The New Approach to Selling Your Luxury Listings

Marketing Luxury Real Estate Podcast Video Blog with Michael LaFido

Today we are going to talk about a different approach to getting your stale listing sold. If you have a listing that is not getting activity for whatever reason, there are two types of approaches that will help expedite the sale. The old approach involves going back to the agent and telling them that your seller is motivated and all offers will be considered. The new approach is what I call the “ROS” or Reverse Offer Strategy. Here is an example of how it works in action. We recently helped an owner sell their home and went back to a buyer who had seen the home about three weeks previously but had not pulled the trigger. In real estate, time is the killer of all deals, and we knew that the home was not top of mind for the buyer or their agent. So, we went back to these buyers and made an offer to them. We ended up getting a deal together, all thanks to the ROS strategy. Currently, we are helping an agent market a $6.5 million property out in Scottsdale. There are four interested parties, but a few of them have not been returning calls or texts for a while. Using the ROS strategy, we made each of these buyers an offer and are hopeful to get a deal done quickly. “Not only do you get to control the sale price, but it also eliminates any lowball offers.” Here is a hypothetical situation where the ROS strategy would work quite well. Let’s say you have a $2 million dollar listing in a market where these homes are selling at an average of 90% of their asking price. 90% of $2 million is $1.8 million. You might be able to go back to the buyer and make them an offer of $1.895 million with a $25,000 bonus to the buyer’s agent if it closes by a certain date. In essence, the seller will net $1.87 million, which is well above the 90% list-to-sale ratio. But how do you present this offer to the buyer’s agent? Here’s how that conversation will go: “Hey there. You showed my listing previously and mentioned your client is no longer interested. Well, my client actually wants to make your client the offer and would be willing to sell the property for $1.895 million. If we can get a deal done, we would give you a $25,000 bonus on top of your commission. I wanted to let you know about this so please present it to your client and get back to us.”Do not bring up percentages with the buyer’s agent or buyer, but make sure they know the price you are giving them is lower than your list price. This is the new way of doing things. If you have any questions for me or want to learn more about the reverse offer strategy, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email at any time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.