AVOIDING THE MARKET BLAME GAME

Seller conditioning is a rarely discussed real estate phrase and refers to preparing you, the vendor, for some "news" usually about the value of your home.

The news is usually in the "bad" category because no one needs to be prepared to sell for a higher-than-expected figure. (does happen with us occasionally when we have two buyers fighting for your place and then we face - "do you think we can get more") 

Sometimes agents may have had a very realistic genuine value in their minds.
But, time has passed, market conditions change, more homes hit the market and recent local sales display disappointing results.

So many factors can turn a local market on its head in a matter of weeks and ultimately affect a sale price.
(from the Sunday Times 7/12/2014)

(We find that with the Auction process is the best way to assess how the market perceives your property and they are willing to give you prices they believe is fair for the home, not necessarily from the buyer though as of course they want to get it for a lot less)

In all seriousness the Seller/Vendor must listen to you (the agent) as you are meeting the buyers at the cold face and the feed back is so important.  It is so imperative that you want to catch the premium buyers in the beginning of the campaign not at the end as you will only attract the bargain hunters.

We give our Sellers a report on what has happened during the week, from that report they can see how many people have come through and all their comments - good or bad.  If there needs to be a price reduction we will suggest it in that report and usually we get a reply straight back.  This is really about trust isn't it, if you dont trust your agent and you think they are having a lend of you (this could be because they said it was worth $100k over what the other agent told you, but greed got the better of you so you decided to go with an Agent that was promising you a dream price).
We have the reputation for what you see is what you get and we dont compromise it, we are honest with you at the start so you know what you are getting.

Avoid at all costs those Agents that promise to take care of your marketing, be in control of where your property is to be advertised as those first 6 weeks are crucial.  

MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS AND GIVE IT A REAL GO !!