Request for realtor review

[eyephone]

A friend of mine used Cindy in 2019 to sell a home in Irvine. He said the transaction was done smoothly and professionally. Although he almost never dealt with Cindy directly after signing up, it was another agent working for Cindy.

I've always felt using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is somewhat flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

My personally experience selling my investment condo 5 years ago involve both USC and this so I thought I'd share it. 

And this is in no way a negative review towards USC for those who only want the TLDR version. Martin was very responsive and professional in both emails and in person when we interviewed with him. He was even gracious to provide us vendor referrals even after we told him we were going with another agent.

We interviewed many different realtors including USC and the range of recommendation for the listing price ranged from $375k to $450k. USC was one of the few who came in the higher range, confident at 425k and maybe can get 450k. Also USC was the only one who provided an unique seller friendly commission structure as well.

But we ultimately didn't go with Martin because we were very confident our condo could fetch much more than 450k.  1) this was a very unique unit (6th floor, 180 degree panoramic view, elevator, penthouse in Santa Ana) 2) we did a complete remodel that came out great 3) we've done 2 other remodel flips in Santa Ana and are confident about price. Also this condo was cash bought, so we didn't feel pressured to get it sold quickly.

It took us awhile to find a competent agent willing to list it for 480k. And it took 6/7 weeks to sell. But we were able to get 494k for it.

I'm pretty certain if we had gone with a lower listing price we would have sold quicker but at a lower price.

Therefore I feel using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

I hear Good things about Cindy.

 

[usctrojancpa]

A friend of mine used Cindy in 2019 to sell a home in Irvine. He said the transaction was done smoothly and professionally. Although he almost never dealt with Cindy directly after signing up, it was another agent working for Cindy.

I've always felt using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is somewhat flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

My personally experience selling my investment condo 5 years ago involve both USC and this so I thought I'd share it. 

And this is in no way a negative review towards USC for those who only want the TLDR version. Martin was very responsive and professional in both emails and in person when we interviewed with him. He was even gracious to provide us vendor referrals even after we told him we were going with another agent.

We interviewed many different realtors including USC and the range of recommendation for the listing price ranged from $375k to $450k. USC was one of the few who came in the higher range, confident at 425k and maybe can get 450k. Also USC was the only one who provided an unique seller friendly commission structure as well.

But we ultimately didn't go with Martin because we were very confident our condo could fetch much more than 450k.  1) this was a very unique unit (6th floor, 180 degree panoramic view, elevator, penthouse in Santa Ana) 2) we did a complete remodel that came out great 3) we've done 2 other remodel flips in Santa Ana and are confident about price. Also this condo was cash bought, so we didn't feel pressured to get it sold quickly.

It took us awhile to find a competent agent willing to list it for 480k. And it took 6/7 weeks to sell. But we were able to get 494k for it.

I'm pretty certain if we had gone with a lower listing price we would have sold quicker but at a lower price.

Therefore I feel using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

Thanks for the kind words.  You guys definitely had a very cool, unique property that was a bit tricky to comp out due to the lack of similar properties but I was happy for you guys after I saw what it ended up selling for.  Every seller is different and it's important to understand their motivations and timing for the sale.  Ultimately it is the seller that decides what the listing price is and what price they will accept, I just provide my recommendations on the best listing price strategy to achieve the goals that the sellers have in the most timely and efficient manner.

 

[marmott]

We sold our home with Martin summer of 2018 and I think it is still the highest comp for resale in Elderberry 2+ years later. From our point of view he did a great job getting us out of there less than a year after moving in while competing against the builder's inventory.

 

[usctrojancpa]

We sold our home with Martin summer of 2018 and I think it is still the highest comp for resale in Elderberry 2+ years later. From our point of view he did a great job getting us out of there less than a year after moving in while competing against the builder's inventory.

You guys made it easy for me with having the home be turnkey with great upgrades. 

 

[ThirtySomethingWEquity]

A friend of mine used Cindy in 2019 to sell a home in Irvine. He said the transaction was done smoothly and professionally. Although he almost never dealt with Cindy directly after signing up, it was another agent working for Cindy.

I've always felt using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is somewhat flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

My personally experience selling my investment condo 5 years ago involve both USC and this so I thought I'd share it. 

And this is in no way a negative review towards USC for those who only want the TLDR version. Martin was very responsive and professional in both emails and in person when we interviewed with him. He was even gracious to provide us vendor referrals even after we told him we were going with another agent.

We interviewed many different realtors including USC and the range of recommendation for the listing price ranged from $375k to $450k. USC was one of the few who came in the higher range, confident at 425k and maybe can get 450k. Also USC was the only one who provided an unique seller friendly commission structure as well.

But we ultimately didn't go with Martin because we were very confident our condo could fetch much more than 450k.  1) this was a very unique unit (6th floor, 180 degree panoramic view, elevator, penthouse in Santa Ana) 2) we did a complete remodel that came out great 3) we've done 2 other remodel flips in Santa Ana and are confident about price. Also this condo was cash bought, so we didn't feel pressured to get it sold quickly.

It took us awhile to find a competent agent willing to list it for 480k. And it took 6/7 weeks to sell. But we were able to get 494k for it.

I'm pretty certain if we had gone with a lower listing price we would have sold quicker but at a lower price.

Therefore I feel using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

OK but were you in a RE bull market?  I had USC help sell my condo recently very quickly, I'm sure if I had wanted to wait ~8 weeks we could have sold it for 30k, 40k more.  Except the house I bought wouldn't have been on the market and the comparable houses would be selling for 120k+ more.  So it wouldn't have really helped me to make that extra cash...

Selling fast for a little less can be the financially prudent thing to do.

 

[Kenkoko]

A friend of mine used Cindy in 2019 to sell a home in Irvine. He said the transaction was done smoothly and professionally. Although he almost never dealt with Cindy directly after signing up, it was another agent working for Cindy.

I've always felt using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is somewhat flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

My personally experience selling my investment condo 5 years ago involve both USC and this so I thought I'd share it. 

And this is in no way a negative review towards USC for those who only want the TLDR version. Martin was very responsive and professional in both emails and in person when we interviewed with him. He was even gracious to provide us vendor referrals even after we told him we were going with another agent.

We interviewed many different realtors including USC and the range of recommendation for the listing price ranged from $375k to $450k. USC was one of the few who came in the higher range, confident at 425k and maybe can get 450k. Also USC was the only one who provided an unique seller friendly commission structure as well.

But we ultimately didn't go with Martin because we were very confident our condo could fetch much more than 450k.  1) this was a very unique unit (6th floor, 180 degree panoramic view, elevator, penthouse in Santa Ana) 2) we did a complete remodel that came out great 3) we've done 2 other remodel flips in Santa Ana and are confident about price. Also this condo was cash bought, so we didn't feel pressured to get it sold quickly.

It took us awhile to find a competent agent willing to list it for 480k. And it took 6/7 weeks to sell. But we were able to get 494k for it.

I'm pretty certain if we had gone with a lower listing price we would have sold quicker but at a lower price.

Therefore I feel using the stats (% of listing closing & the average time to escrow) to judge agents is flawed. It heavily favors agent who are conservative in pricing the home.

OK but were you in a RE bull market?  I had USC help sell my condo recently very quickly, I'm sure if I had wanted to wait ~8 weeks we could have sold it for 30k, 40k more.  Except the house I bought wouldn't have been on the market and the comparable houses would be selling for 120k+ more.  So it wouldn't have really helped me to make that extra cash...

Selling fast for a little less can be the financially prudent thing to do.

Maybe you missed it because my post was long, but as I indicated in my above post, it was an investment property we paid cash for. We were not under pressure to sell it quickly.

It was early 2016 so yes, it was a RE bull market.

The last 2 times we've had to sell our primary home to upgrade, we rented short term vacation homes. We felt it was beneficial on multiple fronts and highly recommend this to others 1) This gave us time to smoothly transition 2) not under any kind of buying/selling contingency 3) Not under time pressure selling and we can get max $$$ on the sale and remodel the new place before moving in. 4) we get to experience living in a completely different place. The last time we stayed at a Laguna beach home with panoramic ocean view. it was truly awesome.

 

[paperboyNC]

I believe that when selling tract homes that are generally affordable (right now that means under $1.25-1.50 million), your best listing strategy is to list for slightly under comps. Let's say you think you can get $750k+ for your home. List it for $699k! There are probably numerous people with zillow/redfin/etc alerts for 3 bedrooms in Irvine for under $700k.

If those buyers have only been looking at under 700k homes, yours should stand out being head and shoulders better than your competition. The women will fall in love with the place and their dream home. Once you get 30+ offers, some of those "not a penny over 700k" buyers are so attached to the home that they bid up to $820k without realizing the beautiful homes they could have bought for 820k that they never even looked at.

This isn't true for unique homes or homes without straightforward comps. Those types of homes need to sit on the market longer to find a unique buyer.

 

[usctrojancpa]

I believe that when selling tract homes that are generally affordable (right now that means under $1.25-1.50 million), your best listing strategy is to list for slightly under comps. Let's say you think you can get $750k+ for your home. List it for $699k! There are probably numerous people with zillow/redfin/etc alerts for 3 bedrooms in Irvine for under $700k.

If those buyers have only been looking at under 700k homes, yours should stand out being head and shoulders better than your competition. The women will fall in love with the place and their dream home. Once you get 30+ offers, some of those "not a penny over 700k" buyers are so attached to the home that they bid up to $820k without realizing the beautiful homes they could have bought for 820k that they never even looked at.

This isn't true for unique homes or homes without straightforward comps. Those types of homes need to sit on the market longer to find a unique buyer.

+1  Some of my clients told me that they wanted to go "fast" and didn't want to show the home more than one week because they had kids and keeping the home show worth was like a second job so we decided that slightly underpricing the home was the best strategy for them.  In the lower end of the market, if you under list in a good market the market will bring you up to the true market value and even overshoot on the upside because of a bidding war because of emotional buyers.  I've had dozens of these situations and we ended up going over model match closed comps resulting in record sales prices.  With higher-end and unique homes, the pricing strategy is much different as there are far fewer buyers and buyers want to feel like they got a good value.