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Is listing your home with a friend such a good idea?
By robertearl | April 7, 2008
Challenges can abound when listing your home, especially if you list with a close friend. Listing your home with a REALTOR® just because that Realtor is your friend can present some of the most serious problems when listing your home. Consider the following tale of a home owner that selected their good friend to represent them as the listing agent.
A home owner listed his home with his best friend, that also had gotten his real estate license a few months ago. In consideration of their friendship, the Realtor could not bring himself to discuss the condition of the property with the owner, especially how dirty it was and how it needed to be cleaned if it was ever going to sell. The Realtor was also reluctant to break the news to the owner that he had spent thousands of dollars on home improvements that may have added to the owner’s enjoyment but did not increase the value of the owner’s home.
As a result, the Realtor listed the home several thousand dollars over the market value and in poor condition to say the least. Not surprisingly, time passed with little activity and no offers. The Owner’s friendship with the Realtor became more and more strained as each month passed without a buyer. After several unsuccessful months, the owner dropped the price of his home to well below market value, but by then it was too late. The few people who came to see the home had already purchased another house, and the most active buying season was over. The Owner decided to take his home off the market for a while.
Turn the clock ahead several months, the owner called a well-known, professional Realtor who met with him and told him the truth about his house. This Realtor shared with the owner the history of sales in the neighborhood, gave him a list of all the competition, shared an aggressive computerized marketing plan and suggested a the house value that the marketplace would yield. Within weeks, the owner sold his house for more than he had it listed for with his friend.
The sad part of this tale is that the owner now does not talk to his friend for for not getting his home sold the first time around & not being honest with him up front. Although the owner’s friend was a good professional, he simply couldn’t separate business from friendship and as a result he lost the friendship and the owners business. That’s the danger of listing your home with a friend.
Most Realtors can’t draw a distinct line between their friendships and their business, so if you truly value your friendship and you sincerely want to sell your home in Northern Virginia, play it safe and list with someone who can be objective with you and who can sell your house quick. Selling a home is too complicated and too important to entrust to a part time professional, who by not knowing the pitfalls and complications of the business could embroil you in legal issues
Lets separate the professional job of selling your home from your friends. Keep your friends and sell your home. This is a true win-win situation.
Robert Earl - Founder of The Earl of Real Estate Team is a Real Estate Entrepreneur based in the Northern Virginia. The Earl of Real Estate Team loves working with Sterling VA Real Estate, Condos, Townhomes & Homes for Sale
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