Second Chance CMA Earns This Realtor® a Coveted Listing

If within every mistake there is a potential for growth, then success lies ahead for those who know how to recognize and rectify missteps along the way.

Michele Miller, a Realtor® with Gary Greene Better Homes & Gardens, Texas, has a great story about how she turned lemons into lemonade, in that regard. When called to do a listing presentation for a luxury home in a highly-desirable neighborhood, Michele thought she knew the area well enough to come up with some numbers and make her presentation.

“I was off on my suggested list price,” said Michele. “I did not calculate the value of the home’s improvements or the community and its amenities well enough to do it justice.”

Not one to lose easily, Michele watched the property for a while and when the listing never went live, she decided to take a second chance. This time she kicked it up a notch.

“Whenever I do a CMA I first go to my MLS and run two reports. The first doesn’t let me pick comps and also doesn’t allow me to personalize,” she said. “I can pull comps for the second report but it’s just data. The third, and final, which gives me everything I need, is RPR.”

Since Michele had been in the house before and was familiar with the improvements the homeowners had made in the past three years, she went into RPR, searched for the property, selected the Refine Value Tool, and added the home’s improvements. She then selected comps and rated each against her subject property based on her enhanced awareness of the home and the area.

“What I like about RPR’s comparative analysis tool is that I get to pick comps and then tweak the value of each against my subject property,” she said. “It’s a unique feature I don’t get anywhere else.”

The ability to present a price range for a home is also a valuable feature of RPR, according to Michele. “I get to present a range that I feel reflects the home’s condition, how it compares to other properties, and make my own price adjustment based on my personal knowledge, like how motivated they are to sell. It’s an incredibly flexible tool.”

She then made a brilliant move by personally delivering a handwritten note, accompanied by her comprehensive, client-friendly RPR Seller’s Report, to the homeowner. The note read, “I noticed you haven’t listed your house for sale. Maybe I can help. I’ve reevaluated your home using a highly-accurate data source and have a much better understanding of your community. Here is my report.”

Without question, the homeowner responded. “You’re the only agent that followed up with us when we didn’t list the first time,” said her new client. “And the information looks great. Please come over and list our house.”

“I just love the presentation of RPR reports,” said Michele. “And people are catching on. Our corporate office [Gary Greene Better Homes & Gardens] is asking us to make RPR our preferred comp analysis tool and has even asked me to talk about RPR at meetings. I am happy to be leading the way in my office.”