How Does Your Minneapolis Duplex Agent Sleep?

If you ask me to come over and give you a price opinion on your Twin Cities duplex, do you want me to lie?

I could. But I won’t.

Some agents will.

And I wonder how they sleep at night.

They’ll tell you your property is worth much more than the comparable sales and market data suggest. How do you pick them out?

They’re usually the agents who give you the highest value.

Of course, you want as much money as possible for your property.

So you hire that agent.

Trouble is, he won’t get that price for you. He just wants the listing.

So he’ll tell you what you want to hear and beg your forgiveness later.

Realtors call this “buying a listing”. Basically, the agent agrees with you about the property’s value; knowing full well it’s over-priced.

The trouble is, the agent isn’t buying the duplex. Someone out in the marketplace is.

Most agents and their buyers have seen your competition. Sooner or later, either through a lack of showings or a lowball offer, the market will inform you that your listing is overpriced.

Look, we all think our pieces of real estate are worth more than they really are. But ultimately, they’re only worth what someone is willing to pay for them.

Right now, that isn’t as much as it used to be.

I recently lost two listings.  The agents who put their signs in the yard had prices did so at prices $20,000-30,000 higher than those I gave the sellers.

Neither property has sold. Which is the point of the whole excercise.

I specialize in duplexes, and I do my very best to price properties according to what market statistics suggest. In spite of this, listings sometimes still linger on the market for reasons I don’t always readily understand.

But I didn’t lie to the seller so I could put a Duplex Chick sign in the yard.

And that helps me sleep at night.