SHOULD THIS BROKER HAVE PRICED THIS HOME THAT LOW?.

The seller of this home at 1660 Stephan Lane in Sullivan, went first on the market with Shorewest Realtors for $325,000 in April of 2009. After a full year on the market the seller had reduced to $305,000 with no sale.

We took over the listing in April 2010 at $295,000 and after 3 months on the market we had a Offer that was contingent on the sale of the buyers' property for $260,000. The equity that the buyers needed to purchase the home on Stephan Lane was tied up in the buyers' home. Unfortunately the buyers had little room to move on the price of their home and were unable to sell in time and move up to the home on Stephan Lane.

What happened next though is quite a shocker. At the end of 2010 the seller was pressured to list with another agent "someone his kids were recommending". Sure enough in January of 2011 the seller listed the property with Realty Executives at a price - here it comes: - $200,000 AND paying more in commission and closing costs! $75,000 BELOW the last price and $60,000 below the contingent Offer! Granted it is not unusual for a seller to reduce after switching brokers but a 27% reduction especially when one has an offer for much, much higher is to say the least, unheard of. Furthermore, we had gone through a very slow Summer and Fall due to the expiration of the buyer credit. Sales pick up considerably after the holidays. So a good agent would have suggested to the seller to reduce somewhat and watch for the market reaction as showings and sales pick up. None of this happened of course. The seller said to us afterwards that his kids wanted him to unload the property.

As one would expect after a couple of weeks with the new fire sale price the home was under contract and recently closed. Did the broker do the seller justice? Even if the seller had a possible "mental breakdown" is it ethical for a broker to just take advantage of the situation and get the quick sale? I can certainly state that in 27 years in business, we have never taken an expired listing over and had anywhere close to such a dramatic reduction. Knowing what we know about the previous offer and going into the best time of the year makes this reduction obscene and the broker possibly not serving the best interests of the seller.

There have been cases where sellers have been very low on their perceived market price. If the market analysis shows higher, with the sellers' approval, we have marketed homes and ultimately gotten more than the sellers originally thought. Many clients refer to us as the Good Guys not only because we save sellers on commissions and closing costs but by also doing what is necessary to maximize sellers' net amount. Actions by few brokers as in this case, give the industry a bad name.