Does Your Real Estate Listing Agent Show Your Home?
One question that pops up from time to time on real estate forums relates to the activities of a real estate listing agent.
Typically, a frustrated homeowner who's house has been on the market for some time without an offer wants to know why the agent they hired hasn't shown the home.
When I see this type of question, the one thing that I know for certain is that the homeowner did not understand the scope of the listing agent's mission.
In this article, I have information that shows fewer listing agents are selling their own listings, and moreover, fewer listing companies are selling their own listings, even from their pool of buyer agents.
So what does this mean to you if you are planning to sell a home?
The Real Skinny On Listing Agents
The following real estate graph measures the total number of home sales in Tallahassee that are sold by the listing office (blue) as well as though sold by the listing agent (red). The measurement is merely the percentage of all homes sold either by the company or the agent which procured the listing.
As the graph clearly shows, both trends are on the decline. Simply put:
- The buyer is procured from somebody other than the listing agent in five of every six homes sold
- The buyer is procured from a company other than the listing company in three out of every four homes sold
What This Means For Potential Home Sellers
Though it might be counter intuitive, these declining trends are good news for home sellers.
In fact, I would consider this an important question to ask a listing interview before you hire the real estate company and real estate agent that you think can get you top dollar in today's real estate market.
What percentage of your own listings do you sell? How about your company?
You see, agents love to sell their own listings, as do companies. But think of the numbers ...
There are more than 1,000 real estate agents in Tallahassee working with home buyers today. If a company has a superior online real estate marketing plan, then your home will be in front of all ready buyers within 4 days of hitting the market. The odds are overwhelmingly on the side of the offer coming from outside of the company. Unless:
- The company delays getting it exposed to everybody
- The agent does a poor job with the marketing plan
If they try to make it a pocket listing, then they have a better chance of working with both the buyer and you (the seller). What's the big deal?
Well, the more buyers that want your home, the higher the price it will fetch (imagine an auction environment). If your listing agent is bringing the only offer, you really have to wonder how well the home was exposed.
So the next time you have your home on the market and it is not selling, call your listing agent. Rather than ask her/him why they haven't shown the home, ask them why other agents are not bringing in offers. You'll solve the problem much faster this way.
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