The Westchester real estate market is now truly a buyer’s market. In most communities, the number of westchester ny homes for sale is in excess of six months inventory. This is not universal throughout the county. But for the most part, the county is in a buyer’s market. A few days ago, I wrote a blog about seller’s stuck on unrealistic prices (Dear Seller, About that number in your head…) But this is one of those markets where unrealistic expectations are not limited to one side of the transaction. Fueled in part by media reports filled with sturm und drang (storm and stress) many buyers have confused a buyer’s market with a fire sale.
Unfortunately, unrealistic expectations can set buyers up for unnecessary disappointment and frustration. There are several flavors of unrealistic buyers out there.
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Part 1 of “This Brokerage Has 750 Listings…..So they must be the best! ” was prompted by the fact that the Westchester NY real estate market had changed and as a result, I was getting more and more questions about what a brokerage brought to the table in terms of marketing. I emphasized the importance of choosing the right agent and that the brokerage itself was of less importance. I also indicated that there was a lot of smoke and mirrors regarding brokerage brands and what that means to the seller in terms of marketing the home. Also, for those consumers who would like to see broker/agent input on Part 1 of this post…you can go to my blog on ActiveRain where I re-posted the blog. It got a good deal of attention and much commentary from real estate professionals.
In the end, I promised a sequel that got into more specifics. So here it is – six major myths about listing a property and marketing a property that are often trumpeted by our own industry. Its been said that if you repeat something often enough it becomes “fact” in the eyes of the consumer. So let’s put some of these “facts” to rest.
Myth #1 – “We have 12 billion to the 10th power active listings, so our reputation speaks for itself!”
Really? How on earth does anyone come to that conclusion? You can have all the listings in the world, but if you can’t sell them, what’s the point? The percentage of sold listings is a bit more pertinant. However, even that number does not discriminate between individual agent performance.
Does size really matter? Do the number of listings or the size of the brokerage have anything to do with the ability of the agent to market and sell a home successfully? Is it the brokerage or the agent that is the determining factor?
What Does the Brokerage Bring to the Table?
With the Westchester NY real estate market in a downward trajectory, sellers realize that they need more than a sign in the ground to move their property. In truth, this was always the case, but these days I’m getting more and more questions about marketing the listing. One of the biggest issues I encounter on listing presentations are questions regarding the brokerage itself. Most questions revolve around marketing. What does the brokerage do in terms of marketing for the listing?
I think that most sellers assume that since the brokerage is “big” and has capital behind it, that they are the ones spending big bucks on marketing the home. But this is rarely the case. Many big-box national brokerages build on that confusion and perpetuate the myth that their brokerage “brand” makes a significant difference in selling a home for top dollar. They also tout their “marketing package” in terms of the amount of support they offer. Some actually stress that the number of agents in the brokerage somehow makes that brokerage better or somehow more able to move the property. With all the hype and misinformation out there it is small wonder that sellers are confused.
I would challenge these large brokerages who claim that their numbers speak for themselves to enumerate exactly WHAT they do to justify their claims? And while they are at it, I would like to have some hard numbers to back up their success stories. I haven’t seen any of them come up with any marketing advantage that holds up under scrutiny. Most of the time they appear to be blowing smoke. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not slamming big brokerages. That would be rather foolish since the brokerage that I am currently associated with is quite large. What I am trying to do is cut through the hype.
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