Thread: No offer with messy neighbor - switch agents?

I won't presume to tell you how to figure out what's going on in your Agent's head.


However, I will wish you luck. I think it would help you out if you offered to pay to clean up your neighbor's yard or whatever for him. That might be worth the 20-100 bucks a month you spend on yard work for your neighbor's house to sell your house.

Or you could just ask the neighbor politely to clean his act up because his house is killing the sale of yours. If that doesn't work calling the city if he's breaking any codes would be another route.

Originally Posted by jinmo

1. How do we assess whether the agent has done satisfactory jobs or not in this kind situation?

No, the agent has not done a satisfactory job in explaining that your home is overpriced for the market. Was a price-reduction strategy discussed when the property was listed? Were suggestions made by the agent as to what improvements you could make in order to bring the selling price more in line with your asking price?

The messy yard next door can be addressed in a number of ways, including, as has already been said, offering to help clean it up. Tom Hopkins has a great script for this situation, based on the average home sale turn-over in an area and the impact of the ugly property on the PRICE of the house that's for sale.

2. What questions do we ask the agent to ensure she is still motivated to sell the house.

What? "Excuse me, Real Estate Agent, but would you rather earn the commission for selling my house, or zero?"

3. If we need to switch agents and look for a new one, how do we best approach prospective agents?

Interview a few high-producing agents in the area and ask what they would do to get your property sold, in light of the ugly place next door and the fact that yours is currently overpriced.

One of the great misunderstandings about real estate sales is that it's the agent's job to "sell" the house like a carnival barker, standing on the street corner all day making a brilliant sales pitch to passers-by, in hopes that one will buy on impulse. In fact, it's the agent's job to market the property in ways that will bring it to the attention of ready, willing, and able buyers AND demonstrate why this house is a better choice than others in its size and price range. The first and best way to look better than the competition is to be priced better, which means offering more value for less cost than the others.

If your house isn't selling, it's most likely the price. I'm not going to say the neighbor has no impact but as mentioned in the prior postings, there are ways to deal with that. If your Realtor is marketing your property then you might want to ask yourself a few questions about your part in the process of selling....

(1) Am I handling the neighbor in the best possible way to maximize my selling price?

(2) Is my house staged properly? Are my colors neutral and is it clutter free?

(3) Am I priced competitively with the market? Am I above or below the average selling price for my area?

Your agent's mistake may be not advising you well enough but then I do not know if I am getting the full picture of your scenerio or not.

Hi Jinmo,

Selling real estate can be a very stressful time for home owners. My advice to you is concentrate on the 95% of the feedback that says your neighbor is the issue.
If your neighbor is hostile or just unwilling to work with you, you might have to adjust your asking price. Keep in mind that price overcomes all objections.

I'm not sure your agent is the reason your home isn't selling. Whats the commision offered on the selling side, that may be something to consider too if it's below that of other like properties.

Best of Luck!

We believe the price is pretty low already. Our agent wanted to keep it higher for a bit longer, but we decided to go much lower than what she suggested. She says it's almost impossible to put a price to pay on the messy neighbor, and I agree. We thought we went for a much larger reduction but maybe it was not enough.

We suggested to pay to clean the mess for the neighbor. The thing is he piles up lots of stuff in the front yard and claims those are art. The county cannot do much, as long as they are not so obvious to be trash and could qualify as art pieces. The neighbor is not a bad guy (we know him personally and share friends), but has a perculir point of view. I guess people are scared away. We live in a pretty affluent neighborhood, and he stands out so much.

So it seems like we need to adjust the price further so that the price fixes the problem.

My suggestion is to stand behind his art collection.






Now, don't be getting the straight jacket out for me just yet. It's a selling strategy. Put a picture of his art collection on the MLS with your house pictures. Advertise it as a good thing, that his art is unique and special. Then raise your price back up to about average.


I have such advanced strategic thought in this one that I am actually kind of amazed myself. Do me a favor, when you sell it for that extra money, remember who gave you the strategy that sold your house and give me some commission, lord knows I need it

Edit: Be sure to note that the art does not come with the sale of the house and that it's not even on your land. Otherwise there could be issues with litigation over the artwork if someone who buys your house attempts to claim that you advertised the artwork as a part of the house.