Yes this is a Buyer's market, but you can overcome this fact.
When you get ready to interview an agent, ask:
1) What the marketing plan is.
Are they putting 16 pictures in the MLS, doing a virtual tour, putting it out into the internet world, maybe an open house if you don't mind, an office agent tour etc...
2) Make sure that the comps for the home is in your area
3)Make sure the homes have sold within the last 6 months or sooner
4) Make sure the homes have about the same sq footage
5) Ask where the home is going to be adverized.
6)How often are they going to be in touch with you
7) Ask if you can get out of the contract if you're not happy with the realtor or if you just want to be done with trying to sell your home.
8) Be willing to lower the price if need be. Don't give your home away, but do realize that all homes sell if priced correctly and if the Buyers out there can find the home.

Hopefully this helps,
Gilda Baxter GRI, SRES

Hello again, Princess. As for your follow-up question, a well done CMA includes first finding homes that are comparable to the subject property in style, location, living space, etc., then calculates differences in beds, baths, finished vs gross space, lot size, and other factors to determine a suggested price.

Norberto Villanueva, Jr.,
Broker

The ART of Real Estate
admin@cosrealty.com
800-951-2919

Princess,
Sounds like you have gotten lots of good advice. There are four reasons a home does not sell and that is:
1. Location
2. Condition
3. Price
4. Bad Realtor
Location: if you are getting feedback such as the buyers don't like the lot size, busy street, crowded neighborhood, etc....You can not change the location so the only thing you can do is to adjust the price to compesate for the location.
Condition: if you continue to get negative feedback about the condition of the home such as needs carpet, paint, etc...your options are to fix these items or to adjust the price to compesate for the condition.
Price: If your home is not priced right for the market you miss out on the buyers that are looking in your area.
Most buyers/lenders will not pay more for a home then the market is saying the home is worth. After all you would not want to pay more for a home then it is worth would you? Keep in mind that when you do go under contract that the buyers lender not the buyer will order an appraisal. The appraiser will be looking for at least 3 homes that have sold within the past six months in your neighborhood. He will be comparing apples to apples. Two story to two story, rancher to rancher. Similar square footage and amenities. He will be looking for at least one of them to have sold at your contract price or close to it. When you are looking on Zillow and Trulia keep in mind that they lump all the sales together in your area (two stories, ranch, etc...) so you do not get a true and accurate value. When your agent does their CMA they are looking in the local MLS, County Assessors site and should be comparing apples to apples. It is important to price a home correctly especially the first few weeks when it goes on the market. When you price it higher then the suggested price you miss out on the most important first few weeks of marketing just to test your higher price and you miss out on the potential buyers that would have been in your price range.
Bad Realtor: Communication is essential. With that said it sounds like you made the right move in expressing your concern with your agent. As stated in a previous answer with over 3000 agents in Colorado Springs the chances of the listing agent actually bringing the buyer is slim. Most likely it will be a different agent. So as far as the listing agent not showing the property much is common. In todays market if you are not getting any showings it is probably because of price. Homes are selling in Colorado Springs and sells are up. But a home must be priced right for todays market.
I'm sure if you communicate your concerns to your agent they will be willing to ratify any concerns you may have. The best of luck to you. God Bless,
Pamela Weatherford
Keller Williams Hope Realty
719.661.8672-C
719.749.2738-H
pamelashomes@dishmail.net
Soli Deo Gloria

Princess Heart-
First, i would have a meeting with your agent and review the marketing plan in place and express your concerns about the lack of communication.
With that said, higher end homes are taking a long time to sell. Consider this...If you were a buyer awitha bucket of $ today, would your home be the best deal with the most upgrades in the area (not just the neighborhood). If you have only had a few showings, then your price is too high. When an agent looks at the options in MLS to show the VERY few buyer's available, they choose to show other homes. Your home should be the nicest home out there if you would like to sell.
I would not guess that changing agents will change much until the price is adjusted.
The good news is...when you go out to buy your replacement home, perhaps you will get the best home for the best price with your bucket of $$$

Best of luck.
Hang in there!
Kimberly Ryan
303-523-8333

Thanks to all of you that have answered! I guess things just aren't happening as quickly as we thought they would. As the sellers, we are not really in a position to HAVE to sell, so maybe thats part of the reason? Although, we have taken our realtors advice on pricing, curb apeal, staging, etc.

Guess it's just the market! But I did contact him this evening to express in a very nice way, how I felt about the communication issue.

Thank you all!

Oh, one more thing...how the heck can you do a CMA when you have made made upgrades to your home vs others in the neighborhood? We have 5 bedrooms (possible 6), where others have 3-4. Any suggestions would be nice.

Thanks!

My Team doesn't work in your area but here's a list of marketing things that we do, you might see if your home is being marketed in every possible way. Put in the MLS with all items filled in...some homes are listed without having map and section listed or the location of the bedrooms or size of dining room, etc. Most Buyers are very specific about things they want in their home, if your home has a main floor master and it's not listed they may assume it doesn't have it and not pay any attention to it. Of course being on every imaginable website is extremely important. Marketing on craigslist has paid off for me, I put an open house on craigslist and the buyer was waiting in front of the house for me to open up during heavy rain. Speaking of open houses, statistics say homes don't sell through open houses it's just a way for the Realtor to meet more people. While meeting lots of potential Buyers and Sellers at open houses, my Team has directly Sold quite a few homes from open houses. Sometimes you don't even realize where the Buyers came from until you're at the closing table. They or their friends come through the open house and then the Buyer comes back with their own Realtor and makes the offer. Depending on your location...open houses can be huge. Advertising on Comcast channel 888 has also been very successful for our Team, think of the numbers of people who flip through the channels, see your home and then want to see it or know someone that they tell to look at it. Also, you want to find out which company is bringing in the most relocation buyers (out of state buyers). Knowing the neighborhood and where Buyers are moving up from is important, sending just listed cards to the neighborhood most people are coming from works. The property should be presented at your local Board of Realtors and at you Realtors office. The ones our Team markets at, puts the house flyer on a big screen and we get a minute to tell about the house, then the flyer is distributed to everyone at the meeting, Realtors from many different companies...yes we've directly Sold homes this way too. Having a Realtor with a good leadrouter system is important, with ours whenever someone requests more information on our listings, my cell phone rings immediately so that I can instantly give the interested buyer all information needed. A lot of phone calls and online inquiries still go to an agent back at the Agents office. Someone could pick up the phone that's never been in the listing...I don't want that to happen. You know it's not just one thing that sells a house, it's everything. However, if you're priced to high nothing will get it Sold. What you owe on the house means nothing to the Buyer. They're out there looking and they know what they can get for their money. Also if it's priced too high and someone just happens to come along and want to pay too much chances are their lenders not going to let them pay too much anymore. I am sorry to write a book, it's just a Great subject!

I hope your home sells soon and that you do get a fair price for it,

Sandy Kinslow
The Kinslow Team
Coldwell Banker
Greenwood Village, CO 80111

Hi Princess Heart :o)

First off, it would be inappropriate and a violation of the Realtor Code of Ethics for one Realtor to talk down about another, especially without full knowledge of the situation. So, I won't be addressing your feelings about the Realtor you are working with currently, however I will be happy to provide some general feedback and my philosophy.

That said, 90 to 120 days is currently the average time on the market currently in many areas of Colorado Springs, so it's difficult to determine whether this is abnormal for your area without knowing where you are located.

About 98% of all listed homes in the Pikes Peak Region are sold through cooperation with another Realtor which required the Listing(or Seller's Agent) to pay the cooperating Buyer's agent who brings the buyer to the transaction from their listing commission. While most Realtors like selling a property to a buyer they find because handling both sides of the transaction as a Transaction Broker usually allows them to keep more of the commission for handling both sides, only about 2% of the time will they be able to do so without keeping the listing as a pocket listing...which drastically hurts your chances of selling by keeping the property out of the most important marketing avenues...including the MLS.

The most important thing from the get go is making certain you price is right for the market considering the condition location and amenities of your property. Price reductions after the fact can sometimes help, but by the time a price reduction takes place the listing is often considered "stale".

Most people have a high opinion of their homes because it's their home. A good Realtor will help you see it as a PROPERTY...an Investment...help you divorce the emotion from selling your home. The worst thing you can do when interviewing a Realtor to list your home is go with the one who gives you simply the highest opinion of what you can sell it for. You should look at their total marketing package and their past successes. Do they provide you with verifiable testimonials? Are they willing to give you past clients you can contact about their service?

While very few Realtors are Appraisers, in pricing the property the method the Realtor uses to help you price your property correctly for the market is VITAL to your success.
How much continuing education does the Realtor have? This will tell you if they treat being a Realtor as a profession. Ask if the Realtor taken any appraisal classes or in comparable valuation methodology.

Speaking For myself, The most I have been off from an appraisal on a property is $5,000, but it's important to remember that a Comparable Analysis and an Appraisal are simply educated opinions of a property value based on recent historical sales trends for similar properties. Appraisals generally involve much more analysis than a CMA, but a proficient Realtor will use much of the same methodology.

If you are priced right for the market considering your property location, condition, and amenities AND the property is aggressively marketed with numerous pictures a virtual tour and wide distribution throughout the internet and other avenues, then your property should show and should sell within a reasonable amount of time.

You should be receiving regular communications and updates from your Realtor and if you are not them you should have a conversation with them about what you expect. You shouldn't feel like once the property is listed you are just left hanging.

I hope this helps and Good Luck!

Best Regards
Brian L. A. Wess
CRS, GRI, ABR, ASR, CSR, e-PRO
Realtor®, Broker Associate
Residential & Investment Specialist
Pat Newell & Associates, Inc - Metro Brokers
Colorado Springs, CO
Direct: 719-528-6672
Web: BrianWess.com
COLORADO REAL ESTATE...DONE RIGHT!™

Voted "Best Realtor in Colorado Springs" 2006 & 2008
The Independent News Readers Poll: Gold 2006, Silver 2008

Yes, it is the seller's agents job to help the seller sell their property...operative term being help. After proper consultation with the seller, usually the best a broker can do is to adequately market the property to generate the interest of qualified buyers and/or other brokers. Yet marketing dollars may be hard to come by, especially in a slow economy, and a broker's commission is often split many ways. In fact, and particularly with higher end homes, many brokers build extra marketing costs into their listing contract to mitigate these costs.

There are so many factors that affect how fast a home sells, Princess. And where a home that is priced right will often sell itself, the adage that price is everything isnt always the catch-all to end all.

Ask yourself the following:

1. What is my motivation to sell? - Distressed sale situations, such as a foreclosure, divorce, death, etc impose a different set of pressures to sell than do, say, the "I'm down or upsizing", "no rush, just because" seller. The former demands one sell now, which usually means aggressive pricing, where the latter might make one set a price too high either due to low motivation or a higher cash need.

2. Is my property priced right, or is it too high, low in comparison to others like it around me? - Remember that too low a price oftens raises the suspicion of would be buyers..is there "something wrong with it?" just as too high a price might scare many away.

3. What is my curb appeal? - Go out to the street and look at your home with a critical eye; like a potential buyer would. Reasonably address things you may not like as a buyer, price your property accordingly, or be prepared to negotiate with a savvy one.

4. What is the inside of my home like? - I can't tell you how many buyers, strapped for cash, financing, or whatever the case maybe, who are like land mammals out of water because the home is smelly, moldy, needs a paint job, whatever, no matter how affordable it may be.

5. Can I offer any seller financing or concessions? - This can be a big one! Many sellers want or need cash or equivalent financing, in hand. This is fine, but there are many would be buyers who want to but can't buy right now, especially in a tightened mortgage market, and such sellers limit their potential buyer pool. On the other hand, financing options expand the potential buyer pool, making all the difference in the world for these buyers. So when a seller can offer to carry a note, contribute to closing costs, etc. they stand out from the pack and thereby expand their pool of potential buyers. And if cash in hand is the issue, when done properly the note created can often be sold immediately if not shortly after the sale, and you may be able to fit the seller concessions into the sales price.

Hope this helps, Princess! And good luck!

Norberto Villanueva, Jr.,
Broker

The ART of Real Estate
admin@cosrealty.com

I wouldn't hold it against your realtor if he/she hasn't shown the home. Your realtor definitely should be marketing the home, though, with good looking COLOR flyers, open houses with local and online ads about them, definitely more than 4 photos on realtor.com. Ideally, communication should be the key as well with at least one phone call/week from your realtor with a recap of the last week and the plan for the next week. Your realtor should also keep an eye on --and inform you of--the current comps.

There is nothing wrong with switching agents.

By the way, make sure the home has been professionally staged in the first place, or at leat have a professional staging consultation. THEN take the photos for the marketing of the home.

When I look at Zillow or Trulia, there doesn't really seem to be anything compareable. How compareable do you get when looking at them? We have updates, other homes dont. We orginally listed it higher than what was suggested, but then reduced it to what they suggested.

As common sense has told me, when someone makes an offer on a home, they generally ask for something lower than what you have it listed for. So that was our thinking. We had several showings the first 2 weeks. Then we were asked to reduce the price to what our realtor thought we would sell the home for. Hey, it's his livelyhood, he knows best what to do. So we reduced the price.

My question to our realtor was, ok now what do we do when someone comes along and wants to negotiate...we don't really have any room to do that now. He said we wouldn't need to worry about that, as it would be priced right for the area after doing a CMA. We dropped it about 10K.

The thing that is most troubling is the lack of communication. It is possible that the realtor is doing all they can but is afraid to be honest with you.

When all else is being done, and there isn't quality showings, then price is the bottom line. I try and show my own listings as much as possible but the law of numbers will show that most of the showings will come from other agents. There are approx 3000 agent in the Springs. If only 1% have a buyer in your price range, that is still 30 to 1. So I wouldnt be too upset at him/her not showing it themselves more than once.

As far as a company, I do think that matters. I am a proud member of the number 1 company in town (no matter how someone plays with the numbers)

Having said that, I think your situation is more of a lack of communication. It sounds like you are overpriced. It could just be just a "little" overpriced-but today, that still matters. Your best bet is to always have a Realtor that is honest with you and communicates on a regular basis.

Good Luck.\Chuck

I would first look at the price of the home compared to comps. Is it truely priced right?

I know some owners would like a certain price but the market sets the price of what it is really worth. The best realtor in the world can not sell $1 for $1.50 to someone regardless of how nice it is.

If it is, then you have a marketing issue. Hold open houses? I dont like having them a lot but one or two when it hits the market is good. Also does it show well? Have any pictures to share with us?

Where are they marketing it other than the MLS, trulia?


Sean