2015 How To Sell Your Listing- The “Sheeple” Syndrome

Here’s the Scenario, you have a seller that has entrusted you with the sale of their home. You agreed to take the listing even though you believe the seller insisted that you offer their property at a price that is too high. You’ve taken great photography, developed a strong marketing campaign, and have spent both time and money marketing the property and attending showings.

With most real estate markets experiencing strong buying activity, the scenario above is all too common for many agents. So, what should the next step be for the listing agent?  Consider the following:

1. It’s highly unlikely the property is going to sell anytime soon at its present price, so the first order of business should be reduce the price to where it should be. So, ask yourself, “Is the next step that I take going to be the best step to get the sellers to reduce their price?”
2. Recognize that most people, especially stubborn people, learn through spaced-repetition. This means that presenting data to substantiate or validate a price reduction, isn’t enough.  It’s not just having a strong argument one time that does the trick, rather, it’s having multiple communications over time, (ergo the term “spaced-repetition”), with good information that will eventually help your sellers become more realistic about pricing.  So, remember to be patient. After all, it’s not you that has to come to grips with making far less on the sale of the home.
3. All evidence that justifies the lower price should be verified in writing and presented to your sellers.  This information could include: comments from other agents at a Broker’s Open House, lack of showings to prospective buyers, low-ball offers from interested buyers, new listings in the neighborhood that are introduced to the market, and closings that transpire from comparable properties, that sell for less.

Despite a mounting list of evidence that supports your theory that the price should be lowered, you sellers may still want to hold out. Before the listing sits on the market for too long compared to other homes that have sold, introduce the concept that “old worn out listings, never sell”, by using the following dialogue:

Mr. & Mrs. Seller, I’m concerned that you’re going to find it more and more difficult to get the best prices for your home if it doesn’t sell soon. You see, when a home sits on the market for too long, people that see it and like it, begin to wonder why no one else has bought it yet. They automatically think that they must have overlooked something that is wrong with the home. We call this the Sheeple Syndrome, because people don’t trust their own judgment, so they look to others.”

By sharing this concern, you’re planting a seed in the mind of your sellers that can help motivate them to minimize the risk of their home becoming stale because it has been on the market for far too long.