The saga of a listing agent....

It is late January 2011 and a young professional couple with a 4 month old baby, 3 inside cats and a big inside dog, called me and asked me to list their house.... That’s the good news....  They bought the house new, from the dirt, and put a lot of upgrades in the house and did not use a Realtor... That is the bad news.... They over paid for the house and all of the upgrades 3 years ago and now they want to sell and move across town to be closer to friends and family.... The neighbourhood they live in has been declining in value for the past 3 year and now they are upside down on their house.... I valued the house between $195K - $208K and they paid $225,900.....

They where just devastated by the news... They asked what would be the harm of listing the house at $240,000 and just hoping someone would buy it.... I went through the process of someone buying a house and what every good agent would do when showing buyers homes in their area of town.... The wife was very sad and almost started crying..... I gave them my speech about how they really haven’t lost any money yet, and should just wait to see what the market does in the months to come....

I hope they heed my advice about not listing the house.   I hope they don’t keep interviewing agents until they find one who will list it at the price they want..... This is a big problem. Some agent will say ANYTHING, at ANY price to get the listing.... And that is just wrong.... It is against the Realtor Code of Ethics to take a listing that is OVERPRICED and has no chance of selling..... Do the right thing by your clients.... Tell them the truth, not what they want to hear.... The market will turn around.... It is just a matter of time....

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources:http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or https://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at: http://www.danfrankrealty.com. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Remember, Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at:  http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com