Saturday, February 4, 2023
Chuck Marunde, J.D., Broker/Owner 360-775-5424


iRealty Virtual Brokers


Broker/Consultant

Washington State

SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Search MLS
    • Sequim MLS
    • Sequim MLS Map Search
    • Port Angeles MLS
    • Port Townsend MLS
    • San Juan Islands MLS
    • All Islands MLS
    • How to Search the Sequim MLS
  • Videos
    • Sequim Videos Q&A
    • Buyer Videos Part 1
    • Buyer Videos Part 2
    • Buyer Videos Part 3
    • Buyer Videos Part 4
    • Living in Sequim Video Channel
  • Books
    The Coming Real Estate Crash

    The Coming Real Estate Crash

    The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

    The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

    Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

    Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

    Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

    Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

    Get Healthy

    Get Healthy: Increase Natural Immunities, Cellular Energy, Deep Sleep & Decrease Blood Pressure

    Manage Your Energy

    Manage Your Energy Not Your Time

    Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

    Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

    7 Myths of Selling Your Home

    7 Myths of Selling Your Home

    Buying Your Retirement Home

    Buying Your Retirement Home

    The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

    The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

    Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

    Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

    24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

    24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

    Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

    Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

    Living Off The Grid iin Alaska

    Living Off The Grid in Alaska

    Buying and Selling Real Estate

    Buying and Selling Real Estate

    Trending Tags

      • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
      • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
      • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
      • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
      • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
      • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
      • Buying Your Retirement Home
      • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
    • Agents
      Marunde Google

      Chuck Marunde on Google

      Flat Fee Listing Broker

      Flat Fee Listing Broker

      Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde

      Buyer’s Agent Chuck Marunde

      Trending Tags

        • Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde
        • Flat Fee Listing Broker
        • Google Profile & Leave Reviews
      Tetralogy
      No Result
      View All Result
      • Login
      • Register
      • Home
      • Search MLS
        • Sequim MLS
        • Sequim MLS Map Search
        • Port Angeles MLS
        • Port Townsend MLS
        • San Juan Islands MLS
        • All Islands MLS
        • How to Search the Sequim MLS
      • Videos
        • Sequim Videos Q&A
        • Buyer Videos Part 1
        • Buyer Videos Part 2
        • Buyer Videos Part 3
        • Buyer Videos Part 4
        • Living in Sequim Video Channel
      • Books
        The Coming Real Estate Crash

        The Coming Real Estate Crash

        The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

        The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

        Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

        Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

        Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

        Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

        Get Healthy

        Get Healthy: Increase Natural Immunities, Cellular Energy, Deep Sleep & Decrease Blood Pressure

        Manage Your Energy

        Manage Your Energy Not Your Time

        Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

        Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

        7 Myths of Selling Your Home

        7 Myths of Selling Your Home

        Buying Your Retirement Home

        Buying Your Retirement Home

        The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

        The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

        Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

        Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

        24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

        24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

        Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

        Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

        Living Off The Grid iin Alaska

        Living Off The Grid in Alaska

        Buying and Selling Real Estate

        Buying and Selling Real Estate

        Trending Tags

          • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
          • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
          • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
          • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
          • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
          • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
          • Buying Your Retirement Home
          • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
        • Agents
          Marunde Google

          Chuck Marunde on Google

          Flat Fee Listing Broker

          Flat Fee Listing Broker

          Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde

          Buyer’s Agent Chuck Marunde

          Trending Tags

            • Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde
            • Flat Fee Listing Broker
            • Google Profile & Leave Reviews
          No Result
          View All Result
          iRealty Virtual Brokers
          No Result
          View All Result
          Home How to Sell a Home

          Listing Homes for Sale From a Realtor’s Perspective

          Chuck Marunde by Chuck Marunde
          October 6, 2008
          Reading Time: 5 mins read
          0 0
          1

          Home SellersWe know home sellers are frustrated because their homes are not selling, because there are so few buyers right now.     We know many sellers have reduced their listing price once, twice, and sometimes several times.   And yet many homes remain unsold.   It’s as though buyers are just not showing up, which they aren’t.   None of this is front page news anymore.     We read everyday in the newspapers what sellers are going through: the stress, the financial strain, the uncertainty, and for some a foreclosure if the home doesn’t sell fast.

          But what is it like for Realtors?   If you read my blog often, you know that I like to tell my readers the truth.   Of course, what I write is colored by my limited knowledge and experiences, just like everyone else.   But my readers constantly express their appreciation for my open writing, honest expressions of the challenges home sellers and home buyers face, and for insights they often do not get from others.   By the way, I do get some heat periodically from other real estate agents in the area and from newspaper publishers, so I must be doing something right.   After all, I’m not writing here to make other professionals like me.   I hope they do.   I’m a sensitive person.     I do write to help my clients and to help others who are buying and selling real estate.   That would be you.

          The question today is what is it like from a real estate agent’s perspective to have many listings in this market?

          An agent can only manage so many listings at one time, because of all the administrative work associated with each listing, and because of the level of customer service required to keep each client satisfied.   How many listings can an agent manage practically?   You’ll hear different numbers, but an agent can effectively manage a dozen listings, plus or minus.   That number could be increased to two or three dozen, provided the agent has one or two assistants.   But there is much more to the story.  

          Listing a property, getting it in the MLS and broadcasting it in a number of key locations on the Internet, maintaining a website and a blog to connect with buyers from outside the area, putting together an advertising campaign, having a CRM (customer relationship management) system in place to effectively manage the calendar and communications with clients, and handling all the regulatory requirements for paperwork and files–these are time consuming and a lot of work.   Clients probably don’t generally comprehend how much work there is behind the scenes, and as agents, we really don’t have a forum to explain in great detail how all of these things work to the clients.   We can give our clients a brief summary of what we do, but they really don’t want a two hour explanation, and let’s face it, they don’t need to know.   These things are the agent’s responsibility.   But having said all of this, this is NOT where the boondoggle is.   In other words, as much work as all of this is, this is not the greatest limiting factor as to how many listings an agent can handle.   What is?

          The greatest challenge an agent has today in this real etate market, the most difficult market in decades, is managing client expectations.

          Many listing clients today are freaking out.   It is totally understandable.   This is not by any means a judgmental statement.   We are in the worst economic crisis any of us have seen in this generation.   People are worried their entire retirement fund is going to crash with the stock market.   The majority of Americans refinanced their homes, their rentals, their businesses, and now the burden of mortgage debt is killing them.   This is America.   Almost everyone is in this situation.   Foreclosure is a topic of discussion for almost everyone today.

          What this means for the real estate agent is that he cannot handle the large number of listings he might handle in a normal market.   Today I would estimate that six high maintenance clients are going to consume a great deal of an agent’s time during the week.   Here’s the problem.   Because so few buyers are showing up, if an agent wants to be selling his listings, he better have 50 or more listings to sell   just one every third month.   That is totally unmanageable today.   Of course, listings help the phone ring, so there is more to this than just selling the listed home.

          While we all understand and appreciate the fact that home sellers are stressed out, a traditional real estate agent working with many listings is also going to be stressed out.   Clients often don’t realize it, but an agent spends a lot of money and time during a listing.   I would estimate that between my actual expenses (both fixed and variable), and an hourly rate at minimum wage, each of my listings costs me between $3,000 and $10,000.   In a healthy market when listings sold within 90 days, those numbers would be much smaller, but in today’s market when listings are on the market for a minimum of six to nine months, and more likely one year to two years, these numbers may be low.

          What’s the answer to all of this?   Believe me I’ve been thinking long and hard about this.   Everything is changing.   We are living in different times.   Selling real estate has dramatically changed in these past few years.   Newspapers and magazines have lost their dominant power to sell real estate.   Everyone knows this, including home sellers and agents.   Over 80% of Americans start their search for real estate on the Internet.   Foreclosures are flooding the markets.   The credit crunch is killing buyers, and there are few buyers out there right now anyway.   We are in the beginning of what may be a national depression.   Does anyone think that selling real estate should be business as usual?

          Home sellers need to hire real estate agents who are knowledgeable and experienced, but then they need to let their agents do their jobs.   A home seller who has no confidence in their agent should retain an agent in whom they do have confidence.   Hire the professional and let them do their job.   But a home seller must listen to their agent, too.   A home seller must honestly and humbly solicit their agent’s real opinion about what it would take to sell their home in this market.   What is the real FMV (fair market value), not the price we would love to get.   What is the price a buyer would actually pay right now?   Overpricing is a killer, and it is a waste of time for all of us.

          It’s hard work to sell a home right now.   If ever there was a need for professional experience in selling, that time is now.   I strongly recommend using a Realtor, whether it is me or another Realtor.   This is not a time for experimenting as a FSBO, unless you have extraordinary skills and knowledge in all the required areas to efficiently connect with buyers and get the deal done.

          Last Updated on October 6, 2008 by Chuck Marunde

          Tags: listing homes for sale
          ShareTweet
          Chuck Marunde

          Chuck Marunde

          Chuck grew up in remote Alaska, graduated from the University of Alaska with a degree in Economics and Teacher Certification, and after teaching high school for two years, went to law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He served four years as a Captain and JAG in the USAF at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. After practicing real estate law for 20 years in Washington, Chuck founded iRealty Virtual Brokers covering Sequim and the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. He is the author of 2,200 real estate articles and a dozen real estate books, and he produced over 100 real estate videos. Chuck combined his love for real estate and technology to create a massive Internet presence, and his articles and videos and books have been viewed by millions. Chuck is a well recognized real estate expert and his counsel is sought by other brokers and practicing attorneys around the country. Buyers from New York to Hawaii and from Florida to Alaska seek him out to retain him as their buyer's agent, and home owners around the State of Washington seek him out because of his new Flat Fee Listing Service. 

          Related Posts

          How to Sell a Home

          The Double Contingency

          September 7, 2019
          91
          How do I Sell My Home
          How to Sell a Home

          How to Sell My Home and 7 Myths of Selling a Home

          September 27, 2019
          0
          How to Sell a Home

          Luck is Not a Good Strategy

          August 27, 2012
          12
          How to Sell a Home

          How to Sell Your Home in This Market

          August 6, 2012
          1
          How to Sell a Home

          How to Price a Home for Sale

          October 17, 2011
          0
          Next Post

          Homes Sold in Sequim and Port Angeles in September

          Buyer's Market and Cash is King

          Comments 1

          1. Jason Houghton says:
            14 years ago

            This is a very tough time indeed for selling a home. Realtors need to take advantage of all the tools at their disposal to reach out to broader markets to have a good chance to sell their homes now.

            It’s not like 2-3 years ago when homes were flying on and then right off the market, being snatched up as the market for homes was going up up up. It was a good time to upgrade, a good time to buy a home as an investment as home prices continued their march ever upward.

            But now we’ve seen empirical evidence that housing prices are steadily dropping. The national average saw it’s first drop in home prices across the US in a very long time in July ’08 – I just came across this great article with a chart and statistics from the National Assoiciation of Realtors of home values in the US since 1968: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3675699/US-National-Association-of-Realtor-Statistics-19682008-Median-Price-on-Home-Sales-62508.

            And as the financial crisis affects more and more Americans and as the credit crunch and banks tightening up lending continues – less and less Americans will be able to afford new home purchases and will stay put.

            But remember, there are always homes being bought and sold. People relocate, families grow and need larger homes…there is a natural progression that will keep homes being sold. Savvy Realtors will be smart and continue to work hard to sell the homes they can. There are tools out there for them to be more productive and efficient. As you said, people are using the internet to search, and effective Realtors will embrace every possible angle for marketing their homes, especially in challenging times like we are facing now.

            Reply

          Leave a Reply Cancel reply

          Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

          I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

          This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

          "I wish I read this before selling my
          home. I could have saved $50,000." Andy 

          Search 2,200 Articles by Category

          • Trending
          • Comments
          • Latest
          Buyer and Seller

          What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

          August 5, 2022
          Prorate Propane

          How to Prorate Propane at Closing

          August 15, 2015
          Terminate a real estate contract

          How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

          December 31, 2020

          The Sequim Blue Hole – A Map of Rainfall

          September 1, 2019
          print newspapers

          Print Newspapers Losing Readers to the Internet

          42
          Buyer and Seller

          What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

          32
          FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

          FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

          31

          What Documents Does a Buyer Need to Buy Real Estate?

          24
          Sequim real estate market

          Sequim Real Estate Market: Annual Review for 2022

          February 2, 2023
          Seattle Real Estate Market in Decline

          Seattle Real Estate Market in Dramatic Decline

          December 22, 2022
          Buying a home

          Buyers Must Be More Cautious Than Ever

          December 7, 2022
          Flat Fee Listing Service

          Sellers Chase the Market Down Once Again

          December 10, 2022

          Subscribe to Chuck 
          Marunde's Newsletter

          Popular Stories

          • Buyer and Seller

            What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • How to Prorate Propane at Closing

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • The Sequim Blue Hole – A Map of Rainfall

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • Why is Sequim One Of The 10 Best Places To Retire?

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0

          Leaving Comments   I hope you’ll join our community and leave comments from time to time. Please realize that comments, if approved, will be public, so do not use any personal information you don’t want broadcast to the world, and definitely don’t leave a phone number. Comments are not the place to ask Chuck Marunde for help in finding a home. To do that, call or text Chuck.

          Neither Chuck Marunde nor iRealty Virtual Brokers offers legal advice on this site. Please Read Our Legal Disclaimer

          If you’d like to view how we protect your privacy, see our Privacy Policy.

          iRealty Virtual Brokers

          iRealty Virtual Brokers reaches out to buyers around the United States with thousands of online articles, MLS sites, apps, real estate books, videos, and much more specifically to help buyers find all the answers to their questions. We also now offer a flat fee commission listing service that saves sellers tens of thousands of dollars.

          iRealty Virtual Brokers
          125 Olympic Ranch Ln
          Sequim, Washington 98382
          360-775-5424

          Search the entire NWMLS in Washington State:

          Sequim-Homes.com

          The largest independent real estate blog in the State of Washington with over 2,200 articles totally focused on our client’s best interest, their needs and their curiosity. All free and 100% reliable. I’m here if you need me, 

          © 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

          No Result
          View All Result
          • Home
          • Search MLS
            • Sequim MLS
            • Sequim MLS Map Search
            • Port Angeles MLS
            • Port Townsend MLS
            • San Juan Islands MLS
            • All Islands MLS
            • How to Search the Sequim MLS
          • Videos
            • Sequim Videos Q&A
            • Buyer Videos Part 1
            • Buyer Videos Part 2
            • Buyer Videos Part 3
            • Buyer Videos Part 4
            • Living in Sequim Video Channel
          • Books
            • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
            • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
            • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
            • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
            • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
            • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
            • Buying Your Retirement Home
            • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
          • Agents
            • Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde
            • Flat Fee Listing Broker
            • Google Profile & Leave Reviews
          • Login
          • Sign Up

          © 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

          Welcome Back!

          Login to your account below

          Forgotten Password? Sign Up

          Create New Account!

          Fill the forms bellow to register

          *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
          All fields are required. Log In

          Retrieve your password

          Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

          Log In
          This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.