Do Your Homework Now for Success in 2024: Four Ways a Real Estate Agent Can Coach Clients on Pricing Their Home
Guiding your clients towards the best pricing strategy for their property can be tricky, especially when the market is in an unpredictable state. While things are always changing and evolving in real estate, there are some tried and true tactics that can aid you in helping your clients understand current market conditions and come to the most reasonable decision to best price their property to meet their goals. We’ve outlined four strong strategies below.
Start the Discussion with Data
What are the recent average sale prices in the area? Is there a lot of inventory? How long are properties staying on the market?
Using a tool such as the Pricing Benchmark Report1 or MarketStats from ShowingTime+2 means you can quickly and simply find and share this data with clients and rely on key data points to start the pricing conversation. Every home is different with other variables to take into consideration, but beginning with reliable insight helps ensure you’re providing the best options for your clients in a decision that can be difficult and emotional.
Assess the Current Market
No housing market is ever completely predictable, but tighter market conditions3 can cause even higher levels of stress for sellers and their agents as they navigate towards a sale. Consistent visibility into market trends and staying on top of news developments about any external factors that might cause additional volatility can keep you ahead of the pack in zeroing in on the perfect pricing strategy for your clients.
Using a tool to get insight into those trends, such as the ShowingTime Showing Index or the Daily Showing Activity report can give you a better understanding of where the market has been and where it might be going.
By relying on accurate information about the current market your sellers are facing, you can set realistic expectations on what their specific property may face when the listing goes live.
Prepare Them For Extra Effort
Sellers may have heard stories about a home listing a few years ago going live and the property receiving multiple offers within days. Or buyers offering to skip inspections or ignore issues with the property, or even offering to pay much higher than the original listing price4.
Those days are largely gone, and with buyers facing tighter economic times they may be more keen to find the ideal fit before they make an offer. This could mean your clients should be prepared to accept a lower offer than they’d like, or upgrade amenities in the home before listing.
Are they leaving the refrigerator … but it’s already old and outdated? Spending the extra money to update to a shiny new one may not be perfect, but it’s a perk potential buyers will appreciate. Is their garage already wired to handle the installation of an EV charger? Buyers may not even have an electric vehicle but be considering it … and a client having the wiring checked and updated by a professional adds another perk to the listing, but will add to the cost and affect the pricing for your sellers. Finding small but crucial ways to boost their listing can aid them in making it sell faster.
Your own experience with the listing will also likely require more to sell it than before. Prepare your clients for potentially having more open houses, more showings and additional back-and-forth communications on offers before the property is officially off the market.
Be Honest
No matter the market conditions, it’s not a bad practice for agents to enter into a pricing conversation prepared to under-promise and over-deliver, and doing their best to be completely honest about expectations for the seller’s property.
You’re the real estate professional who knows your market better than anyone. Sellers can set expectations too high and enter into a pricing conversation emotionally, but by using these strategies and relying on data, market insights and keen preparation, you can help guide homeowners into making the right choice about not only pricing, but ground their expectations on timeline and the selling process.
The pricing conversation can also be a crucial opportunity to build trust and expand your own market, as sellers who feel they received a high level of professional guidance tend to come back and recommend their agent to others.
Tougher times can also mean big opportunities. Tens of thousands of real estate agents left the field in 2023 for a variety of reasons5, but with proper preparation and a dedication to data and your expertise on your market, you can help provide the service and guidance your potential clients are craving as they begin the selling process.
Sources:
1 The Pricing Benchmark Report.
2 Some features are only available through an MLS.
3 The impact of today’s higher interest rates on the housing market, US Bank
4 Your wild home-buying, selling stories: These 17 help paint the picture, KSAT News
5 Realtor boom ends as housing market slumps, AXIOS
