The Altman Close

Chapter 17STRATEGIZING WITH SELLERS: GETTING READY FOR WAR

Selling real estate is like a game. The game is strategy. Drawing up the right plays and knowing when and how to implement them. The game is execution. Making it happen, embracing obstacles, getting creative, closing deals. The game is war.

The Battle Plan

You’ve signed a listing agreement. The gauntlet has been thrown. Your number one priority is to get the strategy worked out, the battle plan, the soldiers in place, then begin execution as soon as possible before the enemy can strike. In this case, the enemy is time. The longer the property is on the market, the more it will cower, weaken, die and rot. Come on, General. Don’t lose your land, your power, your deal.

In a recent study, the median number of days on the market (DOM) in the United States was somewhere in the range of 65 to 70. Any number beyond that might reek of desperation to buyers who will low-ball the property, which will make the sellers take it off the market and relist it. A savvy agent or buyer can track the number of times a property has been listed on the MLS, but probably won’t.

You’ve also signed an agreement that typically covers a three-to-six-month period. The DOM is always an issue in real estate. If you lose the first month to work issues – opening and closing the little deals to list, stage, show – and you don’t watch the shot clock carefully on your listings, time’s up, another enemy surfaces: fellow agents. They will take your land ...