Story

The agent came in 20k under my aunt's number and drew why on a flyer

My aunt is 78 and finally selling the house she raised four kids in. I got dragged along to the listing appointment because I'm the one in the family who supposedly "knows real estate," which mostly means I read a lot and own nothing yet.

She had a number in her head. She'd heard it from a neighbor whose house sold in 2022. The agent came in, walked the whole place, spent a long time in the basement, and then sat at the kitchen table and said a number about 20k under hers.

My aunt got quiet in the way that means somebody is about to get thrown out of the house.

Then the agent flipped over one of her own flyers and started writing. Three houses on the same street that sold in the last five months, what each one had that my aunt's doesn't, and what each one didn't have that my aunt's does. Then she wrote the neighbor's 2022 price at the bottom and drew a line through it. Not rudely. She just said, that sale is not a buyer that exists anymore.

And then the part I didn't expect. She said, if you list at your number I'll still take the listing, and here's what happens. Three weeks of nothing, then you cut, and now buyers are asking what's wrong with it instead of what's it worth. She said she'd rather have the argument now than in five weeks.

My aunt signed at the agent's number. It went under contract in nine days for a little over it. What stuck with me was that the whole job in that room was talking a nice woman out of a number she loved.

10 replies

omar_haddadActivePRO11

The line through the 2022 price is the whole post. I've been on the renovation side long enough to watch people carry a comp around for three years like a receipt. She didn't argue with your aunt's feelings, she just showed her the buyer doesn't exist.

luis_carrera Get yours

"I'd rather have the argument now than in five weeks" is a better sentence than anything I've written in six months of spreadsheets. Nine days on market and slightly over ask means she was right, or close enough that it doesn't matter.

bmoreno23AB1B

I'm starting from zero and this is the first thing I've read that made the listing side sound like an actual skill rather than putting photos online. She had to be willing to lose the listing in the room. That's the part I'd fail at.

ehernandez74PO2BPRO5

Question, and it's a real one. Did she show your aunt anything in writing about how she gets paid, or was that a separate conversation? I ask because I've been reading about the commission changes and I can't tell where in the process that comes up.

marcus_hale41CG4A

@anchor it's in the listing agreement, and in most markets now the agent also has to walk the seller through whether they're offering anything toward the buyer's agent and get that approved in writing. Different states handle the forms differently, so the paperwork looks a bit different depending where you are. @marlow did that come up at the table?

dmitri_v6CapitalPRO6

That's the part I'd want to read. The pricing conversation is the story, and the document is where the deal actually lives. @marlow if your aunt still has the listing agreement, the compensation section is worth her looking at with someone who can read it for her state.

dpatel_reCS4A

Nine days is the tell. A house that sits three weeks and then cuts has told every buyer something about itself, and you don't get to untell it. The agent was pricing the market's attention span, not the house.

sonia_alvarez Get yoursPRO6

Funny how much of that appointment was underwriting. She built a comp set at a kitchen table with a pen and it did the same work as a model.

tonyv88SO4CPRO6

I manage rentals and I have this exact fight about asking rent about once a month. Same shape every time. Somebody heard a number from a neighbor and it hardened. The only thing that ever moves it is showing them what the last three units actually rented for and how long they sat.

stephen_ok9CO2CPRO6

What I like is that she said she'd take the listing at the wrong price anyway. That's not a threat, it's an honest description of what would happen. Feels like the difference between selling and advising.