Y'know, it's tough being a listing agent. No matter how good of a job you do, the margin for error is huge. If you sell the house too fast … you blew it on the price and "cost your seller money." If the house takes too long to sell, well, we all know what happens then. We didn't live up to our promises and we disappointed our seller.

I just had a listing go under contract with multiple offers. Fortunately (for me), a good friend of mine had the same thing happen to him just a few days earlier and (unfortunately for him), his seller wasn't prepared. She blasted him for underpricing her home and told him, rather snottily, that she had no intention of making any repairs at inspection.

So, Miss Smarty Pantz me, I warned my sellers up front about what I call "Seller's Regret."

Here's the thing. In today's market, almost every seller will experience Seller's Regret. But it's their choice (sort of) which type of Seller's Regret they'll experience.

Type 1: "Darn! We underpriced our home! We should have priced it higher! That lousy Realtor – she cost us money!"

Type 2: "Blimey. I wish we'd listened to our Realtor upfront. We should have made the repairs, staged it right away and priced it lower. Now, five months later, our listing is stale, we've paid $9000 of our interest-only mortgage and are fair game for low-ball offers, if we get any at all. Let's look into renting it out."

If your seller is lucky enough to experience Type 1, he may never know the pain and angst of Type 2 and he may always wonder if he should have/could have priced it higher.

If a seller is lucky enough to experience Type 1, he may never know the pain and angst of Type 2 and he may always wonder if he should have/could have priced it higher. And that's okay -- pricing homes is an art and, in most markets, there is no One Price for a home.

But I find that when my sellers understand upfront what might happen, they're much less likely to "blame" you when it does!

Published: July 24, 2008

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Jennifer Allan is the author of Sell with Soul: Creating an Extraordinary Career in Real Estate without Losing Your Friends, Your Principles or Your Self-Respect, as well as a number of eBooks including The Seduction of Your SOI: Generating Business and Referrals from the Very Important People Who Know You, Dorky Announcement Letters - DEDORKED! and For Sale Signs Don't Pay the Bills. Jennifer began her writing career after ten years of selling real estate successfully in Denver, Colorado. She was dismayed at the low level of professionalism she frequently encountered in the real estate industry and, with her "soulful" message, hopes to encourage the real estate community to self-correct the negative stereotypes of the profession. Jennifer's message is that agents should strive to be competent real estate advisors instead of simply competent real estate prospectors. That agents should respect the intelligence of their clients, rather than attempt to insult that intelligence with aggressive closing techniques. She preaches that agents should appreciate the significant commissions paid by their clients, rather than complain that they, themselves, are not appreciated. Her personal mantra is "The clients I have today are far more important to me than the ones I hope to have tomorrow." She is a regular contributor to several real estate newsletters and magazines, a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame and one of the industry's most popular bloggers. You can learn more about Jennifer's "soulful" philosophies at SellWithSoul.com.  Subscribe to  The Daily Seduction Tips & Inspirations to Generate Business and Referrals from The Very Important People Who Know You  Your Email Address: Your Name: