Honesty Is The Best Policy – When It Comes To Selling Your Home
April 29, 2009
Is This Practitioner Too Honest?
Jim Klinge, owner of Jim Klinge Realty near San Diego, has been making his living bad-mouthing properties.
“The unvarnished truth is what sells,” Klinge says. “People want the truth. They want to just see it the way it is and if you just give them that, that alone is a draw.”
He says he closed 43 deals last year, down from 61 transactions in 2004–his peak year. But he says it’s enough for him to make a good living.
The key to his business is his Web site: Bubbleinfo.com. When he lists a new property, he turns on his point-and-shoot video camera and creates a brutally honest portrait that includes all the property’s flaws.
The most important factor in home selling these days is price, Klinge says.
“In our “microwave society where people know within minutes that you are on the market,” if a property doesn’t sell in 10 to 14 days, it’s time to lower the price.
“Lower early and often,” Klinge advises. “You ought to be lowering 5 percent until you get people coming.”
Source: ABC News, Vicki Mabrey and Matt Stuart (04/16/2009)
