Follow Up is Key

Selling real estate certainly has its ups and downs.  Some sales go smoothly while others present numerous challenges even for seasoned realtors.

Back in the spring when the market was starting to turn after the crazies of the February/March market, I listed a freehold townhome for sale.  It was still the norm to hold offers but it wasn’t always successful.  The home I was listing was in an area with quite a few similar type townhomes so buyers had a lot of choices.  I checked with the other listing agents selling in the area and they said they were not getting showings and offers on the offer date and couldn’t understand why. Of course, this was concerning to me and my clients as they had already purchased a home.

We listed the home for sale on a Thursday and were holding offers the following Tuesday. As each day on the market passed with no showings it didn’t look promising.  However, on the Tuesday finally there was a showing and we had hope as the home was quite nice and well staged.  I called the agent after the showing to follow up, as I always do, and he said his clients really liked the home, but thought it would go too much over asking and so were going to put an offer in on another home that they felt they would have a better chance at.  I told the realtor that my clients were reasonable and not expecting way over asking.  He was pleasantly surprised and spoke to his clients who did end up putting in an offer.  They were expecting more than one offer, so they still offered over asking price. My clients were thrilled and accepted the offer!

Sometimes all it takes is a simple follow-up phone call to get results. Many agents won’t make that call, assuming if the buyers were interested they would bring an offer. As this story demonstrates, that’s not always the case, which is why you want a realtor who will go the extra mile for you and not just list the home and hope it sells.