Pat Kennedy - Your Washington, DC Real Estate Connection

For many years, there were not a lot of "second agents" here in Washington.   You stuck a sign in the ground, took a couple of breaths, and voila!  You would have a bunch of agents rushing to your office bearing perfect offers - of course all above the outrageous asking price you put on the place.

Times have changed.  

We're actually seeing expired listings, and even though I don't prospect this part of the market, I sometimes get calls from the sellers asking me to come by and talk.  And I view this as real estate's version on Monday Morning Quarterbacking. 

Actually, I'm really good at it.

A lot of the time, I'm telling people the exact same thing their first agent told them.  But unlike the first agent, I think it's easier for the second one to convince the sellers to actually do the stuff the first agent recommended.  

And over the years, I've learned that often, it's the price.  And often it's something else that the previous agent addressed with price reductions.

Here are what I think are the major issues with houses that haven't sold that do not involved the price:

Condition:  this is sort of a no-brainer.  If the house is cluttered and smells like cats, and if it is up for the Excellence in Deferred Maintenance Award, I try to address these issues first.  Of course, if the sellers are not willing to deal with peeling paint, rumbling appliances and male cat spray, they will have to reduce the price by a whole lot to compensate. 

Staging:  was it done by a professional?  Was the house neutralized in terms of religion and politics (here in DC we have to lose lots of photos of our clients with current or ex-presidents).

Access:  if the showing instructions are as complicated as the rules governing some airline discount fares, that's a huge issue.  If it could only be shown every other Thursday between 6 and 8 in the morning with the listing agent present at all showings, it won't sell at any price!  

Marketing:  customs are different around the country, but I'd check to see what, if any, marketing the first agent did.  How was the virtual tour?  Was it professionally photographed?  What did the information packet look like?  Was it a stack of MLS printouts?  Or were there nicely done flyers that would help prospective buyers remember the place?

Other Stuff:  did the sellers leave when the house was being shown, or did they follow the agents and buyers around like they were worried someone would steal the silverware?  Was there a Realtor-eating dog who made the showings an adventure?  Did the place smell like an all-night poker game?

Price is a the bottom of my list, unless it's obviously way outside of the zone of reasonableness.  I do a careful market analysis that either confirms the price is right or tells us what it should be.  

Usually, there is some combination of factors that kept the house from selling, and I think it's important to address them all.  If, for example, you are over-priced and bring it down, you won't sell if you doggy, Fang, is humping legs and otherwise harassing people who are coming through.  If you pay a fortune to have the house decluttered and staged, that will not attract buyers if your price is way high (especially if Fang is running loose and humping legs).

When I've had sellers who wouldn't do what I asked of them, I've suggested that they might need a second agent, and that the most important quality that person should possess is the ability to get them to carry out my recommendations!  

That tends to get their attention.  When it doesn't , I fire myself.  

This is a conversation that every real estate agent is hesitant to begin with a prospective seller who is a cat person.  So for all you cat lovers out there, on behalf of myself and all of my agent friends on Active Rain, this is what that conversation might sound like.  

It involves Felix, or Fluffy, or whatever your adorable little fur ball's name might be.  

Even a heavy smoker with a really bad head cold will have a bad reaction to a stinky litter box.  When your house is for sale, if you can't get your kitty to go in the back yard, you have to scoop early and often.  

Some sellers think they've taken care of the problem by putting the cat box out of the main living area - say the garage or basement.  That's not a solution, because when buyers go downstairs or check out the garage - WHOO

I personally have lost a listing because I failed totally to effectively communicate what a huge turn-off Smelly Cat is to buyers.  They thought I was a cat hater who didn't understand them.  Au contraire!   My own house has an occasionally stinky litter box, but then, it isn't for sale.

This particular house stayed on the market for over a year in one of the hottest markets DC has ever known.  Agents gave it the nickname "Stinky House".  It sold way below what it's market value would have been sans Fluffy's cat box. 

So now I've said it.  If this advice fits, please read and heed.

As a real estate professional, I've carefully assembled a group of great people to help to help my clients buy their new homes.  They are home inspectors, lenders, and title attorneys.  They've been providing great service to my clients for a couple of decades now.

Some of my clients have assembled their own groups of homebuyer helpers.  These include parents, co-workers, girlfriends, old girlfriends, siblings and astrologers - all experts on real estate.

So, Mom and Dad live in Topeka, Kansas, where you can buy a house with pillars and room for a pony for the price of a small Washington condo in Dupont Circle.   When you send them the on-line tour, they'll freak.  Then, your boss offers to teach you everything he learned when he bought his house thirty years ago.  He has no idea that everything about agency and househunting has changed.   Your girlfriend has pretty strong ideas about your new place, like, she's thinking she might be moving in.  She'll be checking out "your" closets to make sure there's room for her shoes. And then, if the moon is in your second house, it might not be an auspicious time to buy your first house.  

Sometimes it's a good idea to wait until your housewarming party to get your family, colleagues and friends involved with your new home purchase!

My brother Bob, now in his late 40's, is changing careers.  Last year, he returned to college to pick up the credentials he needs to teach high school.  He wants to help teenagers learn how to write, and we're all proud of him and sure that he'll be amazing in the classroom.

So the other day, I wondered out loud if there was a way to use the Active Rain model to get high school and college kids to love to write and learn to do it well.  

You know, set up a blogging place where high school or college students write for points.  If they write good stuff, they get more points.  They get to critique each others' stuff.  And you add volunteer moderators - or coaches - with all the things you need to make it work - the power to give points, a smite button and the ability to write an occasional coaching post about protocol.

It's been fun for me to watch so many people on Active Rain go from writing some pretty "Run, Spot!  Run!" stuff to moments of real eloquence.  Whatever you want to call it - often it's "finding one's voice", we are developing skills that are helping us write better marketing materials, put together clear memos to other agents, add clear language to offers or counter offers, and create interesting web sites.  Active Rain is helping us be better professionals by helping us use and improve our writing skills. 

When I left college, my basic writing skills were embarrassing.  And my first job threw me in with some really great writers who didn't have a lot of time or patience to deal with Pat's writers' bloc issues.  There was a sort of sink or swim thing going on, and since sinking was not an option, I got better, but it took many years for me to feel like my writing was even barely adequate.

For most of us, I think it's practice, and that's what we get a lot of on Active Rain.  If it can work for real estate professionals and get us addicted, do you think the kids who my brother will be teaching could benefit from this approach?

In a few months, I'm going to begin marketing a home with one of the Washington areas most fantastic views, and it is at it's best during the winter months.

From the living room, dining room and master bedroom, you get this forever view of the Potomac River and Georgetown University.  It's not exactly what we call a "winter view", which means the only time you see it is when the trees are bare.  But it is more dramatic without all those pesky leaves getting in the way.

So yesterday, I took my camera and had coffee and muffins with my friends, and I took a bunch of photos so I would have a great view shot for their brochures and virtual tour.  This was taken from a balcony off their living room.  And luckily, it was the one clear day we've had in the last few weeks!  

Pretty soon, we are going to have our flowering tree season, and then the azalea season.  And if you have any thoughts of putting your house on the market, it would be a good idea to snap some photos while Mother Nature is doing her best to maximize the beauty of your gardens or shrubbery.    

There's a lot of talk about going back to the basics as a way of coping with today's market.  With all of the new technology that's turning our heads, a lot of us are having to remind ourselves what those basics really look like.

Prospecting:  I don't care how many hits you get on your web site, even if Google were to rank it Number One in the World, you still need to prospect every single day.  This is because most of those hits have or will soon have agents they met the old fashioned way - face to face!   Don't drop your web site, but do goose up your efforts to increase your face to face contacts.  Activities like Open Houses, schmooze calls to family and friends, and floor duty (if your office is in a location that attracts walk-ins) can lead to real business.

Telephone:  whether it's a cute new I-Phone or a bubble gum pink rotary Princess model, use it to contact people you are or would like to be working with.  Emails are fine, but your voice on the other end of the line is better.  If I get an email from someone who is referred to me, and if there is a phone number in the email, I pick up the phone and call them to make the initial contact.  After that, I'll use a combination of phone and emails, and the phone is really important in keeping the relationship on track.

Snail Mail:  since I started to send out a few hand-written notes to people every day (thank you, Brian Buffini) my referral and repeat client business has really picked up.  I'm not sure whether these little notes have some sort of magical power or what.  And I only do 3 a day.  And during the three months I've been doing this, I've done as much business as I did in all of 2007.

Say Thank You:  look for new and fun ways to do an old-fashioned "thanks".  I once wrote a blog post praising a colleague who did a fabulous job on a difficult transaction.  His manager is still talking about it.  When an old client sends you new business, have something you pop into the (snail) mail immediately after you hear from the referral - don't wait until settlement.  It can be a Starbucks gift card or a couple of movie tickets. 

Know Your Territory:  virtual tours are no substitute for really knowing the homes you plan to show buyers.  Nor are they the best source of information on comparables you are using to price a new listing.  I try to get inside 35 homes per week, sometimes with buyers in tow, and other times previewing homes I might want to show someone.   

The key is to embrace all of the wonderful new stuff that makes our jobs easier while, at the same time, using the old tried and true techniques that have been around for a while.

Call me "retro", but this stuff works for me! 

In just half an hour, the first network television show to come out of reruns since the end of the writers' strike will air.  It will be Saturday Night Live, and Tina Fay will be the guest host!  

I've been a fan of this show off and on since the 70's, back in the days when it was funny, and Tina Fay still is. 

One of the highlights of my career as a Nader's Raider was when, the Monday after Ralph hosted SNL for the first time, my phone rang at the office.  It was John Belushi calling for help.  At first, I thought someone was pulling my leg, but he eventually convinced me that it was him!  Eastern Airlines had lost his luggage and refused to respond to any of his letters about their ignoring his claim.  My advice was to go to the Eastern Airlines ticket counter at Rockefeller Center at 12:10, when it would be mobbed with the lunch rush crowd.  Then, I suggested, you throw a fit.  Make a scene.  Make it funny.  

He did.  Then he did something even better.  The did a skit called "The Land of Lost Luggage" making fun of Eastern and it's then president.   

Now the show still has its moments, but those early days were really pretty funny.  I hope with the new political season serving up all kinds of skit fodder, they'll have a funny one tonight! 

Let's admit it.  When the market was hot, out job wasn't all that much about marketing our listings. 

We'd put a new house or apartment into MLS on Thursday, make it easy to show over the weekend, hold an Open House even, then we would host a contract presentation party the following Wednesday.  After having dozens of offers to sort through, we would help our sellers get the highest price from the buyers who we judged to be most likely to show up on settlement day.  

Today, however, we are having to do real marketing to get our listings sold.  If we start out priced right and nicely staged, people are more likely than not to like what they see - and our challenge is getting folks through the front door so they do see the place.

During this buyers' market, we have a lot more to work with than during the last one.  What did we ever do before virtual tours?  Even an agent as technology impaired as I am can get a great virtual tour both on MLS and a bunch of other sites.  There are ads on Craig's List and the print and on-line sections of the Washington Post.   And with all of this, it's important to market to our colleagues as well as the public.   Our little black books have been replaced with address book programs that can shoot emails about our new listings to other agents, friends and people we've met doing various types of prospecting.

Here are a few of the tricks from the old days -

Brokers Open Brunch - there an old saying "Hang your pork chop in the window, and they will come." On any given Tuesday, there are probably 100 houses put on our tour for agents to preview, and that's in my immediate market area.  When I launch my new listing next week, I'm throwing a party on Tuesday and will get more than my share of colleagues through the door.  I serve simple finger food (thank you, Trader Joe!) and keep it easy and delicious.  

Mail Open House Invites to the Neighbors - in this area, Open Houses really work.  And they work better with help from the "nosy neighbors" who often bring friends with them.  Over the years, many of the friends wound up buying the house or turning into buyer clients for something else.  We have an office Art Director who provides us with beautifully designed Open House and Just Listed cards with professional photos of our listings, and all I need are stamps and labels.

Target Marketing - in many neighborhoods, buyers come from smaller homes within a mile radius of whatever I am selling.  And sometimes I notice that buyers for a certain neighborhood seem to migrate from another specific part of town.  Using this information, I sometimes do targeted mailings to rental properties or condos.

Special Interest Groups -  once I listed an art deco house in an off-the-beaten-track neighborhood.  The owner was active in the Deco Society of Washington.  I did up a flyer inviting members to an unadvertised Open House and had it inserted into their newsletter.  We had over 100 Decophiles show up.  The next day, at the advertised Open, one came back with a friend who bought the place.

History Sells - DC has a lot of old houses, and a lot of them have interesting pasts.  One of the District's former mayors grew up in my house, which until sometime in the 70's, was owned by her aunt.  Presidents, vice presidents, Senators and scoundrels have occupied many of our listings.  Many of my senior neighbors have provided interesting background on some of my listings, and our public library and the Washington Historical Society have also been a big help.  I try to include any goofy or interesting history in my marketing materials.

Brochures - while a great virtual tour is crucial, so is a brochure the buyers can take home with them.  If you are not the world's best picture taker, have your listing professionally photographed and have a pro prepare your brochures.  I think most brokers are making these services available to their agents.  I've been offering to email the brochures to people I meet at Opens, and a lot of buyers prefer this to carrying around paper.  

And, of course, anything you do to market a listing also markets you.  Your virtual tours and brochures not only help you sell your listings, they will help you get new listings.  Oh, and they'll help you get buyer clients - which in a buyers market is a good thing!

I just got home from showing a bunch of houses in my favorite champagne-taste, beer-budget neighborhoods, and one of them looked amazing on the MRIS. 

It was the only house in this neighborhood that actually was beer budget.  It wasn't the style my buyers were looking for, but they wanted a big lot, and this one was almost half an acre - a farmette by DC standards.  So we put it on the list.

The showing instructions said no lock-box, but call the seller.  And when I did, a very sweet sounding person with a sort of senior citizen voice picked up the phone.  She was most gracious and said to come on by.  Oh, and to please excuse the clutter.

When we arrived, she introduced herself and her very old doggy.  Then there were the cats.  Some were inside and others were swinging from the trees in the back yard.  The attached 2-car garage had, not a car, but about 6 stinky kitty litter boxes.  And every room had, yes, a whole lot of clutter.

And I felt my life fast forward a bunch of years.  I have a dog.  I have 2 cats (down from a high of 5 - yikes)!  Sometimes, the kitty litter does get a little stinky.  I have clutter, and it seems to spawn at night when I am sleeping.  Is this where I am heading?

And I'm posting this thing and going down stairs to scrub down the litter box and put away the Christmas decorations. 

I may need an intervention - NOW!

I'm putting a new listing on the market, and in doing the market analysis there was a house that just didn't make sense.

It's been on the market for an awfully long time, and it's currently listed with its second agent.  It's also priced for a whole lot less than anything else has sold for.  

So the first thing I wondered was "What's wrong with this place? 

It doesn't look bad.   

Doesn't smell like cats.

No carnivorous wall paper or Realtor eating dogs.

There were no obvious flaws,

Then I remembered the last time we had a "normal" market in Washington.  There was a house in my neighborhood that just didn't sell.  It was underpriced.  And everyone who walked in asked, "What's wrong with this place?"

That's when I started to wonder if it's possible to underprice a house.  Maybe it is.