I just wanted to write a post highlighting a couple of tricks of the trade used by Realtors to gain your listing.

Buying Your Listing

OK, so you interview a couple of Realtors and they both seem professional and know their stuff. The only real difference is that one of them says they can get $30,000 more for your home. Well that’s simple enough; you are going to go with the one that tells you they can get more money for your home. But wait how are they going to do this? The chances are they are probably not? This is a well know tactic called buying a listing. Basically the Realtor gives you a number greater than the market value knowing full well that they can never get this price. The idea is that once they capture your listing they can get you to lower the listing price at a later date.

So how can you avoid this? The only real way to avoid this is to get the Realtor to back up their claim with a list of recently sold comparable homes. These comparable homes should be a similar size to your home and be the same type of home in the same general area.

So beware if 2 Realtors give you substantially different listing prices, the chances are the lower one is being honest and the other is trying to buy your listing.

If We Don’t Sell Your Home We Will Buy It from You

Sounds great doesn’t it, list with me and if it doesn’t sell within a set amount of time we will buy it. Wow they must be a good Realtor if they are so confident that they can sell your home.

Well what they are not saying is that in order for them to agree to buy your home, you must list your home at a deeply discounted price. This discounted price can be as much as 15% to 20% below market value. Now if they can’t sell your home at this price the chances are your home won’t sell at all.

This is a common tactic when the housing market is strong and homes are selling well. They are not so keen to offer this when things are slow and the market is heading downwards.

So these are two of the common tactics employed by some Realtors to get your listing. Just remember if it sounds too good to be true, the chances are it is.