That’s right. If you don’t know Zillow, then you should.
This ran in the Wall Street Journal last week:
“In its second quarter survey, 62% of the 1,361 homeowners who responded to the survey by Zillow said they believe the value of their own homes has increased over the past year.
But according to Zillow, that high level of optimism is out of sync with reality. The company’s research shows that 77% of U.S. homes depreciated in value over the past year. Only 19% appreciated and five percent remained the same.”
This ran in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on the same day.
I communicate with Intown Atlanta property owners everyday. Quite often, I speak with folks who have been listed with other real estate agents for months and months.
Our Q&A sessions can be narrowed down pretty much like this:
* …so, when you made the decision to buy the property, you looked at available inventory, gathered specific information from trusted sources and settled on the property with the best location, the best condition and the best price amongst all of the competition, right?
* …how did I know that? Because that’s how everybody buys.
* So, rather than pricing like Realtors price, lets price to attract a buyer, what do ya think?
* What do you mean by pricing like Realtors? Well, Realtors have been trained to price based on recent sales and when you found this property you weren’t looking at recent sales to justify your asking price were you? OK. So, you beat the competition by offering more value than your competition at a better price, right? Has nothing to do with what sold recently or not so recently, right? A lot of realtors have failed a lot of people recently, haven’t they?
* Between the 50-100 whatever active listings that you are competing with, how many of them have won a buyer after days, weeks, months, years on the market? That’s right, they are all losers…
* Isn’t it simply a matter of best perceived value - just simply get people to come look at you? Right?
Well, if you are willing to do your part and price and stage the property attractively, then we are willing to do our part to create urgency, manage expectations and create a furor of activity. How quickly would you like to begin?
Pricing based on SOLDS will hurt you in any market, but it is what Realtors have been taught to do.
The Zillow survey shows that listers and listing agents are failing miserably right now. There are a happy few in this market - about 20% of the listers every 30 days - who happily close and move on with their greater priorities. The rest are not getting it.
Zillow’s wiki page for Seller Pricing Strategies breaks it down really, really well - check it out.
In the Business Chonicle article, the writer states that “Zillow has actually created an index to measure the disparity, called the Home Value Misperception Index. Nationally the index stood at 32 in the second quarter. The West, with the highest proportion of homes that declined in value during the second quarter at 88 percent and significant foreclosure activity, has the narrowest gap between reality and home values as measured by an index reading of 23. The South had the widest gap with reality, with an index reading of 36.”
So, we Southerners just aren’t getting it as quickly as the rest of the country!
Southern Misperceivers
All that I can say to sum things up is this - it is copied and pasted from my e-mail signature…
Please remember that The Rootdown Group operates our real estate practice at an exceptionally high level of skill, commitment, and competency. We simply offer excellent assistance to anyone who needs real estate help, anywhere in the world. Our specialty is the Intown Atlanta and Decatur submarket - please contact us when we can help you or someone that you know.
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