Proactive Reactive or Passive Seller Which are You

As an active Real Estate Broker licensed in Portland Oregon I get all kinds of questions about Real Estate in Portland and in general. One question that I have been getting quite a bit lately is ” How’s the Portland Market doing now?, I hear it’s kind of slow! “.

 I just love this one. I am always kind when I answer matter of factly that ” you know of course all Real Estate is Local”. I then go on to ask the key question. Are you currently trying to sell your home? If not, are you considering it in the near future.

No matter what the response, Yes, NO or Not Sure I answer back ” The kind of market you encounter will be dependent upon rather you are a Proactive, Reactive or Passive Seller.” Have you given any consideration to that?

The statment is a pretty big mouth full and not easy to swallow in one quick setting. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to explain just what I mean.

A Passive Seller is often a person who has come into the market with a attitude ” I’ll Sell if I can get my price!” From a Real Estate Broker’s stand point this type of Seller is one of the most difficult people to help. Their motivation is often low and more often than not they are unhappy with the results that they are recieving. Heaven help you when the Listing contract comes to the end as the Seller will almost always unload on you. Truth of the matter they are mostly right. If the agent had been stronger and or more informative or even to step away they may have been able to secure a listing with a Proactive Seller the most desireable kind.

A Reactive Seller is often the kind of person who reacts to stimulii but not before. Let me give you an example : Bob puts his home on the market a little bit to high of a price. His agent is thinking that as time goes on he will work on the Seller to get that price down. Meanwhile Sam a neighbor of Bob’s just down the steet decides to put his home on the market thinking that ” If Bob can get that price, then I can certainly get that kind of price given that I have so much more to offer.”

Sam’s house comes on the market and Bob wanders through a few weeks later during an open house. Bob is astonished at what he sees. Sams house is fabulous. Sam must be delirious, why would he put his house on the market at such a low price when it is much better than mine. Bob calls his agent. Bob’s agent reminds Bob of the conversation at the time they listed. Rember Bob how I told you that price was to high? Bob says he will think it over. Instead of being Proactive and making the imediate desicion to adjust his price, Bob waits for the following weekend to try and catch Sam at home. No luck Sam and familly have gone away for the weekend. Finally by the following weekend Bob is able to talk to Sam. He quickly asks Sam about the choice of his price and finally gets around to asking Sam if he would consider raising it up a little. Sam’s response floors Bob, ” can’t do it old buddy, I’ve already sold her to that couple that came through the same day you were over.” Are you kidding Bob exclaims! Don’t you know that you sold it to cheap? Not according to all of the comps I have seen, fact is I was going to come down and talk to you Bob, don’t you know that your price is to high? Bob the Reactive Seller calls his agent and requests a price reduction.

Now the Gold Standard when it comes to Real Estate Sellers is the Proactive Seller. This is the type of Seller I am always looking for. They are curious and realistic. They understand that selling your home is marketing. Truth is that if there are 3 bottles of Milk at the store and two of them are $3.05 that most Buyer’s will pick up the one bottle for $2.75 every time. A proactive Seller will read over the Comps with their agent. Together they will look through the home and take suggestions and critisims to heart. Once the house is ready to put on the market, I will set my Seller’s up on mys Portland Oregon Real Estate Neighborhood monitoring site where they can see all the homes on the market, Save them to their favorites list where they can keep track of their neighbors status for price reductions and or offers. At the same time my Seller is ready to adjust so am I. You see the Proactive Seller fully understands that hiring an Agent is two fold, Looking for the expierience and knowledge that will enable them to represent them and for an agent that is on the same page. Yes there are Proactive, Reactive and Passive agents as well. Who do you want working for you!