“Sellers remorse” is a term that most agents have heard – and it’s not a myth! It happens, and can cause sales to collapse!
Having heard about this at some stage in our realty careers, we tend to file it away at the back of our minds along with other notions that bear being called “it won’t happen to me”! That moment when your heart stops, your brain is screaming that your ears are in dire need of some serious repair, shock sets in and you completely lose your ability of speech and brain function.
I know this, because it happened to me fairly early on in my career. I had set an appointment to meet with a seller in order to conduct a mandate presentation. I had been thorough in preparation, was armed with an impressive presentation pack and a well prepared CMA, had pockets full of positivity and confidence and had practiced a little “warm up” on my very supportive sales manager. I secured the sole mandate, was as pleased as punch, and arrived back at the office humming a happy tune.
Light bulb moment!
As I sat at my desk to start processing the paperwork, I received a call from a lady who was most specific about the type of property that she wanted to buy. A light bulb went off! A big and bright light bulb! Yes, this lady was free to view straight away: I made a quick call to the seller and off zoomed straight back to my brand new sole mandate for the viewing … and the lady put in an offer straight away … for the full asking price, nogal!
Happy thoughts were tap dancing in my brain, champagne corks werepopping, thank you prayers were sent up and I floated my way back to present the offer to the seller thinking that I must have broken some kind of record as the entire process from signing of the mandate to the sale was 35 minutes. I was so focused on “it happened to me” that I forgot about that pesky file in my brain called “it won’t happen to me”! To say I was ill-prepared for the reception I received on my arrival is an understatement – of monumental proportions. Words flew around and past me that included: “too soon; not ready to sell today; haven’t even started to experience being on the market” and here comes the scariest: “should have asked for a higher sale price”.
The sale went ahead!
I don’t think I heard the rest of his objections because by now my brain, ears and heart had ceased to function. My bubble had definitely burst! Loudly! Eventually, my brain recovered enough to scream a message to my tongue and it went something like this: “SAY SOMETHING … USEFUL”. I did, eventually, and poured bucket loads of soothing oil over very turbulent waters – and the sale went ahead!
Being thorough in preparations to secure your mandate is crucial to avoid such situations. Included in this presentation should be preparation for a seller for receiving offers and for the sale process. My rookie error was that I was focused on what I wanted – the sole mandate – and not on what the seller wanted. I believed I had achieved what most sellers want, and that is to achieve as high a price as possible in the shortest time possible. But I failed to listen to what else he wanted: he wanted to fully experience the process of his property going to market, he wanted time to process and get used to the idea that he was actually selling his house.
“Prepare for your mandate” and “prepare your seller are words” I now carry with me every day!
By Charmaine Powell of Chas Everitt Umhlanga