Why Are Real Estate Agents Misleading Sellers On Market Value of Their Homes and Condos?

CHESTERFIELD TWP, Mich. - Nov. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- While a Real Estate agent telling a seller an unrealistic value for their home is as old as the whole business of selling Real Estate, it becomes more prevalent when you see markets showing some signs of improvement.

When home inventory levels start to drop and there is any kind of positive news in the Real Estate world, Realtors will prey on unsuspecting home sellers who are ripe to believe just about anything they hear.

When there are fewer homes for sale it is always a good thing for those that are considering selling their home. It is simple economics of supply vs demand. When inventory rises prices come down. When they go down the opposite occurs. The problem is Real Estate values do not change overnight. This is especially true when going from what would be best be described as a “buyer’s market” back to a “seller’s market”. Markets change gradually as market forces change.

Right now in the Macomb County area inventory levels have dropped to their lowest levels in years. There are Realtors who have buyers but there are just so few properties for buyers to choose from at the moment. Getting a new listing to sell is a treasure for a Realtor in this kind of environment.

In destination towns like Macomb Township, Chesterfield Township and New Baltimore a nice home, priced properly, that comes on the market in a popular neighborhood could easily have multiple bids. This of course is great for the agent who is listing the property. Who wouldn’t want to have buyer’s fighting over a listing? A seller certainly would be pleased as they are more than likely going to get close to their asking price or even possible over it!

Why Lower Home Inventory Equals Over-Pricing

Even though I specialize in working with home sellers, this type of market is actually one that brings about situations I do not particularly enjoy. While getting multiple bids on my client’s homes is something I would never ever complain about, there are other aspects of a better Real Estate market that can be real troublesome.

At the first sign of an improving Real Estate market you will get Realtors who will start giving seller’s values not based on comparable sales data but their opinion of what someone will be willing to pay because there are no other houses around for them to look at! This is a real dangerous game that almost always ends up disastrous for a seller. Improperly pricing a home or condo  coming out of the gate is one of the worst things you can do because it is real hard to recover from.

Just recently I had a Real Estate interview with someone who was going to be selling their home. They had three other Realtors besides I come in and evaluate the market value of their home. You would expect there would be differing opinions on value as it is not an exact science. Frankly in my experience it is not all that uncommon to see values given by Realtors to vary by $25,000 on any given home.

Obviously if you are selling your home that is quite a bit of a difference of money going into your pocket. If you are a seller you never want to leave money on the table. I certainly get that! What if I told you the value given by the Realtors interviewed varied from low to high by $75,000! Yes you read that correctly.

In this particular instance I happened to come in with the lowest value of the four agents. Fortunately for me the seller was very astute. They have been following the local Real Estate market very closely and before they ever met with a Realtor had a general idea of what the value of their home was in this market. They were looking for validation and could see by the data that I provided where the value of their home stood.

The other agents had the same data but instead of looking at it objectively they decided to tell the seller something they thought the seller would want to hear. This is called “buying a listing” in Real Estate circles. It is one of the oldest tricks in the book and very unprofessional for a Real Estate agent to do. In fact is against our code of ethics but unfortunately it happens all the time.

If you are an ethical Realtor this is one of the most frustrating parts of the business. Part of our job when asked by a seller to provide a market evaluation is to be honest and not mislead them on the value. When a Real Estate agent has little or no business they often times become desperate. Saying and doing things they shouldn’t become more common place. Selling your soul to the devil I guess.

Often times a seller will choose an agent based on the fact they don’t have a lot of business thinking they will get better service. The rationale is that the busy agent won’t have enough time for them. Rarely is this the case. Great agents who do an outstanding business have systems in place that allow them to sell numerous homes. There is a reason why people continue to hire them over and over again. Track records mean a ton in Real Estate!

A Realtor that has no business doesn’t for a reason! It is not sound logic to pick the person nobody else is hiring because they will do a great job for you. It doesn’t work that way. It is no different than wanting to have the best lawyer representing you if you happen to be accused of something you didn’t do. Hmmm let me hire Bob the lawyer because he has very little business. I am sure he will do a great job. Why is it that Real Estate seems to be the only business where people equate a Realtor having all the time in the world on their hands as a good thing?
Don’t just settle for a standard comparative market analysis or estimates from online sites using out of date inaccurate data. Get a Professional broker price opinion of value from your local Macomb County experienced associate broker with 27 years of experience and a licensed State of Michigan Valuation Specialist.

It just makes sense, wouldn’t you agree?

Enter your information on the form at http://www.mymihomevalue.com and we’ll get started.

Call Rick Giese associate broker at RE/MAX Advisors, also licensed Valuation Specialist in the State of Michigan. You can reach Rick at 586-242-3100 or rick@rickgiese.com