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10 Tips to Selling In a Down Hawaii Real Estate Market

Selecting a good Broker to represent you will be one of the most important decisions you make after deciding to sell your home in Hawaii.  Being in the business myself for nearly 10 years, and as owner and Broker of Ocean Rock Properties,  I have written 10 tips that may help you reach your goal of selling in a down market.

1. First off, nothing could be worse for a Seller than when they realize that the high flying agent that they hired is now sending his/her assistant over to do their showings.  Don’t let this happen to you.  The only person that should be showing your listing is the person who knows how you expect things to take place in your home and the person you signed your contract with.  Before you go listing with a broker, make sure they will commit to showing your property themselves.
2. In a down market, be cautious choosing a Brokerage firm that has big overhead.  The first thing these big brokerages do when the real estate market starts to nose dive, is close offices, cut marketing in half, and go stale.  Ask the Brokers & agents you are interviewing to tell you how many offices they have in your small town.  If they start giving you the line about 4, 5, and 6 locations to better serve you, you know right away (in a down market) that this is probably not the company for you.
3. Avoid hype!  Seek a balanced and realistic Broker with honest ambitions. Remember, it’s not the Brokerage that sell properties, it’s the successful motivated Broker or Agent who you are putting your trust in to bring real Buyers through the door.
4. Avoid bell and whistle presentations!  I can tell you first hand that “talking” for sale signs and fliers full of excessive calligraphy that ramble off property descriptions don’t sell properties.
5. Proximity is important.  The distance between the actual licensee you hire and the property to be sold should be  a deciding factor in entering a listing contract with a licensee. Be cautious hiring a licensee that lives more than 25 miles from the property that is to be sold.  For example, every sale that I’ve made has a different story of how and when the prospective buyers ended up at the property.  Sometimes putting the buyer and seller together required immediate action. Other times, I have had people call about a specific property, sounding like “lookie-lous”,  who, when I  got to the property on short notice, end up being the motivated buyers.  Making the most of every opportunity is only possible when you are in close proximity to the job.
6. May the best man win!  Most importantly, if you are considering hiring a friend to sell your house that is in the business, you must set your emotions aside and ask yourself who presents the best chances of selling your house.  You are about to embark on a business relationship that will have a big impact on deciding your bottom line.  Choose the best man for the job, by comparing only what each one has to offer.
7. Dangling commission carrots.  You may have heard of “List Only” brokers or “discount” brokers which offer ridiculously low fees in order to snag you into listing with them.  In a down market, choosing this method  is the quickest way to shoot yourself in the foot  before you’ve even started.  Truth be told, in a down market, homes just take more time to sell. Granted that if a home owner is willing to list with a brokerage, at least $75,000 under current market value, then the broker’s commission can be rightfully negotiated to account  for a quicker sale.  Here is a quick breakdown of what happens to a commission: In the event of a 6% listing, typically the listing agent will have earned 3% of the sale price upon close of escrow, and the other 3% of that money he earned, he must forward via escrow to a cooperating broker unless the listing agent was good enough to find the buyer as well.  Providing that two brokerage firms get paid, each brokerage firm must then disperse that half amongst itself, the agent responsible for one side of the sale, their insurance policy, MLS fees, state licensing fees, and overhead.
8. The caravan promise.  Most agents, when trying to get a listing ,while talking with their client, will mention selling their house through means of something called a broker preview and/or a caravan.  I don’t want to discredit a successful caravan here, but gathering a large group of real estate agents in Hawaii to come to a house takes quite a bit of planning and good marketing.  If your agents promising an extravagant caravan to attract a stampede of free lunch seeking real estate agents, that’s great, just make sure you get it in writing.
9. Stay away from overextended real estate professionals who have attempted to take on the world snagging every listing they can and bringing them into their heavy boat!  Going into a listing contract with agents like this can be a huge waste of your time.  For me, telling a homeowner that their house will sell for a certain unattainable high price is nothing short of a lie.  Also, any Broker/Agent who personally is handling too many listings is going to have a hard time properly treating every listing equally. These type of agents will not only NOT sell your home, they will waste your time and money along the way.  Sometimes they get really bold and come back just two weeks after a slew of big promises only to tell you they need you to make a drastic price reduction.  You must always realize that your Broker’s sign in the yard also benefits the Brokerage too.   Contrary to what people may think, there are many reasons a Brokerage would want a listing even if they know it won’t sell.  Not only is it free marketing for them, it’s needed for these particular agents ego as a measure of success.  So please, use your best judgment in this area and make sure that you never base your choice of Brokerage on promises of unrealistic sales prices as you might just find yourself hiring an overextended agent.
10. Your ultimate success in finding a broker with the best chances of selling your house.  He is the one you can find who is the most balanced between all of the areas we have discussed and many more.  While one broker may promise front covers of magazines, but has no sales history, the other might promise multiple inclusions via the internet but falls short in many other areas.  Find a broker who is diverse and well balanced and you’ll be well on your way to selling your home in a down market!