Dear Seller: Your Realtor is Giving You Bad Advice

Picture it:

It’s October 2012. There are over 1,800 condos on the market from Leslieville to Roncesvalles. That’s a lot more than usual. There’s no question we’re in a Buyer’s market for condos. Based on the recent sales in your building, your listing price of $400K is about what your condo is worth. I would know – I sold one of the last sales in your building. I know you wanted a bidding war tonight, but no one showed up. Except us.  We brought you an offer AT ASKING PRICE: $400K. But…you turned it down because you wanted $430,000. Thirty thousand dollars more than the asking price that you yourself set. Here’s what went wrong tonight:

• Your agent wouldn’t let me present the offer to you personally (which is actually against the rules.)  If I’d been able to talk to you, maybe you would have realized the advice you were getting was flawed.
• Your agent handed me two comparable sales to justify your price – and didn’t even realize I had sold one of them. He hadn’t seen the units. He didn’t know your building. In fact he’s not even from Toronto.
• He neglected to tell you there had been 3 sales in the building since the ones he thought were important. The most recent comparables are always the most important.
• Your agent isn’t good at math – he suggested that the unit that sold for $428K justified your price – only it was 100 sqft bigger. Which means your condo is actually worth $17K less than we offered tonight, based on the comparable that he himself provided. Oops.
• He doesn’t realize that you can’t actually advertise a property for less than you’re willing to accept – it puts you at risk, and it puts him at risk.

I’m sorry that you went through this tonight, and you don’t even know the bad advice you were given. If only one person wanted your condo at 400K tonight, it’s hard to imagine someone will want it at $430K tomorrow. In this uncertain condo market. And with the comparable sales. I’m sorry your property is going to sit on the market and you’ll have to sweep your floors and make your bed every day for the next three months. I’m sorry you’ll have to lower your price and your expectations a bunch of times.  And I’m sorry that by the time you sell your place, you’ll probably get less than what we offered tonight.

It didn’t have to be this way. It could have been win-win. Instead it’s lose-lose.