Finance Articles

There are many mistakes a person can make when deciding to sell a home. One of the most serious is listing your home with a REALTOR® just because that Realtor is your friend. 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, who happened to be a Realtor. Considering the 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 owners's enjoyment but did not increase the value of the owner's home.

You can imagine what happened, the Realtor tried to sell the home for tens of thousands of dollars above the market value and in poor condition to say the least. Not surprisingly, the weeks passed with little activity and no contracts. The Owner's friendship with the Realtor became more and more strained as each week 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 what it was actually going to take to get the home sold. 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 fair marketing price based on the facts. Thirty-nine days later, the owner sold his house for 98% of the listed price.

The sad part of this listing 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 & Real Estate Coach based in the Northern Virginia. The Earl of Real Estate Team loves working with Arlington VA Real Estate, Condos, Townhomes & Homes for Sale