If you have looked for residential property to buy in Harper County, Kansas, you have likely run across a house for sale that has two or more real estate signs in the front yard. It use to be like this in Harper, Ks. when I first got my license. It is not like this any more, because I set out on a mission to educate the public, but check out neighboring towns, specifically, Anthony, Ks. and you will find this is typical in that area.
I will give you a brief explanation of what this means:
First of all, typically NONE of the agents that have listed the property are REALTORS. This type of listing is called an "OPEN LISTING" which means any agent in town can sell that property AND if the owner is approached directly by the general public, the owner can also sell it themselves without the use of an agent and therefore pay no commission.
Why would a seller choose an Open Listing?
I will list the benefits to the seller here:___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Notice something? Yes, I can think of NO BENEFIT TO THE SELLER.
But this is what the seller thinks: "If I list with every agent in town, my property will get exposed to the maximum number of potential buyers out there."
Truth is, Mr Seller, your property appears to be distressed. It looks like you called out everyone to work for you because this is going to be a tough sale, meaning something is wrong with the property. Red flag to buyers. There must be something wrong with this house!
Seller also thinks they will get advertising out the wazoo. Wow, tons of advertising. My property is actively being advertised by all these agencies.
Truth is, Mr Seller, none of these agents are spending any money marketing your property as they know that anyone can go right up to you and make an offer and they will be out of the picture, so why invest in advertising for an open listing.
Seller also thinks that all these agents are working together to get this property sold.
Truth is, Mr Seller, nobody is working to get your house sold. The fact that these agents can't work together is evident by the 3 signs in your yard.
How to fix this? Get one good agent, preferrably a REALTOR, who is listed with a REALTOR association and have your property put on mls. This will automatically get it on the major real estate website, www.realtor.com and others such as www.frontdoor.com, and you will find that one good agent beats three mediocre ones!
Good luck.
You have alot of choices in real estate in Harper County, Kansas, make a good one.
Mary Welch Broker/Owner Preferred Choice Realty of Harper Kansa
Member of Harper City Council
Member of Harper Economic Development
Member of Wichita Association of REALTORS, Kansas Association of REALTORS and National Association of REALTORS