When a property owner only wants to talk about price, two things happen. First they let the Realtor off the hook with respect to all the other service issues, and second, they run a significant risk of placing their largest asset in the hands of someone who understands more about basic human psychology than real estate.
Don't get me wrong, in seventeen years in Real Estate Sales price has almost always been the most important concern of the seller. The times when it hasn't have been when a) there was a requirement for the sale to be concluded in a short time period and b) occasionally when the property was part of an estate and the family wished the property to go to a young couple or some other purchaser who would appreciate the property the way they had themselves.
If all you want to talk about is price, some agents will simply agree to the price you have in mind, or "overbid" their competitors. While this can happen in any market it is more common in a "hot" market because there is a good chance that if you wait a few months, the market will build into your price, or the agent expects that you will grow tired of waiting and they can convince you to reduce the price to a reasonable level.
It always makes me shudder when I hear that a agent asked a seller how much they wanted and then listed the property a little higher, "To allow room to negotiate."
Don't be a deer in the headlights. Make your best effort to find a Realtor who has built their business on all the important parts of Real Estate Practice - not just promising everyone the highest price and seeing who bites.
Coming up, "What Can a Seller Do?
© 2007
David L. Potter