless they were really interested in a property. And if this is the case, why would an agent not call and try to get her seller a better price and more favorable terms?
Selling fast doesn’t mean the highest price
Sometimes it’s OK to have a listing on the market longer than a day! Why would you not want to expose that listing to as many buyers as you can that first week or so in order to generate the very best deal for the seller? Next time you get that “SOLD in 1 day” postcard in the mail from the local real estate agent, you may want to think twice if that is the right agent for you.
