You CAN Turn a Sow's Ear Into a Silk Purse

Or a FSBO into a listing and full price sale. My second sale ever was like that.

A friend of mine had a small home she needed to sell and had already tried the do-it-yourself route. She ran ads in the paper and put up flyers in her neighborhood, but no one had been to look at it. This was back in the dark ages before the internet and websites changed the world of real estate, so her choices for getting the word out were limited.

One day she told me what she was doing, and that she'd offer me the listing but couldn't afford to use a real estate agent. I said, "You can't afford NOT to use me!" It took some convincing, but once I explained that my commission would come out of the extra I would sell the house for – making sure she got the amount she needed – she agreed.

Where I got the chutzpah back then, on only my second listing, I don't know, but I priced the property well above what she was asking on her own. And after only a couple of showings, we had a full-price contract!

And it still works. Not long ago I listed a condo that the owner had tried to sell by himself…but couldn't. He thought I was crazy for increasing the price by almost 20%, was sure no one would even look at it. You know what happened. Yep, full price contract, 30-day settlement.

When talking with a seller, whether they've tried to sell on their own or not, I always ask one important question. "You tell me what you need from the sale, your bottom line; if I can get that for you, what difference does my commission make?" The answer is, of course, that the commission is not really the issue. What matters is that the sellers receive the payout they want and need.

One of the nicest results is that these sellers – who were skeptical to begin with - become some of your best sources of referrals. And sometimes, good friends.