Real Estate Expert

How do you determine a competitive listing price for a property in a market with limited recent comparable sales?

With few direct comps, I widen the search radius and time window while adjusting for differences in condition, size, and location, and I weight the most recent and most similar sales more heavily than older or less similar ones. I also factor in current listing inventory and days-on-market trends, since a thin comp set means the pricing needs a wider range of supporting evidence, not less rigor.

What factors do you weigh when advising a client on whether to accept an offer below asking price?

I look at how the offer compares to recent comparable sales, how long the property has been listed, current buyer demand in that price range, and the terms beyond just price, like financing contingencies and closing timeline. A slightly lower offer with a clean, fast closing is often worth more in practice than a higher offer with more risk of falling through.

How do you read shifting market conditions to advise a client on timing a sale?

I track leading indicators like months of inventory, average days on market, and the ratio of sale price to list price over recent months, rather than relying on a general sense of the market. A market shifting from seller-favorable to more balanced usually shows up in those numbers before it's obvious anecdotally, which gives clients more useful timing guidance.

What's your approach to negotiating on behalf of a client when the other party's agent is being unresponsive?

I set clear timelines in writing for responses and keep my client informed of the delay rather than letting it create uncertainty. If unresponsiveness continues, I'll escalate through the broker or explore whether the other party has genuinely lost interest, since sometimes silence is itself useful information about where the deal actually stands.