Why I Turned Down a Listing (And Why That's Good for You)

By Andrew Ricks

Andrew Ricks is a real estate agent serving the greater Phoenix Metro and East Valley, including Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Queen Creek, Scottsdale, and surrounding communities.

Most sellers think an overpriced listing is a low-risk bet. List high, the thinking goes, and you leave yourself room to negotiate down, or worst case you just cut the price later and lose nothing but a little time. I used to watch sellers make that bet and let them, until one listing showed me exactly how much it actually costs. If you’re thinking about selling in Phoenix right now, the math on overpricing is not what most people assume.

Fifty thousand over asking got one showing. Here’s the listing that changed how I do this. I did the work up front, pulled the data, and studied the comps. Then I gave the sellers an honest price with a range: the top if the home were perfectly updated, and a realistic number given its actual condition. They locked onto the top and wanted about fifty thousand dollars more, and I let them. That was my mistake.

Over roughly six weeks, the home drew exactly one showing, and within days the sellers were calling to say the market had gone bad. It hadn’t. The numbers were identical to what I’d shown them on day one. The market wasn’t the problem. It was a price the market was never going to reward, and the only thing it bought them was weeks of cleaning for open houses nobody attended.

Your best buyers only look once. This is the part sellers underestimate, because a home draws the most attention in the first couple of weeks it’s listed, and almost none of that attention comes back later. Every buyer watching your area sees your listing when it’s fresh. If the number reads as too high, they decide it’s overpriced and move on without a second look.

Cut the price a month later, and those buyers are already in contract on something else. You never left yourself room to negotiate. You spent your best, highest-interest window pointed at the wrong buyers. Meanwhile, the days-on-market counter kept climbing, which is its own red flag that makes the next buyer wonder what’s wrong with the house.

Today’s buyers pass on aspirational prices. The reason this matters more now is that the ground has moved under sellers. For a stretch, sellers held every card, and a high number could still pull a bidding war. Today buyers have more homes to choose from and far more room to negotiate, so they simply pass on anything that feels aspirational. A home in this market has to be priced right, or priced right and prepared right, before it will move at all. The sellers who accept that and adjust are the ones getting to closing. The ones betting on a number they hope is true are the ones still sitting, watching their listing go stale.

I’d rather lose the listing than mislead you. That listing is the reason I won’t be a yes-man, because I don’t know when it became a Realtor’s job to only deliver good news. A good attorney tells you the truth so you can make a smart decision even when it stings, and you deserve exactly that from the person pricing your largest asset.

So I’ll bring the current data, not a comp from a year ago, and show you what’s actually happening this month. I give it to you straight, then we price it to sell while protecting your net and your timeline. If we look at everything and still see the market differently, that’s genuinely fine, and I’ll cheer you on. I’d simply rather tell you the truth than take your listing, spend your time and my money, and watch it sit.

In a shifting market, the agent who tells you the truth about your price is worth ten who tell you what you want to hear. If you’re thinking about selling in Phoenix, I’ll come prepared and show you exactly what today’s data says. I’ll be honest about what it takes to sell your home and net you the most. Maybe we’re a perfect fit, and maybe we aren’t, but you’ll walk away knowing the real value of your home, and that’s worth having no matter who you hire.

Before you settle on a number, let’s talk. Call or text me at 404-824-0697, email me at andrew@soldbyricks.com, or visit blog.soldbyricks.com. Whatever you decide, you’ll know the real number before you ever put a sign in the yard.