Serving Veterans in El Paso Texas
Posted by John Peña on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 11:03:46 AM
By John Peña / February 15, 2023
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I wanted to share a truly unbelievable story about our recent experience on a new listing. A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted by the daughter-in-law of a Vietnam veteran who was looking to sell his home of 27 years. This gentleman had recently lost his wife and was looking to move closer to family.
The owner contacted several real estate agents to interview and hire the best one. One of the realtors he interviewed was a well-known agent who has been in business for a long time. Now, this is where the story takes a horrible twist!
This agent informed the owner that he should sell the home for $280,000. After closing costs, including the commission, the seller would gross roughly $262,000.
Fortunately for this homeowner, his daughter-in-law encouraged him to reach out to us (she was familiar with our YouTube channel and felt we could do better by the homeowner).
After researching the necessary data to price the home accurately, we met with the homeowner and recommended an asking price between $340,000 - $345,000. The homeowner decided to list the home for $345,000.
Like we always do, we captured great home photos and put together a great listing video. Additionally, we spent our marketing dollars to promote the listing to ensure that the property received as many views as possible.
Within the first five days of the listing going Active, we had the home under contract for the full asking price of $345,000 with a conventional buyer with a substantial down payment.
Assuming the current contract closes, this homeowner looks to gross roughly $323,000. This is a difference of $61,000 had the seller gone with the other agent who suggested he sell the home for $280,000.
In our humble opinion, this is an astonishing case of a real estate agent doing a HUGE disservice to a homeowner.
Now, one can only speculate WHY this other agent wanted to sell the home for so much less, but speculate I will! This agent likely had no desire or intention to WORK for the homeowner. By work, I mean putting together excellent marketing materials, spending money on advertising, holding open houses, and hustling to follow up with buyer leads.
It is fair to say that this agent was hoping to sell the home quickly because it was drastically underpriced. This would ensure that the agent wouldn't need to spend any time, effort, or money to promote the listing. In this case, the agent would have collected a quick commission, and the homeowner would have left over $60,000 on the table.
In conclusion, this really bothered me. The fact that an agent would treat a homeowner, a war veteran no less, so poorly, is absolutely disgusting. It is also a great example of why many people mistrust real estate agents and liken them to used car salesmen.
We are so thankful that this gentleman's daughter-in-law reached out to us. We hope you will do the same when the time comes to consider selling your home.
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