Here lately, I have noticed a lot of AMP binding the hands of their AM's with policies that come down from upon high. One policy in particular just absolutely amazes me and that is, always counter first with the list price.
Believe it or not, I have been told, witnessed and experienced some AMPs that are telling their AM that their first counter must be at list price. I know....you are taken back because, as experienced agents, we know that this policy is in many instances an immediate reject by the buyer. There in is the problem.
You see, I have had several AMs tell me, we can and will negotiate but, we can't do that till we have satisfied the policy that we must first counter with list price. Ok...so, does that mean I can tell the buyer's agent to ignore the first counter?
People expect to haggle and when you counter at list....on the first counter....or any counter for that matter, it appears you aren't going to haggle so, instead of staying in the fight, the buyer walks. The reality is, competition for homes isn't happening and if it is, the property is well priced or highly desirable and with as much inventory on the market...I would say it's likely well priced. None the less, the days of a seller playing hard ball for the sake of playing are over.
For the AMP policy makers, let me give you some good advice..........STOP RESTRICTING YOUR AMs. If your AM team isn't good enough to haggle on their own without you making some silly policy, then fire them and get you some new ones.
Yeah...yeah, I am sure the hate mail is going to flow on this post but, the reality is, between the experienced Realtor and the experienced AM, you should be able to get FMV (FAIR MARKET VALUE) and if you are not.....stop and ask yourself why. If you think the answer is that you need to add policies to tell direct your AMs reaction or to show them how they should be doing their job, then I have to ask....are you sure you got the right AM? Are you sure you got the right Realtor? Better yet, are you sure you got the right BPO / Appraisal?
Let's start having an honest discussion on why you can't get an offer at your list price before you start thinking you need to tie the hands of your liquidation team.
Just a thought.
