My Apartment Won't Sell...Help!

SELL MORTIMER SELL!!

A: If your property has been on the market for months (either with a broker or not) and has still not sold, there really is only one thing you can do to spur activity: LOWER YOUR ASKING PRICE! The sooner you come to this realization the faster your property will move. Originally published August, 21 2006

Advice #1: LOWER YOUR ASKING PRICE TO BELOW MARKET VALUE! Its not rocket science. Its just a matter of waking up and realizing that what you thought your property was worth or what your broker promised to get for you is not realistic. Your goal should be to offer a good value to buyers and bring in as much traffic activity to your property as possible. In the end, the MARKET dictates the MARKET VALUE of your apartment, not the BROKERS!

Advice #2: This will sound anti-productive by its nature (since you might want to sell as soon as possible) but take 1-2 weeks off of advertising in major media outlets such as NY Times, NY Post, or online websites. Don't hold an open house for 1-2 weeks and only cater to individual appointments. Give your listing a break and try to 'freshen' it up for future display to a newer audience after some time off. Combine this with a price reduction and you should get renewed interest in your property.

Advice #3: Make sure your property is clean and NOT cluttered with furniture during open houses and showings! If possible, put some furniture in storage temporarily to show off the true size of the property. Also, do your best to only show the apartment when you get the most natural sunlight. If you get the best sun from 2:00-5:00PM, then don't run an open house from 12:00-2:00! Sunlight sells if you have it, so use it!

Advice #4: LOWER YOUR ASKING PRICE TO BELOW MARKET VALUE!

Notice a trend?

Im gonna say it because no one else will, especially to your hired broker who promised you those astronimcal asking prices just to gain an exclusive listing:

IF YOUR PROPERTY HAS NOT RECEIVED AN OFFER AFTER 35 UNIQUE VISITORS HAVE SHOWED UP, THAN YOUR PROPERTY IS OVERPRICED!

Do the right thing. Bring your asking price closer to that of the last comparable sale in your building. If that last sale was more than 12 months ago, than add some time value into it. But don't make the mistake of 'testing' the market as it will only set you back further. And another thing, if there are similar units being offered for sale in your building at the same time as yours, than make sure your priced accordingly.

It amazes me to see some brokers promise such an out-of-market price for their client's property. Now it is true that some agents are exceptional at the art of marketing and selling, and that they creatively built up their business to a level that offers more services for their clients than the average broker. An example of this excellence can be seen in Douglas Elliman's Jacky Teplitzky & the team and Citi-Habitats agent Danny Davis. Now both of these agents have proven to build an amazing business around their talent and marketing skills, but there is a limit to what premium they can get for you. What you need to look out for is the agents that have NOT exemplified top notch marketing skills and rather is simply promising you a substantially higher sales price to increase the likelihood that you sign that exclusive listing contract with them! The end result here is an overpriced property that receives normal marketing and has to be reduced in the near future if expected to move.

I'll probably get some heat over this post from the brokerage industry, but hey, I'm an independent contractor and as such I feel that I can independently post my opinions.

I SAY TO THE SELLERS: Look at pricing of the real estate market as you would look at pricing of corporate stock. If INTEL, NASDAQ: INTC, is trading a $19/Share and you own it, it would be foolish of me (your broker) to promise you I can sell it for $25/Share. How can I do that? Someone else is selling it for $19/Share, and the short term direction it goes is unknown! Well, if someone has a similar apartment to yours (a block away or in building) and is offering it for substantially less than you are, you know what you need to do!

UrbanDigs Says: Offering your property at a price below market value will generate traffic and hopefully get you multiple offers! If time is on your side, than try a series of smaller price reductions until you see a spur in activity. If you MUST sell now than do one aggressive price reduction.

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