How is the changing, shifting market affecting you specifically as a seller? Stay tuned.

Scott Himelstein with the Scott Himelstein Group. Alright, so how does the change in the shifting market going affect you specifically as a home seller?

Well, that’s what I’m talking about today. So now you probably know that inventory has been growing. We’ve been shifting from a seller’s market more towards a buyer’s market and we’ve actually been able to see month over month prices in LA County start to decline a bit.

So what does that mean for you as a seller?

Well, for one, it means that if you’ve been on the fence about selling for a while now you’ve probably missed the opportunity when the market was absolutely crazy, where you get 10 to 20 offers in the first week.

I wouldn’t really wait too much longer because most likely what’s going to happen is there’s going be more inventory coming on the market and just going make it that much harder for you to sell your home.

So now that we’ve actually shifted into a different market that also means that you have to be very very careful about who you choose to represent you as a seller when it comes to selling your home, because it’s no longer, well I’m just going throw the home on the market, you know, 50 buyers show up ready on the first day and that’s really not going to work anymore. We’re not seeing that strategy be very successful.

So first of all, pricing is going to be key. It’s super super important in this new market. You’re not going to be able to overprice a home and then actually think you’re going be able to sell it for 10% over the list price. Well, that’s probably not, again, not going be able to happen.

The next thing is marketing. Marketing is going to be critical right now. So those agents that have been discounting their commissions for the last couple years, have been taking iPhone photos and throwing it up on the MLS, that’s not going cut it anymore. So you need to hire an agent that’s going take a professional photos, that’s going to go above and beyond when it comes to marketing. These include things like video, floor plans, 3D walkthroughs, social media, marketing and retargeting. You’re going need to go all out to find every possible buyer to generate some awareness for your home.

The next thing that’s super important is that you choose an experienced agent to represent you who understands the market. So, one, they won’t let you make the mistake of way overpricing a home because you’d be shooting yourself in the foot, and two, there’re also going to be able to actually know how to negotiate effectively. So a negotiation hasn’t been important the last couple years because you got 20 offers and you know if your agent was a good negotiator they would send out a best, highest and best counter offer, and that would be it. That would be all they would have to do. Well, it’s not going to be like that anymore. You’re going to need a skilled agent who knows how to negotiate. So we’re also going need an agent that’s putting in the work, putting in the time. That agent needs to be following up with buyers after showing. That agent’s going be following up with people who had questions about the property but didn’t make it in for a showing. The agent’s going have to be able to answer their phones on nights and weekends to make deals happen, and reach out to potential buyers maybe who saw that property and figure out if there’s a way they can get that buyer actually interested in the home.

Last and finally, you’re going to need an agent like we just talked about that actually answers their phone and is available. So in today’s marketplace if you’re not answering the phone, it’s going be detrimental to the listing because at that point the buyers are just going go to a different house. It’s not like it was before where agents just didn’t really have to pick up their phone, they would just wait for the offers to actually come in. So now you have to be very proactive.

So these are the things right now that are affecting the sellers right now in today’s market in Los Angeles.

Any questions? Give me a call. That’s 818 396 3311. Thanks for watching our vlog.