Here’s how you should handle fierce competition against your listing.
We recently listed a townhome in a townhome community for $230,000, and around the complex and neighborhood, multiple properties were selling at that price point. About two weeks after we listed ours, two listings that were very similar to ours went on the market for $210,00. What do you do with that type of competition?
You should show your seller the data. Show them that other similar houses were listed at $230,000, then show them the properties listed at $210,000, and ask what they want to do. You have a listing contract with them, so you want to continue to earn their business. You need to protect their interests at all times; it’s part of our fiduciary duty.
“What you do will always depend on the particular situation.”
So we talked our clients through the whole scenario, asked what they wanted to do, and gave them our suggestions. We agreed that in about two weeks we would drop the price by $10,000 to $15,000. This was a motivated seller, but not all will be this driven and allow a large price drop.
I’ve also had a situation in which another home was listed lower, and that house took seven days to sell. Ours took 10, but our seller netted about $4,000 more. So what you do will always depend on the particular situation.
At the end of the day, it never hurts to call the other listing agent and ask what their seller’s motivation was or how they came up with the price. By doing so, you get a bit of education and can relay the information back to your seller to help you both gauge what you’ll do with your listing.
If you have any other questions about selling among competition or another topic, call or visit our website. We would love to speak with you.
