There are many mistakes a person can make when deciding to sell a home. 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. Here's a story that illustrates this point.
A home owner listed his home with his best friend, who was also a Realtor In consideration of their friendship, the friend/agent 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 owners's enjoyment but did not increase the value of the owner's home.
You can imagine what happened, the Realtor listed the home several thousand dollars over the market value and in poor condition to say the least. Despite the friendship, the weeks passed with few showings and no interest from buyers. The Owner's friendship with the Realtor became more and more strained as each month passed without an offer. After several unsuccessful months, the owner lowered the price of his home to just 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, local real estate team who met with him and told him the truth about marketing. 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 yeild. The professional helped him stage his home - in other words, he prepared the home to be marketed - a secret of selling of which only a few professionals are aware. Thirty-nine days later, the owner sold his house for more than he had it listed for with his friend.
The sad part of this listing is that the owner now resents his friend for not being honest with him up front and for not getting his home sold the first time around. 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.
Lets face it. most people in any profession have a difficult time drawing a distinction between friendship and business, so if you truly value your friendship and you sincerely want to sell your home in Northern Virginia (
http://www.theearlofrealestate.net/selling.aspx), play it safe and list with someone who can be objective with you and who can sell your house quick (
http://www.theearlofrealestate.net/selling_comparative_market_analysis.aspx). 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 can end up costing you money
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.
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