Avoid Overpricing.
Most commercial brokers typically want to help their clients achieve their goals and maximize results. And, they are, mostly, optimistic people by nature. They use many approaches to marketing, negotiating and especially, pricing, a property.
Sometimes they overprice a property when they sign a listing agreement even with the best intentions and with the hope of pleasing their client. Often, this eventually ends up in repricing the property to sell where the market dictates the property will sell.
Don't Chase Fool's Gold
A less ethical approach to getting your listing is to dazzle a prospective client with what I call “fool’s gold”. This is when a broker intentionally claims they can get above market pricing for your property just to get the listing. Later, as interest lags and their energy wanes, they will tell you something like this – “after testing the market, we have found your property to be overpriced and you need to drop the price in order to get it sold”. Often, they do end up selling the property at, or even below, the market value just to get a deal done.
This may seem like a harsh characterization of some of my colleagues but it does happen. Thankfully, this is the few, and not the many, in my personal experience.
Price to Sell and Get Results
Most sellers have a similar set of goals for the process. All of our clients want to get the best results when they sell. They want a smooth transaction, they want to avoid re-trades, and they all want to end up with the highest net proceeds at closing.
We developed an approach that is transparent, thoughtful, and effective. We carefully research sales comps, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a property together with our clients, and go to market with a realistic price. So, in the end, they feel like they got the best outcome possible and didn’t end up chasing fool’s gold.
