Here\u2019s a truth that\u2019s going to sting a little: if you\u2019re still walking into listing appointments armed with the same pricing presentation you used in 2021, you\u2019re bringing a butter knife to a sword fight. The market has fundamentally shifted, and the agents who haven\u2019t shifted with it are watching listings expire, price reductions pile up and sellers walk out the door to the agent who \u201cbelieves in their price.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let me be clear \u2014 I\u2019m not talking to new agents here. If you\u2019ve been in this business for a decade or more, you\u2019ve seen markets turn before. You survived 2008. You adapted post-COVID. But this current moment has a unique wrinkle that makes the pricing conversation<\/a> harder than it\u2019s ever been: sellers are armed with misinformation and they believe it with religious conviction.<\/p>\n Every seller in America now has a Ph.D. in Real Estate from the University of Zillow<\/a>. They\u2019ve watched their neighbor\u2019s home sell for $50,000 over asking in 2021, and they\u2019ve decided that\u2019s the baseline \u2014 not the anomaly. They\u2019ve refreshed their Zestimate so many times they could recite it in their sleep. And when you walk in with a CMA that tells a different story, you\u2019re not just delivering data \u2014 you\u2019re attacking their identity.<\/p>\n Think about that for a moment. When a seller says, \u201cMy home is worth $600,000,\u201d they\u2019re not making a market analysis. They\u2019re making a statement about their life, their neighborhood, their taste and their investment savvy. And when you say, \u201cActually, the data supports $535,000,\u201d you\u2019re not correcting a number \u2014 you\u2019re challenging who they are.<\/p>\n This is why the old pricing scripts don\u2019t work anymore. \u201cThe market<\/a> determines the price\u201d sounds logical, but it bounces off an emotional wall. \u201cWe need to be competitive\u201d gets translated as \u201cYou don\u2019t believe in my house.\u201d And the classic, \u201cWe can always come down later\u201d \u2014 well, every experienced agent knows that\u2019s the most expensive sentence in real estate.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how I reframe it for sellers, and I\u2019d encourage you to try this approach: Imagine you go to the doctor because you\u2019ve been having chest pains. The doctor runs tests, looks at the results and says, \u201cYou need to make some changes \u2014 diet, exercise, medication.\u201d Now, you could say, \u201cI don\u2019t like that diagnosis. I\u2019m going to find a doctor who tells me I\u2019m fine.\u201d You could absolutely do that. You\u2019ll find one, too. But that doesn\u2019t change the reality of what\u2019s happening inside your body.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what overpricing<\/a> is. It\u2019s finding the agent who tells you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear. And the agents who do that \u2014 who take overpriced listings just to get the sign in the yard \u2014 they\u2019re not doing the seller a favor. They\u2019re using the seller\u2019s home as a billboard for their own business while the property sits, gets stale and eventually sells for less than it would have if it had been priced right from the start.<\/p>\n Veteran agents need to stop presenting and start diagnosing. The old model was to pull comps, put them in a fancy booklet, show up with a laptop, click through slides and deliver the number at the end like a grand reveal. That model assumed the seller was a blank slate waiting to be educated. Today\u2019s seller is anything but a blank slate. They\u2019ve already done their \u201cresearch.\u201d They already have a number. Your job isn\u2019t to educate \u2014 it\u2019s to earn enough trust that they\u2019ll let you challenge their assumptions.<\/p>\n How do you do that? You lead with questions, not answers. Before you ever open your CMA, ask: \u201cWhat do you think your home is worth, and how did you arrive at that number?\u201d Let them talk. Listen. Understand the emotional architecture behind their price. Then \u2014 and only then \u2014 can you walk them through the data in a way that meets them where they are, rather than where you wish they were.<\/p>\n One framework I\u2019ve seen work exceptionally well for experienced agents is what I call the Three-Price Strategy. You present three scenarios: the aspirational price (what they want), the competitive price (what the data supports), and the aggressive price (what would generate immediate activity). You\u2019re not telling them they\u2019re wrong \u2014 you\u2019re showing them a spectrum of outcomes and letting them choose.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the key: for each price point, you attach a timeline and a probability. \u201cAt $600,000, based on current absorption rates, we\u2019re likely looking at 90-plus days on market with a probability of price reductions. At $549,000, the data suggests 30-45 days with strong showing activity. At $525,000, we\u2019d likely generate multiple offers within the first two weeks.\u201d You\u2019re not arguing \u2014 you\u2019re forecasting. And forecasting feels collaborative rather than confrontational.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the part nobody wants to talk about: sometimes the best thing a veteran agent can do is walk away from a listing<\/a>. If a seller insists on a price that you know \u2014 based on decades of experience \u2014 will result in a stale listing, a price reduction and an eventual sale below market value, taking that listing isn\u2019t a win. It\u2019s a liability.<\/p>\n Your reputation is your business. Every overpriced listing with your name on it is a public advertisement that you either don\u2019t know the market or don\u2019t have the backbone to have hard conversations. Neither message serves you.<\/p>\n The pricing conversation has changed. The question is whether you\u2019re willing to change with it \u2014 or whether you\u2019ll keep using scripts from a market that no longer exists, wondering why the results have dried up. <\/p>\n Darryl Davis, CSP, has spoken to, trained, and coached more than 600,000 real estate professionals around the globe. He is a bestselling author for McGraw-Hill Publishing, and his book,\u00a0How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate<\/a>, tops Amazon\u2019s charts for most sold book to real estate agents.<\/em><\/p>\n This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire\u2019s editorial department and its owners.<\/em><\/p>\nThe Zillow effect on steroids<\/h2>\n
The doctor analogy<\/h2>\n
The shift from presentation to diagnosis<\/h2>\n
The three-price strategy<\/h2>\n
The courage to walk away<\/h2>\n