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Real Estate Woes and An ALMOST Good Idea

We have a property that has been on the market for nearly six months now. It is sitting empty because we would really rather sell it than rent it. But we don’t want to give it away either, and in this tough market that puts us in a little bit of a rough spot. We’re not the only ones in this situation, and there are numbers to back this up.

Our contract with our realtor expires in a couple of weeks, and we’ve been discussing what to do next–rent the property until the market improves, drop the price, wait it out, try another realtor, try to sell it ourselves, etc.  We know the market is tough right now, so I think we are being pretty realistic about our options.  We’re also lucky that we have options–we don’t have to give it away.  We received a piece of mail Friday that may have helped us in this decision.

The company we have the property listed with is running a sale October 10-19. Their plan is to draw attention to the great buys available in the market with a national campaign. Sounds like a great and innovative idea! In order to participate, they’re asking homeowners to drop their price by at least 5%. And for the duration of the sale they are reducing their commission percentage by…

Zero.

I realize this is a tough market for agents as well, but this company missed a great opportunity to show their clients that “we’re all in this together”. Yeah, I know their commission would also be reduced by the same 5%, but on a $200k listing they are asking the owners to give up $10k while they are only giving up $600. Why not give up a full percentage point, you know, just to show you are REALLY serious about moving these properties? Why not show you also have a stake in making deals happen?  Why not use this as an opportunity to build relationships and a reputation with clients that will pay off for years to come?

Why not view this as an investment in your business?

In this case, they may have been better off doing nothing.  Someone at the top of this company should check out Seth Godin some time.  This really puts the agents in a bad spot as well, since they have not control over the situation.

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My Only Remodeling Tip

Light blogging (and other stuff) for the last few weeks because I’ve been pouring a lot of time and energy into remodeling my old place (yes that place).  I’ve learned a lot during this process, not only how to do a lot of stuff I didn’t know before, but also some tricks and lessons.  I’ve also learned that I hate doing remodel projects.  I’m not a carpenter (or plumber, or electrician) and I don’t want to be.  I have a ton of respect for people who are good at these things, but that’s just not me.  So what tip could someone who sucks at handy work give you?  It’s pretty simple really:

The amount of time you have left on a project is directly proportional to the amount of money you’ve spent at your most recent trip to Lowe’s.

To clarify, your third trip of the day because the water to the entire complex is off and you need a tool to complete the job so you can turn it back on doesn’t count.  I’m talking about the trip you made based on the list you made of things left to complete.

For example, on my first trip to Lowe’s when starting the project I spent a lot of money on tile and wood flooring.  My subsequent trips were less expensive, but the cost went back up when the real estate agent said to replace everything in the kitchen and baths.  So I was back to spending a lot of money (again) on appliances and vanity tops.  In general, I spent less money on each trip.

Yesterday I had to buy a set of masonry bits and some new light switches–around $16.

Today I bought 5 magnets for cabinet doors and a sponge–just over $6.

Tomorrow I’m taking some stuff back and not buying anything.  That’s right.  They are going to give me money.

That means I’m finished!