CHAPTER 3 Violate this Home-Selling Rule and Lose Money
Remember that buyer in the market for a three-bedroom/two- bath house? Let’s assume the agent found that buyer five houses to preview. Each meets his general criteria and is located in the area where he hopes to live. The agent and her buyer drive out to look at the five houses. All five have similar features. The prices are comparable. In theory, you might think the buyer will have a hard time deciding between houses. No matter how similar they may seem, no two houses are exactly alike. In real life, the 80/20 rule comes into play. Imagine four of the houses don’t have a pool, but one does. The buyer is not aware of this, though, because the agent didn’t mention it. The buyer sees the four houses that don’t have a pool. He isn’t particularly interested in any of them. Then he sees the fifth house and the pool! Suddenly, he is ready to make an offer. He might even pay full asking price, even though this house is more expensive than the others. The buyer’s offer isn’t based on the 80% of features this house shares with the rest. Instead, his bid is based on one unique attribute: a pool. The 80/20 rule predicted the sale of this house. Sadly, in this case, much time was wasted finding the perfect house. Had the agent known to look for the 20% difference, this might have been her first stop. As a seller, you can leverage 7
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