Seller Interviews 7 agents to sell his Graduate Hospital property... and the winner is ?
Myself ! So now the pressure begins. A great saying in selling real estate is that the best position is either 1st born, 2nd spouse and 3rd listing agent ! The times I have been the 2nd or 3rd Realtor has been great for by that time, the seller is motivated and the listing price will be more aggressive. So when you are the 1st Realtor, you want to make sure that the price point is realistic and you have enough time for your duration of the listing contract to sell the property. Anyways, I am getting a little off tangent here...
The purpose of this post was to communicate the Seller's thoughts and my experience. When I first met 
with the Seller, he mentioned that he had already met with 5 Realtors. 5 Realtors !! Wow, that is a lot. I smiled and told him that I love being in a competitive situation. I firmly believe that the services Stephanie and I provide are very tough to compete with. In addition, unlike the old days (which for me is only a few years ago...LOL), I am not attached to every listing opportunity which means that if we do not get a listing we are in the running for, it is okay !
We have ample business in this market and are not too interested in working with folks who at that time may not be interested in working with us, or in most cases (for whatever reason) are more interested in working with someone else. I have found that most of the time the seller has some sort of obligation with another Realtor whether it be family, friend, a friend of a friend or something like that. Or other times, they just want to list it at too high of a price and will find that Realtor to do it for them.
When the seller called and asked me the other day "Will you list my property ? " I agreed. When I met with him (by that time it was 7 Realtors he met with), I asked him why Chris and Stephanie Somers? His reply was pretty straight-forward:
- I felt a connection with you.
- Your knowledge of the marketplace.
- Being Internet savvy - the way you market on the internet. This was most important to me.
I asked him about price in terms of what the other Realtors recommended. He mentioned one Realtor recommended a price way above what everybody else suggested but the other Realtors (including myself) were all about the same.
Point being here is that I am proud of our ability to communicate with consumers as well as building our experience with every deal that we do. But I even am more proud of our website - Philadelphia Real Estate - The Somers Team (which this new listing will be featured today) as well as our blog - The Philadelphia Real Estate Voice. I firmly believe that our decision to focus on Internet marketing has really paid off over the last year or two.
Now, the pressure is on ! I certainly do not want another Realtor to be the 2nd or 3rd with this listing ! I welcome your thoughts on this blog post and what your thoughts would be with the below questions:
As an Agent, what are your goals for your Internet presence ?
As a Consumer, how important is Internet marketing to you ?
Related Posts:
From Blogging to Speaking on an Expert Philadelphia Real Estate Panel
5 Ways to Recommend Price Reductions to Sellers
5 Steps in Choosing a Realtor to Sell Your Property
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If interested in buying or selling properties in Philadelphia, contact Chris and Stephanie Somers at thesomersteam@yahoo.com or 215-400-2612 . You can connect with us on Facebook and Twitter . For investment properties, check out our new investor site at Philly Investor Hub !
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Congrats on the new listing!
Great work! I try to make myself seen in all places on the web in my service area and websites, blogs, google ads, register for every site I can find to keep me in the searches for my area. It is difficult at times with all the new ones & not always knowing which is best so I try it all at least once. I am the 2nd spouse (believe that is what you meant?) and it works like a charm! Good luck to you both.
At the end of the day....it's the personal connection. Real Estate is a very personal industry and they need to trust us and have confidence in us. Congratulations on the listing...go get em.
The personal connection is number 1, in my opinion, and then the market knowledge. Whether or not the seller will understand how the web will benefit him/her largely depends on the seller's age - I think.
Iw as "THE" one of four the other day... pretty much same reasons...connection, organized marketing, etc. I came in at 264K... everyone else was above me one at 300K. Be honest, straight forward and well planned.
Marcus - Thank you !
Karen S - Congrats on being the 2nd spouse - you are gold !!! Also great job having your name plastered all over the net for that exposure. That is awesome.
Karen P - Yes, making the connection is what it is all about. To communicate well and to listen well to understand one another and the ultimate goal. It takes time to be secure and comfortable in these situations. But I think once the seller/consumer knows that you are there for them and not for yourself, the trust and rapport begins the build.
Here is my consumer stand-point: I agree with Karen Parsons-Fiddler, the personal connection has to be there, period, but I believe Sellers are more and more educated and they know that a personal bond alone may not be what will get their houses sold. Most of my friends DO interview MANY agents before deciding on who will list their homes and they look exactly for what you have mentioned Chris: a combination of factors... the connection, PLUS the market knowledge, marketing expertise and strong negotiating skills.
Congratulations on the new listing!!!
Congratulations, now get to work!
I once interviewed and was the 3rd of 4 agents who were to present. My broker told me to do a 2-step listing presentation, as they were not going to sign that night.
I took EVERYTHING with me and already had the CMA prepared. Everyone else planned for a 2-step, but I walked in there with a 1-step plan. I walked out of there with the listing. That's the best feeling!
Christopher and Stephanie - I think more and more sellers are realizing the importance of the internet. Daily I get "leads" from our company website that are nothing more than sellers looking up their own recently listed homes. They want to be sure its visible everywhere. They're checking up on us all the time. I'm glad to see it too. Because when someone checks out my listings, they'll find them.
Congratulations, I think the most important info you have is WHY they picked you to represent them. Now you know what is the most important to that client so you can emphasize it throughout the hopefully quick period before it sells.
Hos is the market up there? I am interested in knowing what is happening in other places. So far the news is still negative, but feel we are at the crossroads.
Jason- Absolutely ! We are pumped up to sell this property and certainly do not want it to go to a 2nd Realtor !! And for Internet marketing, yes I am sure those folks saying what they did 8 years ago have changed their tune ! Is great that you are ahead of the curve as well with your online presence ! Is awesome - keep it up ! Look forward to meeting you at the next meet-up !
Linda- I agree the personal connection is critical... for everything happens from there. I think the other layers (market knowledge, Internet presence) helps solidify the decision and even builds upon the relationship and connection as well.
Perrin - Congrats to you as well ! I think the seller made a great decision : )
We got a listing today because we do NOT use print and focus entirely on the Internet. The Seller found us by means of the internet and followed the links through the website and really decided upon using us before we even walked in the door- simply from a few phone and e-mail conversations and from viewing our website.
Liana- You make a great point ! It is all the factors combined that help an Agent stand out - the ability to connect with the consumer, market knowledge AND exceptional and additional marketing exposure, primarily on the Internet. Thank you for the congrats, but now the real work begins to get it sold ! The good news is that the property already has 3 scheduled showings from our marketing ! Off to a great start !
Erica - Rock on ! That is a great feeling. I prefer the 1-step listing but understand the process of having to come back later as well. We just picked up another new listing last night where we met the seller a few weeks ago. He had to do a few things before putting the house up. Glad he called us back to list it !
Matt- Definitely ! I think more and more as we move forward in the future, those agents that already have an Internet presence and are giving their listings additional exposure will start to take market share from their competitors as sellers will demand and require that. Further, they will be able to tell who really is doing it and who is not. For example, many agents have a basic template site that is their Internet presence that may look okay to the consumer but it does not gain any traction or traffic from consumers or is picked up from the search engines. Let's keep working hard together to gain market share in our respective cities !
Hi C&S - Sellers are realizing how important internet presence is for property exposure and are using agents that have embraced the internet. Congrats!
Stuart - Great point. I think it was just great to have the conversation with the seller about the process. Is very informative.
Norma - Our stats in Philly are not bad at all. Prices are only down slightly overall. Days on market has inched up. I refer to it as "slow but steady". Personally, we are quite busy !
Christine and Jennifer- That is awesome ! Congrats to you guys ! My office just made a business decision to stop print ads for the office and rely solely on the Internet as well. Makes sense !
Go Somers team!!!!!! Of course they made the very best choice!
Maria - Is great that sellers are really starting to recognize that as that helps the likes of ourselves that are already that much more positioned on the Internet ! Very true.
Cristal- LOL, thank you for the support ! I think the seller made the best choice as well !
What a great prospective on a situation we all encounter. The "true" connection is most beneficial to all parties involved , the sellers will actually listen to a listing agent that they feel that connection with. I find many times that if they use the "required" agent , the whole process is filled with underlying resentment and does not net the same results.
Laura - Great insight. It is great when the consumer has the opportunity to connect with the Realtor that they are working with instead of feeling resentment about being in a listing contract they want no part of. That happens if the agent overpromises and underdelivers. We learned a long time ago to underpromise and overdeliver which has really helped us with client relations and growing our business !
Congratulations--on the listing, and on being OK to walk away from it if it wasn't right. Obviously you made the personal connection the seller hoped to find when he found you on the internet. Wishing you much success,
Lottie - Thank you !!! Now is the time to work on getting it sold. Making the connections with the consumers is key. Is a challenging market, but working together with someone to accomplish the goals can be very rewarding.
Congratulations on the listing. Good luck in selling it quickly. I love reading your posts.
Gita - thank you !!! Thanks for the compliment regarding our blog posts and yes, selling this one quickly would be great as the pressure is on : )
Congrats. When I hear a lot of agents are going to compete, I do not even want to be considered in my marketplace.
Jim - I hear you although I cannot imagine a seller in your area thinking of going with someone else ! In this case, when I got there, I was the 6th one and had no idea that that was the case. I think it is always interesting why sellers choose certain Realtors... is like a personal case study for me : )
Congrats. I am sure you will get this listing sold. You have a great marketing system!
Tina- Thank you ! We spend a lot of time, effort and money on harnessing the marketing and advertising that we do for our seller clients with a focus obviously on Internet marketing. We appreciate the compliment. I know you do a pretty good job as well !!