Opposite Day At An Open House

It was Open House Opposite Day today. Like this homeowner's cat's super cool contrasting face and socks. 


Last weekend I had no one at the open I hosted for a listing agent. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I worked on a new story on my computer while staring at pretty yard flowers and trying not to fall asleep in the sun beams. Seriously. Not every open house is a slam dunk. Some are dud-ly. For many reasons. Just being honest. ;)  Or some are on Seafair weekend in Seattle, and everyone is watching jets and hyrdoplanes and parades instead of house hunting. #livenlearn

Today, however, I had people nonstop at my open house. Such a wildly opposite experience. Mostly because of how this house was priced. Which was awesome-affordable by Seattle's standards lately.

This is how you price a house by the way (pro tip moment here): You price it just a tad lower than what the market currently dictates. Why? Because you include way more buyers from the pool of lookers than if you out-price a bunch of them. Which means then that you draw more showings in which you let buyers all worry about the competition from other buyers that they can see with their own eyes is pouring in demanding the realtor's time and answers. I had a line at times today. A LINE. Of people wanting answers to questions. And they were all learning from one another's questions too. I felt like a prof in a lecture hall the couple days before the final, everyone wanting that little extra info or edge, everyone hanging around a bit to hear others' insightful questions. 

So here's a professorial visual aid about what I just taught you about pricing real estate....



If you get lots of buyers/showings by pricing a tad low, hopefully your seller client then gets many more resulting offers than if priced a tad high with few to no showings like the opposite experience I had at the open house the weekend before. And then let the competitive bidding and negotiations start once that maxed pool of potential buyers is interested! This, my friends, is the real secret of pricing your house to sell. As the seller, you don't want one buyer competing against you. You want many buyers competing against each other while you remove yourself from the fray. So next time you're selling a place, remember my tip. And don't assume realtors just want to under-price you to get rid of your house. Well...actually some realtors do just want to get rid of your house as fast as possible and get their check and go to happy hour. Some will even brag if they sell it the first day. But know if that's the case, because you're reading me and learning, that if you have a churn-n-turn, impatient or discount realtor, you may likely miss out on the competition days where the real profit is. 

I'm glad today was an opposite experience from last week even if I'm kinda fried from it haha. ;) I met some great people today - two of whom are fellow Illinois people who miss Portillo's Italian beef and deep dish pizza as much as me! So many coincidences in talking to this cool couple. It was a freaky-fun connect, one that I could not have made up if I tried! They even had connections to the exact area I grew up in the western burbs of Chicago! It can be totally mind-blowing the people you meet in this business. I am now going to make you look at a mouth-watering photo of Italian beefs because they're only the best sandwiches in the universe. 


Image result for portillos

In general, I like connecting with people more personally just by always being real with them, rather than fakey-we're-strangers-weird. Not everyone can deal with 'real' when you are a stranger to them who hasn't technically paid any relational rent yet (earned their trust), but most people I've found are actually very ok with 'real' and rather enjoy it partly just because they're surprised (fascinated?) by some stranger being all down-to-earth-comfortable with them. It's the most fun to get to that place with a stranger who you can tell totally did not see it coming and is a little more on the cool cuke/control-your-emotions side of life.  I like trying to get them to let their guard down even a little. Because of the small smile they can't help but smile. I like that kind of smile. I know, that's a little weird probably, but there's something all-good about those kinds of little moments of real connection. People need them. need them. So I'm going to keep it real with you whether you see it coming or not. 😍

Hope your day was good too. 






#BeginSomedayToday 
Call | Txt: 425-246-9456
Email: christinahyun@johnlscott.com

Comments

  1. Wish I'd had that tip when I sold my house! So glad you had a good showing.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! It was the most traffic I'd ever seen at an open house. :)

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