[5-DayForum] Plan to conduct a sale in Glen Ellyn, IL
Bill Effros
bill at effros.com
Sat Nov 3 13:12:37 EDT 2007
Ola,
Others have answered just as I would have answered. Thanks to all for
passing along what I would have said, sometimes I just can't keep current.
I tried to make clear in the book that you don't run 5-Day Sales in the
face of extreme weather--even if you are jammed for time. Of course,
tornadoes, and 500,000 people without power, including most of her
neighbors, were the problem with that sale, and the reason the final
selling price was not just "low" but actually far off the scale.
Elizabeth let us know responses were coming in slowly, but neglected to
mention the tornadoes leading up to the sale. She should have pulled
the plug and rescheduled her sale, and we would have so advised had she
fully described the situation on the Forum.
The 5-Day Method always "works" if you follow it properly. You may not
get what you want, but the 5-Day Method does not claim to be able to get
for every seller what they are hoping for. The only claim is that you
can sell your home in 5-Days at the high end of the current market
value. I have stood behind that claim for 15 years and continue to do so.
The value of your home is not an issue if valuations in the 800K
vicinity are common in your area. If you try to sell an 800K home in an
area where few homes are valued over 250.000K, you will probably not
succeed. But if you think you can succeed, run targeted advertising and
see if you can get 25 responses by Friday night. If so, you will
succeed. If not, pull the plug and decide what you are going to do
next. The 5-Day Method is designed to be self-correcting--the Wednesday
through Friday period is critical to understanding if you have properly
valued your home, if you have advertised in the right places, and if
there is an active market for a home like yours at the current time.
The week before this early Thanksgiving should be fine. If it's not
fine, you won't get 25 calls. The long gap between Thanksgiving and
Christmas should provide several good weeks for 5-Day Sellers to sell
their homes to people who, for tax purposes, want to buy before the
start of the New Year; so if you don't get a solid 25 calls by Friday
night, and you think you can identify and correct for the reason,
postpone your sale until the week after the Thanksgiving weekend.
In my view, mortgage brokers confuse sales. I think 5-Day Sales should
be completely focused on the single goal of selling the owner's home in
5 days for the most money possible in the current market. That is not
the goal of the mortgage broker. You don't want anyone telling people
they will not be able to afford your home, or that your home is not
worth as much as you are hoping for. This does not help you. The 3
real buyers lined up their mortgages a long time ago. They know what
they can spend, and they know the current market value of the homes they
seek better than anyone else is the world. Real buyers don't need a
mortgage broker at this late point in their quest, and any time spent
with the mortgage broker is time not spent with you.
Advertising varies, and you must simply take your best shot. I stress
that advertising must be "targeted" in places you can be sure the 3 real
current buyers will look. It cannot be so wide and scattershot that you
can't evaluate your responses by Friday night. Internet advertising
works for 5 Day Sales in some places and not others. Web sites don't
work. Any site that forces you to advertise at a higher price than 50%
of what you hope to get won't work. Sites that force you to advertise
sooner than 7 days prior to your sale don't work.
Some 5-Day Advertising has been labeled a "scam" on Craigs list. Sadly,
I think some people have been operating 5-Day Sales in an unethical
manner, so I can no longer defend all 5-Day advertising on Craig's list.
Your ad must pull 25 responses from targeted advertising. Remove all
the non-targeted advertising prior to starting your 5-Day Sale so you
can be sure the responses you get are coming from your target audience.
If Real Estate Brokers find your ads in non-traditional real estate
broker advertising locations, and if they respond, this is a very good
sign. Even if they ask if this is the house that was offered by ???
Even if they ask if you still hope to get $$$. They ARE your target
audience, and they will bring their buyers if they can figure out a way
to make some money on the deal. That's between them and their clients.
If your home goes "cheap" and they are there to advise their clients on
the bidding, they can make a fair amount of money, and many have done
so. It's a win-win.
Real Estate brokers who respond to MLS advertising, or to other
long-term media do not help you. You want to find out if the 3 real
buyers saw your ad, will come to your inspection, and are prepared to
give you their best bids on Sunday night. If you fail to get a strong
25 responses by Friday night, solely from targeted classified
advertising, you cannot be sure you can get the best possible bid Sunday
night. If you are sure you will get the best possible bid Sunday night
you should continue with your sale and offer your home to the high
bidder. If you are not SURE (and I really mean it) then you should not
proceed with your sale and "hope for the best". Just stop. Figure out
some other way to get the most you can get. Don't run inspections and
Round-Robins until you are convinced the 5-Day Method will get you the
most you can get for your home in the 5 Days you have selected.
The most important aspect of your ad is the selling price. It must say
to people who understand 5-Day Sales "This is 50% of what I believe is
the current value of my home, but I will offer my home to the high
bidder Sunday night, no matter what the high bid is" -- you must
maintain this posture throughout your sale, and you must follow through
in order to succeed with a 5-Day Sale. People who are unfamiliar with
5-Day Sales must understand the exact same thing after calling you --
"This is 50% of what I believe is the current value of my home, but I
will offer my home to the high bidder Sunday night, no matter what the
high bid is."
Keep us posted,
Bill Effros
Ola Pacyna wrote:
>
> We plan to hold a sale in a couple of weeks of our home, located in
> Glen Ellyn, IL (24 miles west of Chicago). The house is in the 800K
> vicinity.
>
> I read the email from Elizabeth and her failed sale in Glen Ellyn, IL
> which is an upscale small town and freaked out at first, but if her
> sale was held the week of August 20-26 I am not surprised it did not
> work. On Thursday, August 23 we had the biggest tornado in the history
> of this area go through, which had damaged many homes, and left us
> and thousands of others without power for 3 days (thank god for
> generators). Luckily our house did not suffer any damages but some of
> our neighbors found trees in the middle of their living rooms.
>
> Now, we have decided to hold the sale November 14-18. Is it too close
> to Thanksgiving? I have also talked to a mortgage broker to join us
> during the open house days. Is there anything specific he should do
> with respect to bidders (prequal, preaproval)? I want to make the
> process efficient for everybody involved and know that the high
> bidders can afford to finance (or cash) the transaction. Where should
> I advertise it on the net except Craig's list?
>
> We have the house currently listed on MLS, Realtor.com &
> ChicagoTribune.com but we have a one time listing fee agreement with
> the listing agency and we can sell it ourselves at no fee to that
> agency. Is it a good idea to have them put a heading on the listing
> "Will sell to highest bidder on Sunday, November 18? Is it legal?
>
> I appreciate all of your pointers and comments.
>
> Ola
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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