Whether you’re a FSBO (for sale by owner) or a seller interviewing multiple brokers, you may well fall into the trap of choosing to work with the one who quotes you the highest price for your property, or the one who doesn’t push back on a price you know to be above market. “After all,” you may say to yourself, “why would (s)he ever take on a listing that (s)he doesn’t believe (s)he can sell?” Aaah, there’s the rub. There are plenty of reasons to do so, and while many brokers may actually believe that the higher price is sellable, here are several behind-the-scenes reasons why taking the overpriced listing would still work in their favor:
- Building access: A broker may well want to develop a foot-hold in a certain building. This means their brokerage firm will support their efforts to mail the building with “just listed” marketing collateral to get additional clients down the road.
- Buyers: Even though an overpriced listing will generate infinitely less traffic than would a properly-priced apartment, buyers will still come along. Brokers may use a listing merely to attract and then gain the business of buyers at the cost of showing and marketing your apartment, particularly if your price-point is on the high end of the spectrum.
- Future decrease: Some brokers know that if they take your overpriced listing now, you will undoubtedly lower the price once little volume and few offers trickle in. Even though this likely means you will have a stale listing on your hands , they figure that, at some point, you will have to bend, thereby guaranteeing themselves a sale anyway.
All of this is to say that you should avoid getting swept up by the loftiness of the price dangled in front of you, and focus on the relationship, honesty and partnership you can develop between you and the broker with whom you choose to work.
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An agent takes on an over priced listing because no one else wants the listing and he or she must bring in a listing into the office to meet their quota.