I’ve been in real estate long enough to see what happens when a real estate listing goes stale. It creates anxiety and upset for the client and the agent. The best solution? Go back to the beginning and make the appropriate changes for the current market and get that stale listing so fresh and so clean. It may take some energy and money, which the seller can either do him/herself or pay someone to do, but it will be worth it to get the property sold.
What is a stale listing, you ask? If your house has been on the market for a significant amount of time (three to four months) without an offer, you have a stale listing on your hands. We need to fix that immediately.
Ask another agent to come through with you for a different perspective
Take Carla Jewell, an agent who works at my brokerage. Carla also does home decorating, interior design, and organization. I brought her into a stale real estate listing I had recently and her ideas were invaluable. The owner gets to choose to do it herself or pay Carla to do it. Learn more about Carla Jewell
Feedback: negative or positive?
In our appointment setting application, there is an automatic email that gets sent out to the showing agent for feedback of the property shown. It makes it easy to publish it to the seller, which takes you out of the equation if you aren’t always comfortable with giving the negative feedback. I’m not saying you should be a milquetoast, but sometimes it’s plain awkward. Nonetheless, feedback is a powerful tool. Use it.
Do a video tour of the house.
A new trick up my sleeve is to do video tours of the property. I do them on my iPhone in short intervals and edit them together to make one cohesive video. This gives a potential buyer an idea of what the house looks like. A floor plan could work as well, but I feel like a video is a great way to help a buyer see what it feels like, almost in real life. In addition, starting from the outside and giving some neighborhood views are helpful. Google earth can only do so much and it’s not real time.
Take up all the space in the description.
Let the buyer know every detail of the property that may matter. Is it fenced in completely? Does it have ceiling fans? No carpet = no allergy issues. Make sure you highlight it and be descriptive. Buyers love this and appreciate the time spent when agents do this for them.
Send out an email and boost the listing on social media.
I can’t tell you how many real estate listings I’ve leased or sold because someone on social media saw it and sent it to a friend. Social media has become a word of mouth marketing tool, so use it! Buyers are paying attention to what is on there - your boost money is well spent.
Broker tour.
Regular open houses are not my jam. They are great for picking up potential clients, but never have I sold a house by giving an open house. It’s for people who like to window shop for the most part. Hold a broker tour, though, for other agents. And DO NOT do it alone. Always get a partner to do it with you. That could be a title company representative or another agent. Keep yourself safe.
Have the awkward conversation and help the seller get real.
Sometimes (wink wink) sellers think the house is worth more than market value. There is no logic because it is based on emotion, which is ok because we all have emotions, so we can actually be empathetic and relate. There has to be some reasonable expectations set, however, and it’s part of your job as an agent to level set the seller. This is part of being a good agent.
Bury the St. Joseph statue already.
St. Joseph has become our patron saint of real estate, so to ensure the home selling process goes quickly and smoothly, burying him upside down is your first step. It won’t hurt to try it, even if you aren’t Catholic!
Get those evil spirits out of there!
We have a lot of history in this city. A lot of good and bad has happened, so perhaps “cleaning out” the house with a blessing or smudging will be your key to a speedy sale. Some spirits just don’t want to vacate their property.
These are some pretty easy tips on how to put some pizzazz into that stale real estate listing you have. Work with your seller to make the house shine like the diamond that it is. Show the seller your value by really caring. You don’t want this listing to go to another agent who gives the one or two ideas and sells it right away. If the listing has gotten stale, though, take some of my advice here. Better yet, call me so we can re-list and sell that property, lickety split.
