Sellers have a lot of misconceptions - among them that they do well to sell their own homes and save the commission or that they can charge more for the home for their fix-its, or that their home should be advertised every day, among others.

Just about everywhere we look we see signs that read "House for sale by owner." It is practically an epidemic of foolhardy thinking. Every Tom, Dick and Mary assumes that all one needs to do is hang out a "for sale" sign and ready, willing and able buyers will flock to their doorstep.

Wrong!

The fact is that according to the National Association of Realtors® only 14 percent of the homes sold in the U.S.A. were successfully sold FSBO. The agent-assisted median sales price was $175,000 while the FSBO median was only $145,000. Think of it. We are fighting the sellers over a one or two percent commission and they are getting killed on the sales price when we are not in the picture.

There are a few other things that sellers ought to rethink. How about waiting to fix it up before putting it on the market? Ask any seller what they hope to achieve in fixing it up first, and they will tell you, Show us the money. Were it only that simple… Fact is more times than not the fix-ups just are things that make the home show a bit better and in the final tally will not add value to the sale price. In other words, when they put a to-do list together, the agent must show them what is and is definitely not a good use of their time and money.

One of the all-time real estate seller misconceptions is the belief that if it is advertised every day, and twice on Sunday, it will sell quicker and for more. Agents have to learn to field that objection or they will find themselves advertising to appease the seller rather than to sell the home. That is both costly and ineffective.

The point of advertising is to get the phone to ring, or today to generate Internet inquiries. As long as the company has a variety of home styles in the paper and elsewhere all the times, the phone will ring.

Since the person calling on a particular property has about a five percent chance of buying the home they call in on (it's usually not right for one reason or another,) the key to advertising is the skill of the agent who takes the call. The agent must know the comparable inventory so as to be able to switch the caller to a more suitable home when they find something wrong with the one the caller initially showed an interest in seeing.

How about the secret seller? That's always a hoot. You know the ones that don't want an open house, lockbox or sign because they don't want anyone to know they are moving? I always asked sellers like that what they intended to do, move at night? Sooner or later the cat gets out of that bag. Nothing like a secret listing to get an agent's heart fluttering. "What is it about not letting people know that your home is for sale that you feel will be beneficial to you in helping you to achieve your goal of getting your home sold?" Try that question on your sellers and see where it takes them. It is important that when you are hit with an illogical argument, you don't set up a need for the seller to become defensive. All the agent wants to do is to help the seller come to the conclusion that what they want to do is not in their best interest. If the seller realizes the error of his/her way, (with a bit of guidance on the part of the agent), it will be so!

A wise agent knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. Caving in to sellers' wants is not the wise route in the long haul. The agent needs to guide their sellers toward decisions that will help those sellers to achieve their goals. If the agent is not able to do that, in the long run they will disappoint the seller and lose the chance of gaining a client for life as well as a referral now and again.

While it may be difficult to do, in the long run it is better to walk away from a seller who does not act in their own best interest toward your mutual goal of selling the property. I never met an agent who made a living from referrals garnered from sellers whose listings expired!

Published: April 6, 2004

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Marylyn B. Schwartz, CSP, is a noted expert in real estate and corporate sales training, team development, customer care and diversity issues. She is president of TEAMWEAVERS and was a trainer for the Floyd Wickman Courses©, Sweathogs® program for over five years. Marylyn is also an author and Business/Life Coach. Contact her at , or visit her website at MarylynBSchwartz.com.