Happy Agent Co. - Real Estate Agent Podcast for Women - Hosted by Lindsay Dreyer, Real Estate Coach

Seller Strategies for a Shifting Real Estate Market

• Lindsay Dreyer • Season 1 • Episode 30

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If you’re a real estate agent trying to navigate seller conversations in today’s unpredictable market, this episode is your go-to guide.

We’re diving deep into the psychology of sellers who still think it’s 2021—and the strategies real estate professionals need right now to lead with clarity, confidence, and compassion.

In this real estate market, overpricing isn’t just risky—it’s a recipe for getting skipped over entirely. So how do you help sellers see the truth without killing the vibe?

We’ll cover:

  • Why sellers are struggling with pricing reality (hint: it’s not just Zillow)
  • The 5 phases of seller grief—and how to move them from denial to acceptance
  • What today’s buyers are really thinking (and why that matters in your pricing pitch)
  • Tools every real estate agent should use to present pricing like a pro
  • Common objections—like “Let’s list high and see what happens”—and how to respond without sounding pushy
  • Red flags to watch for before you take a listing that might drain your time and credibility

Whether you’re new to listings or a seasoned real estate agent, this episode will help you sharpen your pricing conversations, protect your clients’ outcomes, and build trust that leads to SOLD signs.

Because in real estate, listings don’t pay the bills—closings do.

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Speaker 1:

Hello there. So we are in peak summer market, whatever that means for where you are at. Today, I wanted to dive in to how to talk to sellers in a shifting market. I feel like the market is shifting in the majority of the country and I wanted to get into how can you help sellers through pricing decisions with real strategy, compassion, even, and knowing your market, really being the leader when you show up to a listing appointment, especially in a market where sellers are watching Zillow or Redfin or whatever their favorite app is of choice, and not necessarily the statistics. So here's the thing If your seller still thinks they're going to get 50,000 over asking the first weekend on the market because their neighbor did in 2021, it's honestly not their fault. They are just misinformed and that is our job to fix. So this episode is your seller conversation crash course and I'm hoping by the end of it you will walk away with the tools you need to have a real talk with your clients without killing the vibes, and the confidence to push back without being pushy. Also, language that helps you get listings priced to sell and not sit helps you get listings priced to sell and not sit.

Speaker 1:

I think we have to talk a little bit about why are sellers struggling right now with reality? And I really think a lot of it comes down to the fact that we are in a media headline market. People are scrolling on whatever social media platform of their choice and one day it is market crash, the next day it is inventory crisis and the news is not helpful in most cases. I also think they have bugs in their ear, friends, family, giving outdated advice, so they're saying ask for more. It's still a seller's market. And then there's what we like to call psychological anchoring, where they heard that their neighbor got $800,000. And now that they expect the same because, even though that comp might not be relevant, they are really fixated on. Oh my gosh, that house sold for 800K. I need to make that happen for myself.

Speaker 1:

And it's important to adopt a good mindset when you're dealing with clients who are really struggling with reality. You are not here to burst their bubble. You are here to guide them to the best possible result and conclusion and, in my opinion, that requires honesty. Not a sales pitch, not hype, just good old fashioned honesty. Tell it like it is, with kindness, and I really think most sellers want that. They hired you for the truth. They don't want you to just be a yes woman with a locked box. They want you to tell them what the real deal is. I also want to dive into a little bit about buyer psychology. So I'm going to give you a little buyer psychology 101. And this might be helpful to bring up to a seller.

Speaker 1:

So this is why your seller needs to understand the other side of the transaction. So let's flip the script. If your seller is hyper-focused on what they want to make, they're honestly missing half of the story. Today's buyers are cautious, they are stretched and they are skeptical. And if we don't understand where they're coming from, we don't win their attention, let alone them even making an offer. And it really is all about attention.

Speaker 1:

So what are buyers thinking right now? They're really worried. Honestly. They're like what's my monthly payment with these rates, these 7% interest rates? Am I overpaying for this house? That's one of the biggest fears. Also, what else can I get for this price? So they were comparison chopping. They want to make sure that they're really understanding what their dollar gets them. And then they also, in the back of their head, are wondering why hasn't this one sold already? Why hasn't this one sold the first weekend on the market. What's wrong with it?

Speaker 1:

So here's some ways that you can approach this with your seller. Buyers today aren't just asking how much it is. They're asking is this a smart decision right now? And if we're overpriced, we don't even get to answer that question. We will just get skipped over. And if we're overpriced, we don't even get to answer that question. We will just get skipped over. And that really is. What's happening is we're starting to see buyers just totally skip over listings when the seller and the listing agent were like well, if someone's interested, wouldn't they just make an offer? But we're seeing people just not even tour it because of the pricing. So getting that marketing price right is so crucial.

Speaker 1:

Here's an analogy that you can use if it's helpful. Imagine shopping for a car. So we have two SUVs. They're the same year, same features. One is $10,000 more. Are you calling the dealership of the one that's $10,000 more or are you scrolling right past and going to the one that's $10,000 less? I mean, you know my answer I'm going to the one that's $10,000 less and negotiating that too. But that's how buyers are treating overpriced homes right now. They're not asking questions. They literally are just moving on. So I think we need to reframe this to our sellers and really we need to let them know that we want the buyer and we want to attract the buyer who's going to love your home, but they have to see value in it and not just a listing price. So it is really crucial that buyers are seeing the value and, honestly, that comes down to nailing price. So it is really crucial that buyers are seeing the value and, honestly, that comes down to nailing price.

Speaker 1:

We're also dealing, I think, with some semblance of seller grief. Now, if you know the five phases of grief, we're going to dive into them in the context of a home seller. But pricing resistance is emotional, it is not logical and sometimes the pushback on price that you're getting it's not about you or even the house, it's just about their grief, them coming to grips with the fact that they're not getting the price that they want. So if you can recognize where they are in the process, you can lead them through it with empathy. And I know real estate agents, I think, would make the best therapist, because we're so good at leading people through emotional situations.

Speaker 1:

But let's go through the five phases of seller grief. So the first phase is denial. So what sellers are saying in that stage is like no way, it's only worth that. No way, I can't believe it. And what that really means is that they're clinging to the old market. They are not accepting where we are, the current reality.

Speaker 1:

The next phase after denial is usually anger. So they might say something like well, my neighbor got 850 last year. That's absolutely insane, that's ridiculous. And the feeling behind that is that they feel like they got cheated. They really may be angry at themselves for have waited so long or not timing the market correctly, so that can be a really strong feeling where they like missed the boat and that sucks.

Speaker 1:

The next phase is bargaining. So you might hear them say something like let's list high and just see what happens. And they're basically just like can we outsmart the market? Can we try to make this happen? Like I know I missed out, but like maybe we can work something out, maybe we can negotiate and bargain.

Speaker 1:

And the next phase is sadness. So maybe they're just really sad about what the current reality is and they might say something to you like I can't believe we have to go that low. Oh, that's so depressing. I can't believe that I could have sold for $75,000 more last year, and really what they're grieving is that financial or emotional loss like that $75,000 could have done something really amazing for their life, and so it might just seem like 75K to us, but there might be a really deep sadness or sense of loss because that was money that they potentially thought that they could count on. And then the last phase of grief is acceptance, which is all right. I'm coming to grips with what's going on. So what price will this actually sell at? And once people get to that phase of acceptance, that's when they're really ready to move forward and get their home sold. So again, those phases are denial, anger, bargaining, sadness and acceptance. And that's just the five stages of grief.

Speaker 1:

No matter what kind of grief you're going through but you may not realize that sellers are definitely going through this. In a market shift, I always find that empathy wins the day, so being able to say something like what you're feeling is completely normal. The market's changed really fast and I know it's hard to hear a number that feels lower than you expected, but I am here to make sure that you actually get the number that we land on and not just list it and hope that something comes through. I also think you can use some empowering language like it's not about what your neighbor got, it's about what buyers are willing to pay today in this market. Or we're not settling, we're being strategic so you don't lose time or money. And lastly, you can say something like I'm not here to pressure you, but I am here to protect your outcome and get your home sold for the highest amount of money in the quickest amount of time, or whatever goal is important to that seller.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so buyer psychology, seller grief aside, let's get into how you can present pricing like a pro. Here are my pre-listing prep musts. You have to come armed with market data. I am a data nerd, so find wherever you can get that data from. Rpr is free for all realtors. Check that out. I know in our DC market we have GetSmartChartscom. The MLSs often have a lot of good data, so figure out your source and then start pulling from it. Do not just do an MLS dump of listings. I think that that is not helpful.

Speaker 1:

So the things I like to pull are the days on market trends for a specific neighborhood. So on average, or the median, how long are things taking to close or go under contract. That is a really important thing to know because if it's 21 days and you reach day 21 and you have had no interest, that means you are not beating the market, so something is off. The other thing I like is the original list price to sale price ratio from the past 90 days. So are we getting 100% of our list price? Are people getting 97% of list price? So that can give your seller an idea and you an idea, of how much negotiation is going on.

Speaker 1:

The other thing I love to use is months of inventory. So traditionally people have said five to six months is a balanced market. I really think anywhere we're seeing three months, four months of inventory. You're going to like homes are selling but they're taking a little bit longer. So just knowing, are you trending up on that? Is it trending down? Is it staying stable? This can help you set expectations with your clients because you can say inventory is decreasing or demand is decreasing. So what we're seeing is that it's going to take five months for everything on the market to sell at current demand levels.

Speaker 1:

So having those statistics can be really important to presenting a realistic market picture to your seller, and I think stats can speak for themselves and you don't have to defend them. Stats are the stats. So get good at using statistics and I'm sure your broker can help you. Someone is able to explain how to use this to your advantage in listing and pricing presentations. The other thing I like to use is the pricing pyramid graphic, and that shows how the buyer pool shrinks as prices rise. So it's essentially showing that if you list from zero to negative 10% of a price, you're probably going to get X number of buyers in the market. So you can Google that. Google the pricing pyramid graphic and you can find that. But I like presenting that because it's a good visual on if you overprice, you're really missing out on the majority of the market. And lastly, everyone loves a good client story. So if you have examples of past clients that have made smart pricing decisions versus stubborn pricing decisions, I think that real life stories can be really helpful. So any experience you have that is applicable to that listing or that client definitely share it.

Speaker 1:

People like to hear real world strategies on what's worked and what hasn't, so here's some phrases that I like to use when it comes to pricing Buyers do not care what you want as a seller, no offense, but they care what it is worth to them and what else they can get for that price. So we have to be the best option on the market. Also, when it comes to days on market this is another one is that every day on market makes buyers ask one question what's wrong with this property? And then, lastly, the other phrase I really like, which is overpricing doesn't test the market. It actually makes the market ignore us. And those first two weeks on the market are crucial to building interest and urgency. So those are my tips for presenting pricing, presenting market stats.

Speaker 1:

Now let's say you present everything and you have some seller objections when it comes to pricing pushback. This happens frequently. So I'm going to run you through five objections and how I handle them. So the first one is let's list high and see what happens. So my response is typically I completely understand that instinct. You want to get as much money as possible. But today's buyers, they have options in the market. So if we miss that critical launch window, we're going to lose leverage. And if we have to drop the price later, they're going to wonder what's wrong, and then we're approaching the market from a position of weakness. So I suggest practicing the most common seller objections and your response to them. You should not use what I say word for word. It should be something that rolls off your tongue and that you know very easily and I'm not a huge believer in memorizing scripts, but I do think that you need to be able to have talking points when it comes to objections.

Speaker 1:

The next one is Zillow says it's worth more or Redfin says it's worth more. So I like to say Zillow is a great starting point and everyone looks at it. It's very normal. Almost every listing presentation I go into Zillow is going to come up. But here's the thing about Zillow it is a computer, it's not a buyer. So let's look at the real comparable sales on what real humans actually paid for properties that are similar to yours. So pivoting telling them. You know it's normal, like everyone looks at Zillow, but let's look at actual comparables because that's going to be the information that's most helpful to us.

Speaker 1:

The next one is that we don't have to sell. We're not in a rush and honestly that's a kind of tough one because sometimes you might want to run from that, but you can say that's great, no pressure. But when you're in a must-sell position, that's actually when you have the most power to price strategically and attract the right buyer on your terms. Number four is we put a lot of money into upgrades and we need to get all of that back. We get that one actually pretty of like very frequently when people have done renovations and you can say, I totally hear you, some upgrades absolutely add value and others are just more personal and they're more your personal taste. So let's break down the ones that today's buyers are willing to pay extra for and how we can highlight those to maximize your return. I think it's important to not phrase it like you're never going to get your money back on those, but let's frame it in the positive, which is some of these upgrades that you made absolutely add value. So let's highlight those to maximize your return.

Speaker 1:

And then, lastly this is a tough one because we are running into this now, which is I can't accept having to list this for less than I paid a year ago and that is so hard. I remember in 2008, 2009, 2010,. Oh God, this was like all the time. So I think the first thing is you just have to empathize, which is I hear you. I know it's really frustrating, especially after such a big investment and the market doesn't always move the way that we want to in the short term. But we can control how quickly and how smoothly your property will sell and also how we position it to minimize your loss and move you forward. So I think that's a really hard one, but it is important to just empathize and let them know that you're gonna do the best you can to get them as much as possible.

Speaker 1:

On the price side, I also love creating visual comparisons so you may have some examples of actual homes in your market. So I'd choose two. We could have an overpriced home or a well-priced home and then tell the story of each of those. So it could be that the overpriced home had two price drops and ended up selling in 80 days for 95% of asking. And then we have the well-priced home, which had three offers sold in seven days and it sold for asking price. So you can use this in your listing presentation or your pricing conversations, but I always find real-life examples are really helpful.

Speaker 1:

Now I would be remiss if we didn't talk a little bit about red flags to watch for when you are chatting with a seller, and there are three that I want you to be aware of. Now some of these may not be you have to run immediately, but it's just things to be careful of and they are things that I have learned over my many years of listing property that you need to get curious and dig in a little bit deeper. So the first is we want to test the market. Now that typically means that they are emotionally attached to a fantasy price. Now if you agree with their test, the market price, then by all means. But I would say I wouldn't necessarily jump both feet into I want to test the market listing unless you had in writing a listing plan or a price improvement plan written in the listing agreement. That basically says we'll test the market with your price for X amount of time and then after X, it's dropped to.

Speaker 1:

This Number two red flag is we are not in a rush and this typically means that they might have an unrealistic timeline. They may have low urgency, they may not need to sell, so that means that they might have high resistance. So you might actually get a really solid offer and they're still going to hold out for something that's even better. And we recently had this in the DC market where a seller literally got a full price offer and they initially said they were going to pay some buyer agent compensation and then they backed out on paying that compensation because they realized they were like, oh, we're not in a rush, it's fine, it's fine. And the last red flag I want to cover is if we can't get X price, we're just going to rent it out. And this could be motivation misalignment, but it could really also be that renting is their plan B. So I always think in a shifting market, you need to be having plan A, plan B and maybe even plan C if the property doesn't sell.

Speaker 1:

My biggest advice is do not take overpriced listings out of desperation. They ultimately are just a drain on your time, your energy and your credibility. And sometimes you know we're signing the listing agreement potentially three months before something goes live. So I definitely recommend setting a price review before you actually go live. I always do that about a week before we list. We're gonna revisit price, revisit comparables, and I just think that that's a really important piece, especially if you are doing listing agreements far in advance.

Speaker 1:

So let's close out this episode.

Speaker 1:

You are not just listing houses, you are running a business and in today's market, overpriced listings are a liability. You deserve to have listings that sell, because it is just exhausting to have a listing that sits forever. It sucks for everybody involved. But when you lead with data I think data is a big one empathy and have a real strategy, you are going to build trust with your client and trust, ultimately, is what is going to help you sell that home, because that seller is going to trust you to lead them through this transaction. So show up confident, show up clear. Remind your sellers that the goal isn't just for you to win the listing appointment, but it is ultimately for you to help them sell their home. I hope that this was helpful and maybe a little bit of motivation in the shifting market to help you deal with sellers. If you know an agent that would love to listen to this or it would be helpful, please share and do not forget to subscribe on your favorite app wherever you're listening, and until next time, stay happy.

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Lindsay Dreyer

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