Selling a property quickly and for the most money is a real estate balancing act.

Years ago old school real estate taught agents to keep things in balance.  Today’s market isn’t really any different.  The internet and the media information DIY overload has shifted how we market homes but not the basics. 

What is a real estate balancing act?

Think of a three-legged stool.  If one leg is shorter than the others, the stools rocks.  The time-tested real estate teaching of balance is still critically important today. Two of the three-legged stool is controlled by the seller and one leg is the Realtor’s® responsibility.

Think of it as the 3 P’s of real estate.

Pricing and presentation belong to the seller.  Promotion is the only leg the Realtor® controls.  

Seller’s Presentation:

How does the property look for pictures as well as showings?  In today’s world with quick distribution from local MLS to multiple real estate sites sellers have one chance to look good.  It’s amazing how many poorly exposed photos of cluttered rooms hit the internet. 

Buyers, turned off by bad pictures may not revisit your listing again.

Keeping the house in decent shape for showings is also important.  Dirty dishes in the sink, stinky cat litter and clothes left on bedroom floors turns some buyers off.  Nobody expects perfection but neat an tidy goes a long way.  

Sellers own the control of the presentation.  Stuff on countertops and cluttered rooms do not photograph well.  You need to work with your agent to ensure the best pictures possible which often includes highering professional real estate photographers.

Seller’s Pricing:

The seller has the final say on the listing price!

Whether the price was reached by careful analysis of market data or the idea of the worth the seller is in charge.  Some agents won’t list grossly overpriced properties.  Other agents, in today’s fast-paced market, will give it a try with the seller’s agreement to lower the number within a certain time frame. And some agents figure overpriced sellers will eventually learn from their mistake and lower the price eventually.

Any way you look at it the seller controls the pricing.  Too high of a price places the property out of balance and ultimately costs the seller time and money. Ask sellers who have been on the market for months with several price reductions and too few showings about their experiences.

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Realtor’s® Promotion:

The good and bad of today’s real estate world is that everything is available everywhere instantly.  (or at least with 24 hours depends on MLS feeds)  Highly accurate MLS data, awesome pictures and useful verbiage about the listing are critical.   Check with your agent about web syndication. Many real estate companies push your listing data to a variety of local and national websites.  It’s up to your agent (or somebody in their company/team) to verify the web feeds are working.

What, if any, social media is used?  Some agents are tech savvy and promote properties via social media.  In some niche markets, social media is very important and sellers need to know what tools their agent is using to advertise the property.

Open houses can be posted on the local MLS and the information funnels to other sites as well.

Your Realtor® only controls the promotion of the property.  

Sellers may decide to overprice a property or leave clutter around for pictures which reduces the value of any promotion. 

The careful balancing act of pricing, presentation and promotion are still the golden rule in real estate.