If it sounds too good to be true….
If it sounds too good to be true….
I recently researched a listing for a longtime client. The property is now listed as having 1.6 acres. When I checked all of historical data on the property, everything shows the property is actually .78 acres.
I pulled the tax records and found the survey of the lot. It is an unusual shape but with an engineering background it was simple to calculate the acreage. All of the prior listings were correct and the current listing inflates the size of the lot.
We decided to pass on the property but are ashamed for the realtor who inflated the size of the property.
This same realtor advertises heavily indicating that they sell the most and have the best marketing plan of any Huntsville area realtor. They offer to buy the house if they aren’t able to sell the house. It sounds great and gets the realtor’s phone ringing but it is an old trick.
I just took over a listing of this realtor that didn’t sell. The owner indicated that the realtor would buy the house but at an insultingly low price.
We have seen realtors who laud themselves above all others before. Paying for ads where they say they are best and often cite data that would make Enron accountants blush.
Selling property is not magic or dependant on the charisma of the realtor. Selling property is a simple matter of properly pricing a property, making sure it is in it’s best possible condition and putting the property in front of enough buyers.
Regardless of how wonderful a realtor says their marketing plan is, the National Association of Realtors indicate that most realtor listed properties sell as a result of the MLS. That the listing realtor posts the listing on MLS and the buyer’s realtor finds the listing and presents it to their buyer. To a lesser degree the public can find properties through the public access MLS and other online resources.
In summary don’t be taken in by the self promotion of Realtors who are willing to skew data and present half truths to entice you to sign a listing agreement. These sale realtors have poor reputations in the local Huntsville real estate community and other realtors avoid showing their houses if possible, knowing their reputations. These realtors often misrepresent themselves and the houses they market. While in the short term they may generate more sales of Huntsville houses. In the long term their clients will suffer and untimely their business fail.
We just saw a huger Commercial Space Available for Lease on the former offices of a local realtor who had a reputation for cutting corners and being less than honest. Sadly these few dishonest realtors leave devastation in their wake. We have had clients come to us after having relied on less than hones realtors in purchasing Huntsville area houses. Several were ruined financially. They lost houses to foreclosure and all of their retirement funds.