Your Home Won't Sell Because You Missed These Critical First Steps

Selling your home can feel like navigating a minefield blindfolded. Rowena Patton removes that blindfold by revealing what real estate agents typically keep behind closed doors, starting with a bombshell revelation: over 30% of home sales fall through after going under contract.

Drawing from her experience with over 3,500 transactions, Rowena explains why traditional home selling methods are increasingly risky in today's shifting market. Most properties across the country peaked in value during 2023 and are now experiencing a plateau before the inevitable economic cycle downturn. This reality check serves as a crucial warning for sellers hoping prices will continue rising indefinitely.

The episode introduces a game-changing approach to selling: the Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) home strategy. By investing in a pre-inspection before listing (typically $400-600), sellers can identify potential issues upfront, dramatically reducing the failure rate from 33% down to just 7%. This proactive approach prevents the dreaded "stigmatized listing" phenomenon that occurs when deals fall through, forcing sellers into significant price reductions.

Rowena breaks down three distinct selling paths—conventional listings, conventional CPO, and cash CPO—comparing their timelines, close rates, and advantages. The differences are stark: conventional listings close successfully only 67% of the time, while CPO approaches reach an impressive 93% success rate. For those needing guaranteed sales and quick closings (perfect for divorce, inheritance, or relocation situations), the cash CPO option provides up to 70% of equity within just two weeks.

Whether you're considering selling now or in the future, this episode provides critical insights that could save you thousands of dollars and months of stress. Don't gamble with your largest asset by skipping a simple inspection—call 828-333-4483 to discuss your options with Rowena's team anywhere in the country.

Chapters

• 0:23 Introduction with Rowena Patton
• 5:46 The Nine Ds: Major Life Triggers for Moving
• 11:17 Understanding Today's Real Estate Market Reality
• 16:19 Three Listing Options: Conventional vs. CPO
• 29:58 The Power of Pre-Inspections
• 38:20 Avoiding Contingency Traps When Buying & Selling
• 45:34 Closing Success Rates: The CPO Advantage
• 51:28 Final Advice for Sellers in Today's Market

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Plain English Real Estate Show with your host, rowena Patton, a show that focuses on the real estate market in terms you can easily understand. Call Rowena now. The number is 240-9962 or 1-800-570-9962. Now here's the English girl in the mountains, the agent that I would trust, rowena Patton.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Hey, it's Rowena Patton here on the Real Estate News Radio Show and last week I had so much fun doing the show Thank you for all those of you who listened that I thought we'd do another peel back the curtain and see what really goes on with agents. I was prompted to do this because I was looking in one of the big agent forums there's lots of agent forums that we're all in as real estate agents and somebody was asking whether feedback should be shared with sellers. So I want to start with that today, and I also want to start with all kinds of things that we hear from you as home sellers when you're thinking about selling your home and, of course, you're human beings we all feel this way. I want to pull back the curtain a little bit and also, I know you're not surprised by this. Real estate agents are trained in what to say and I coach a lot of agents around the country and my coaching approach is to look at what we would say as a human being. I often say to the agents I'm talking to instead of reading a script, I want you to think of sitting next to somebody on an airplane seat. Of course, a lot of agents say, or any of us would say I don't want to start talking to the person who's sitting next to me because it might go on for three hours. The difference is, what would you say if it's a friend sitting next to you and you're chatting away? What would that conversation look like? I think it's the same thing in feedback, isn't it? You know the question was from the agent. Should we share the feedback? And I will read you exactly what I wrote and this is on a private agent forum, obviously, but I wrote it so I'll be totally honest and transparent and pull back the curtain on what I say on these things. So I wrote I personally appreciate the transparency of sharing feedback immediately as I receive it. So, as a side note, a lot of agents don't share the feedback with you because it can be hurtful.

Speaker 2: 2:39

However, I always prepare home sellers up front, letting them know that some feedback may feel annoying or frustrating, especially when agents comment on the things that cannot be changed the driveway's too steep right or things like that. Often, agents are out showing multiple homes, especially in markets where somebody's flying in or driving in for three hours to see homes. They come in, they're in an Airbnb or a VRBO or a hotel for the weekend and, as a buyer's agent, you are running around for two days showing them home. Often, agents are showing multiple homes and feel obligated to leave feedback, which isn't always constructive. That said, feedback is a crucial tool in securing important price adjustments when needed.

Speaker 2: 3:28

My role isn't to interpret or sugarcoat what agents say. That's the buyer agent. Sometimes their comments are unprofessional, vague or even nitpicky. Any of you have listed a home and it hasn't sold, or if you're in the process of it, know this. You may feel that some of it is unprofessional, vague and even nitpicky. Instead, I view feedback as a sort of insurance policy, helping sellers feel confident in their decision to work with me and ensuring we have every tool available to position their home for success Right. So that's how I feel about giving you feedback. So let's break that down a little bit. So we're looking at the transparency piece.

Speaker 2: 4:12

So some agents, what they do, many agents, what they do actually is they feel like and I understand it right they don't want you to be hurt when, or get mad when, you see that feedback the walls are green or it's 30 minutes out from the city, like you know. So that's what you feel as a seller, it's like what the heck Couldn't they have done their research? Why didn't they know that we get that feedback from you as sellers all the time? So I know this goes on. Why the heck didn't they do the research? Well, I can't really answer for that. You know, they may or may have not done the research, they may be less experienced, they may just be going. Sure, I'll take you to see 20 homes today and taking people into the homes as a key opener. You know that's not what we do. I get it. But there are a lot of agents out there. You know, maybe they're newer, maybe they haven't been trained yet, who knows? Or they just don't know that. It's not their fault, they just don't know those pieces.

Speaker 2: 5:06

I personally don't want to interpret or sugarcoat what those buyer agents are saying about your home when I'm your listing agent. Now you may get upset with me or it will feel like you get upset with me. What I've got to know as an agent right is that you're not upset with me, you're upset with the process. What do I mean by that? I think you will know that many agents won't tell you it's not really fun selling your home. Oh, did I really say that. Yes, I really said that it's not really fun selling your home. It's not really fun selling your home. You've got dogs, you've got kids, you've got a divorce going on, your parents are going into usually fun so you're getting married and you're buying a house together. You're having a baby and you're buying a house together.

Speaker 2: 6:10

Once you're in your 30s, it tends to be the not so fun things that cause you to sell your house. Does that make sense? So you all know those triggers death, divorce, all of the other triggers that go into that. We've done whole shows on this, actually, and I call them the nine Ds. So let's run through these for a second. These are life. They're just major life triggers. They happen to many of us. I know when we were in school they sold us Disney and there was a white horse and a princess and all of that good stuff. And then we get into real life and wonder, because we're so tied up on social media, why everybody else has a fantastic life and we're going through all of this stuff. Death passing of a loved one it could be, you know, it could be anybody in your family. Obviously that's traumatic and it is triggering you to buy a house or sell a house. Divorce another traumatic event. Hopefully you're not going through that in your 30s or at all. Let's hope you're never going through a divorce.

Speaker 2: 7:20

Obviously it happens and it very frequently results in the sale of a shared home. It might be debt. I just did this with an agent this morning. I talked them through how to get the cash CPO offer because their foreclosure notice is the middle of April. I think we've still got time to get them out. It was a high priced home and I think we've got time to get them out before they go into foreclosure. It's just such a blessing that I helped draw the way through it. So obviously that is something where you want to sell a home quickly.

Speaker 2: 7:52

Maybe you're right sizing. They used to call it downsizing. I call it right sizing because lots of us want smaller homes now. A lot of us, when we're older, our kids have, you know, gone off to college. We don't have kids. Maybe we had that big home for the family to gather in. We've got three, four, five bedrooms. We don't need a home that size anymore and in fact a lot of the kids in their 50s and 60s are telling their parents that they don't need that big house anymore. You might be in your 30s and 40s and telling your parents that, too, you're out of the house. They're like, oh, we want to keep the house for the kids that come home for the holidays. You know that ain't happening. It's not been happening. If it is good for you, that is fantastic. If you've got kids that have moved away and made a life somewhere else, maybe they're not coming back as often. And, by the way, we've got Airbnbs and VRBOs and hotels they can stay in.

Speaker 2: 8:43

You can right size, move into a home that's only half the price, maybe. How cool would that be. Now you've got a bunch of cash. Go and enjoy yourself, go traveling, go whatever it is you wanted to do, pay off all your debts, whatever it is. And then it might be education and graduation, moves, deployments, right. So that's the next day. It might be deployment. It might be deployment. It might be diapers, that's, growing families. It might be diamonds. These are the fun bits, obviously, at least hopefully.

Speaker 2: 9:10

And then there's disaster. So the natural disasters and emergencies. Obviously we've seen way too many of those recently. All those kind of things happen and you know it may not be one of those major life changes. It could be something as simple as getting a puppy and realizing that, oh, maybe this puppy grew a bit larger than you expected and you really want to have a yard outside. Yes, people move for their dogs all the time. It may be something like that.

Speaker 2: 9:44

So my point is I'd like you to really think about why you thought about moving in the first place. And here's the truth, guys, and I can get you zip codes for anywhere in the country, anywhere in the country, and I can show you 30 data points on all of them, almost everywhere in the country crested in 2023. Yes, that's two years ago. We've been bumping along a plateau. Has it gone up a percent or two since? Yeah, sure, because we're just bumping along right and none of us know when it tips.

Speaker 2: 10:18

But what I do know is Clément Juglar, the French economist, set up the economic cycle back in 1860. Clément Juglar, the French economist, set up the economic cycle. It's like a roller coaster. We all know what the economic cycle looks like, right, seven to 11 years. And yet people think I don't really understand this, because we all understand what an economic cycle looks like and most many of us remember from economics that it's seven to 11 years.

Speaker 2: 10:50

So that why do we expect houses to just keep going up? That's not what happens. It's never happened before. So why are we expecting it to happen now and now? Because here's a very common thing that we hear. It's really, you know. I've decided not to move right now and I'm looking at what's going to happen with the market. Well, you know what it's possible. Maybe 5% of the time, it's possible that your price is going to go up dramatically and you're going to miss a massive upturn. There's no signs of that, by the way, at all. In fact, I look at leading indicators and many of those look at how many, what percentage of current listings are cutting their price and how many months that's been going on for. And in most places in the country, price and how many months that's been going on for. And in most places in the country we've had four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 months of price cuts consecutively. And then we compare them with last year. So we've got a base point and there's in almost every market there's way more price cuts going on. Now, why am I talking about that? Well, that's not hitting the comparables right now. Those are the appraisals that we need for the mortgage. It's not hitting that right now because of the long time it takes for you to.

Speaker 2: 12:13

So, ok, you list your house. It doesn't take a long time to sell your house. Necessarily. It depends where you are, how far out it is, what condition it's in all those good things and what the market's doing, what interest rates are done, what condition it's in all those good things and what the market's doing, what interest rates are done. So we list your house and let's say it takes two months to sell. That's 60 days out. We're going to do some prep. That's probably going to take us to 80 or 90 days and then we go into contract. The contract's another six weeks. Guys, you're way after July 4th at this point, right, you're in August or September, even if you list it now. Guys, you're way after July 4th at this point, right, you're in August or September, even if you list it now. And if you're listening to the podcast, it's the middle of March 2025.

Speaker 2: 12:52

I know a lot of you go back to the old shows. I'm having people now listen to shows from last year when I was talking about getting it listed. Just to you know, hear the pieces you can do. I can give you some very actionable tips right here to make sure, if you're thinking about listing, that you do it in a better way. I'm not just going to say take the cash offer. We do have a full market value cash offer. You can go to cashcpocom to see what it would be. You'll get the full market value cash offer, plus you'll get the full home value at the same time, because we put our money where our mouth is. This is a full market value cash offer. Does that make sense? However, because that will get you your value. I've got all kinds of value things I can do for you. The most important thing I can give you today do for you the most important thing I can give you today, and I've been training agents on how to do this since 2007.

Speaker 2: 13:49

At this point, if I sound a little snuffly, that's like because of many of you like me, there should be some kind of I don't know magic AI program. We can put it through at this point. That takes the snuffle away. I've got the allergies. I've got the allergies. You know, all the pollen's coming everywhere, the dust is around. I've got the allergies. So I sound a little bit snuffly, sorry. Welcome to real life.

Speaker 2: 14:15

So, if you're going to think about putting your home on the market, forget the updos, what you're going to do to it, everything else. I want you to get it inspected now, because you're spending money on doing things to your house without consulting us. If you get a great agent and I know all of them in the country trust me, anywhere in the country, I can help you out. We are in wealth management for real estate. That's what we do right. We're in wealth management buying, selling, investing, renting, remodeling whatever it is We've got we do right. We're in wealth management buying, selling, investing, renting, remodeling, whatever it is. We've got that team for you. We're helping you manage that wealth.

Speaker 2: 14:52

We need to come in and take a look at your home and you need to tell us you know we were thinking of doing the kitchen, or at least painting the walls, or we need a new toilet in the bathroom, or we were going to put new floors down so that we get more money for the house. We need to be able to say to you listen, we know this market and we're watching the key indicators and you're in a trime crunch right now, or the houses around you. You're right, you're way behind. You're in the bottom quartile of all the houses around you that are selling for a hundred thousand dollars more than you get right now. And yes, with XYZ you can make that extra money right? We don't know that until we come in, rely on a great agent because they know what the houses around you are doing and whether it's worth spending that money.

Speaker 2: 15:42

Just because you've got pride is not a good reason to spend money that you're not going to get back. It's just not. Guys, please don't do that. It's time and energy and everything else. Are you going to be embarrassed because your neighbours are going to come around and go oh, they've still got the avocado fridge. Well, guess what? Some people like avocado fridges and some people go. You know what? I'm blessed to be able to buy this for a little bit less because they know I've got to switch the fridge out, right, so we'll be able to tell you what things are worth doing and what things are not worth doing. Ie you won't get your money back from. Please don't do it for pride, because it's time, energy, logistics. You've got to go and choose stuff. Maybe the buyers don't want to choose the next stuff.

Speaker 2: 16:27

Invite us into your home now. Also, we will help you with the right inspector to use. It's going to cost you between four and 600 bucks, depending on what you need inspecting. I say that because you might have a well, you might be in a different part of the country, you might have a septic system, you know, whatever it is, might be a bigger house, much bigger house, might be a tiny house, so the price changes a little bit. You know, wow, $600. You know how much it costs you to sell your house. You know what the opportunity cost is of not doing this. I can tell you on average, 33% of them it's nearly 33% dropout. Why? Because of the inspection, you go into contract, you're all excited and then a third of the time they drop out. That's not because you don't have a decent listing agent. That is because you didn't do a pre-inspection.

Speaker 2: 17:20

Most of you have bought it. You either buy a new car or most of you are not just buying a car off Craigslist or something. You're buying a certified pre-owned car. Right, that certified pre-owned car 156 point inspection. It has a home warrant not a home warranty, a dealership warranty and it also has a black book value. That's what we do with houses, right? There's a reason people pay 6% more for CPO cars.

Speaker 2: 17:48

When I came up with this back in 2007, I couldn't believe we're selling cars for $50,000 and they do this. And yet we're selling a million dollar house or a $500,000 house, whatever price it's at, and we don't do it. It's insanity Because when it drops out, do it. It's insanity Because when it drops out, what have you got? A stigmatized listing.

Speaker 2: 18:14

Everybody calls us as the listing agent goes. What's wrong with it? The buyers agents call us and say you know, I had a buyer that was interested in it. What's wrong with it? There must be something wrong with it. So what do you think happens? And then we've got buyers call us directly. By the way, what do you think happens to your price when we get that call? Or it drops out and we relist it. Now what do you think that does to your price? I can tell you it depletes your price. It makes your price go down. That most often right, because people think there's something wrong with it. Why did it sit for six months? Why did it sit for four months? And then it dropped out and you got ticked off with your agent and you pulled it off the market, right? I mean, some of you are nodding your heads right now at home going, yep, actually that's exactly what happened. So you know you. You know this is what happens. It's perfectly normal. There's a know. This is what happens. It's perfectly normal. There's a number of ways through this.

Speaker 2: 19:08

If you want to do a conventional listing, that is fine, no worries at all. Do a conventional listing. I just want you to know what you're getting into. So I share this listing presentation with the agents in the network around the country. I was on a webinar the other day and people said, well, we had a ceo on. Actually, I said, um, you know a um, an owner of a very big real estate firm, and he was talking about the need to give options to sellers so that you can choose. So our options in our network, and I I posted a link to this very same presentation, which I'm more than happy to share with all of you Listing, of course. So here's your options.

Speaker 2: 19:52

We've got a conventional listing, a conventional CPO. What's a conventional CPO? That's when you, as the home seller, pays for the inspection, possibly the appraisal and possibly the home warranty. Right, if you're still getting multiple offers in your area, by the way, I don't know anywhere. That is now, but you still might be selling within the month. There's more of a need to do this if you know your houses are starting to sit a little bit longer. That's almost everywhere, by the way. The other thing that happens is, even if your house sells in a month, it's so stressful when you get to the inspection. We take that out of the equation.

Speaker 2: 20:27

With a traditional CPO, all you got to do is get the inspector in, get the inspection done. Why is that so important? With what we've just been talking about, whereby you said, oh, you know, I want to remodel the kitchen or put new floors down or whatever it is. Why is that so important for us to know about that new floors down or whatever it is? Why is that so important for us to know about that? Because when you do the inspection, guess how many items are on the average inspection. And I know guys, a lot of you are saying well, here's the deal, can you tell? I've been to a lot of listing appointments. Here's the deal, I've 3,500 sales. You know that's going to happen. So here's the deal.

Speaker 2: 21:03

Our house is perfect, we've maintained it really well and it may look perfect and you may have done that by the way. That's. That's not the point. It's that when your buyer comes in and does their own inspection when we're under contract, they're going to find 40 or 50 items. If it's exceptionally well maintained, maybe they'll only find 35. Let me repeat that number 35 items. Remember, we've got squirrelly buyers right now. They're a bit nervous, so when they see those 35 items they're like ah. That's why I want you, as the seller, to do the inspection up front.

Speaker 2: 21:45

Yes, it costs you five or six hundred bucks, maybe four hundred, depending on the size, because I want you to know those items. It's usually some flashing around the chimney, flashing around skylights. It might be some moisture in your basement. When was the last time you crawled down in your basement? Probably not. I don't know about you, but I don't go crawling around in my basement very often, with all those spiders down there and who knows what's living down there, right, so you may not have been down there. I doubt that. If you don't have a basement, I doubt you've been I don't know trawling away from the side of your house to see check for termites. You may have been doing some of this. There's lots of things you can't see, is my point that you really couldn't be aware of, unless you're an inspector.

Speaker 2: 22:31

So, yes, they're paid to do their job. Of course they're going to find all nitpicky items sometimes. But don't you, as the home seller, want to see those nitpicky items? Or would you rather leave it until you're under contract? And then a third of the time they pull out? Why the inspection, the appraisal? They get cold feet, you know. Let's say they're partners and partner A goes I really like this house, I want to put a contract in. Partner B likes the other one. Well, guess what Partner B can now say you know what I'm the honeydew. Let's go back to the other house that I wanted. Right, it's an easy way to get out. Let's not let the buyers get out of your home so easily.

Speaker 2: 23:15

So on day one, with a traditional listing, you sign the listing paperwork. You do the same thing with a traditional CPO, except that you sign the listing paperwork. You do the same thing with a traditional CPO, except that you sign the listing paperwork. We're immediately, if you haven't done it already and you haven't brought us in now. That's why, guys, bring us in now, before you don't have to sign any paperwork.

Speaker 2: 23:33

Maybe you'll never use us as a listing agent. Maybe you'll never sell your house. That's fine. You're just thinking about it. Bring us in now so we can explain all this to you. Thinking about it, bring us in now so we can explain all this to you. 828-333-4483. We can help you all around the country. Did you get that? All around the country? 828-333-4483. We can help you all around the country. We've got an amazing network that know how to do this stuff at a different level, right?

Speaker 2: 24:01

So that's your traditional CPO. So when you sign the listing paperwork on day one with a traditional CPO, if you haven't called us in already now, we've got to call the inspector and the appraiser and this is where you pay for it. Right, you don't have to do the appraisal if you don't want to. However, it's a good idea and we can explain when we come out as to why that's a good idea If you're doing. And then your third offer is a cash CPO offer. So when we come out, you sign the offer to purchase from our buyer and you choose your move out date 14 to 90 days. That's it, you're done. No signs? No, nothing, right? Day seven.

Speaker 2: 24:38

So now we're talking about about traditional. You're on the MLS um day seven as a traditional CPO. You're on the MLS and you're listed as a CPO home. That's very important. Why? Because buyers are curious what's this CPO? The old certified pre? Oh, this sounds interesting. There aren't many of them about, don't. Don't ask me why. I've no idea. It's because it takes the agent some work, I think to, to do it. Obviously and maybe some of you don't understand how powerful it is you want it to be CPO. You want the home to say certified, pre-owned on the MLS. It sets you apart. It's a unique value proposition for your home. Some sellers say well, do I have to fix anything?

Speaker 2: 25:19

No not at all. We can just notate it right when you've had the pre-inspection. You don't have to fix it If it's a material item. We want to tell people. Everybody needs to go in eyes wide open, guys. Stop overthinking this. This is a fairly simple process, right? Stop overthinking selling your house. Oh, we've got to do this and then this and then 30 other things. No, we just need to take care of what's there and let's all go in with eyes wide open. Let's be honest and authentic. That's what buyers expect now.

Speaker 2: 25:52

So we can either get the things fixed by the way, all of us in the network have a great team of contractors you might have struggled to get a contractor in. This is whether you're selling or not of contractors you might have struggled to get a contractor in. This is whether you're selling or not. We help you with that. Remember, we're in wealth management for real estate. If you're remodeling or fixing things up, we're there to help you, right? 828-333-4483. Just tell them what you need. We've got people standing by 24-7 to take that call to help you. It doesn't matter if you're listening to the podcast right now. It could be March next year, it could be 2026 when you're listening. We've got those people standing by 24-7. If you work, you know different shifts. Then it's two o'clock in the morning. Give them a call. They'll take down all the details. We're not staying up to take those calls, by the way, just so you know. However, we will call you back and you've already given all your details. It's awesome. So now with the cash CPO, we've not even listed it yet because we're waiting for that inspection appraisal to come back because you're under contract. You're already under contract. We've skipped everything else. However, we are going to list it as coming soon.

Speaker 2: 26:58

Property and then between 7 and 14 um, you know, this is like day day uh, 10 or so in here, but 7 and 14. The next, the next week, you got to keep it so conventional. You got to keep it show ready. Um, you got to get the family out for each showing. You got to respond to showing requests. Uh, this is the time when you're like, why are these agents leaving this weird feedback? Or I'm kind of tired of going through all this already. So day seven on a cash CPO. So we just did traditional. We did traditional CPO. That's when you've paid for the inspection. Both of those are the same at this point in it.

Speaker 2: 27:33

Right, you've got to keep a show ready. You've got to get the family out. The dog is out, an e-showing request you've got to scram. Usually what happens is you get a request, you're like, oh, we don't want to lose it, I'll come home from work, honey, I'll do it. You run around like a banshee get it ready, try and get the doggy smell out, try and get the kitty smell out. You all know what I'm talking about. You're smiling now, no, knowing that you've been through this before or you're going through it currently. And I'm sorry if, by the way, it's not too late to get a cash offer, even if you're listed. Just go to cashcpocom, put your address in. It'll ask you a couple of questions and you will get your full market value cash offer back On the cash side.

Speaker 2: 28:12

Between you know, we're a week and two weeks now. We're in the middle there. We're going to have yours show ready. So it's going to be deep, cleaned, painted items are completed, whatever that came back. So day 14, we're starting to get feedback. Conventional and conventional CPO. We're starting to get feedback. It hasn't shown yet and any great agent will tell you if you haven't sold it yet, depending on if it's out in the boonies, you still should have a showing or two, right? We're in that honeymoon period, the wonderful period of when a house goes for sale. You're in that lovely, lovely sweet spot. So we should have had some showings. If we don't have showings or we've got this terrible, mean feedback, we want to go ahead and adjust the price right. Don't chase the market down, guys, just adjust the price With the cash CPO.

Speaker 2: 29:00

On week two, you're getting up to 70% of the equity. The mortgage is paid off. The funding partner fixes agreed items because, remember, they've done the inspection, they've paid for the inspection up front. And we all get together and we decide what should we do? What cosmetic money can we use to fix any items in your house to get more money? Remember, we know we're the agents, right, you might be amazing at this. You might maybe had a real estate license in a different state or something and you know how to do the comps next door. Great, we'll help you with that, right. So now you've got 70% of your money. On the other two, you're still getting showings on your feedback.

Speaker 2: 29:42

So day 14, if you're a seller that really wants to put in an offer, you know you're like oh, two years ago things were selling so fast. I want to put in a contingent offer. Maybe you're in a market where things are still selling quickly. There's very, very few of them left, certainly not within 14 days, but at some point you may think you know we want to put in a contingent offer. We found the house we want to move to. We want to put in a contingent offer. They don't work very well, guys. Would you take a contingent offer on your home? Oh, it's contingent on our home selling in Virginia? Oh well, what's your home like? Is that certified pre-owned? Do you have an inspection on that? That's going to save it dropping out a third of the time. Or do you want to set yourself up for the dominoes games? That is not fun.

Speaker 2: 30:29

So think about whether you'd accept a contingent offer and then think about you making a contingent offer. Obviously, chances are your contingent offer is not as powerful as a non-contingent offer. That means you put home. You want to move to Florida right, you want to move to Orlando to be by the grandkids? You're going to put in a contingent offer. That means when my house sells in X, I can buy your house in Orlando. That's what it says. How happy would you be with that as a seller? Not so happy. So, okay, the house in Orlando hasn't been selling. You know the market's been sitting. A lot of Florida is actually sitting quite a while now, by the way.

Speaker 2: 31:07

Now's your time, so, or in the next few years, as the prices really start to come down. They've already come down in some areas. I spoke to somebody in an area this morning where it's already come down 15% in Florida. Yes, really. So you can put your contingent offer in and see whether they'll go for it, right. However, you don't have much negotiating power. What do I mean by that?

Speaker 2: 31:29

So you decide to get an inspection or you want to buy that house and the house is $600,000. How much play do you think you have? You're putting in a contingent offer. You've weakened your offer with that contingency. Think you have? You're putting in a contingent offer. You've weakened your offer with that contingency. Now, if you didn't have a contingency, maybe you could start at 550, right, and get the house for less. So the first two, even though I came up with, you know, the certified pre-owned program where you pay for that, I can't cure that contingency right? It's the same for both the conventional listing and a CPpo listing where you've paid for the inspection and possibly offering a home warranty and paid for the appraisal now scoot over to cash cpo.

Speaker 2: 32:11

Go ahead, put your non-contingent offer in, because you've received up to 70 of the equity already. You can move on, you can lock down that home in Orlando or wherever you're going, right Down the street, your right-sizing home. Maybe one of your parents died and you're selling the house, so you're not putting in another offer. Right, all of the above. So now you can make plans to move on to your next chapter, because you've already got your money in that case, day 21,. Feedback on showings again. So we're three weeks in now and you know we're adjusting the price. That's the same for both a regular listing, a conventional listing, the cash CPO listing. It's active on the MLS. Now We've cleaned it up. It's active on the MLS and we're going to see what happens. Right, because it's certified pre-owned and we've got an appraisal right. There's another key thing. These are the ones that sell way faster and guess what? We've probably put a new coat of paint on it. Maybe you're not living there anymore because you're in Orlando. You can stay up to 90 days if you want to. And again, listen guys, I am not pushing you to go with the cash UPR, I'm trying to give you all the intelligent facts. So now we're at debt. So it could be under contract already, right, and now we're doing the negotiations.

Speaker 2: 33:30

So let's go back to day 74. Now We've got the inspections back right, we're under contract. So day 60, we're under contract with a conventional listing. Awesome, we're under contract with a conventional CPO listing, right, and we're under contracted and may already have sold with your cash CPO. Maybe not, because you know we put right, we use depends on how much work you need doing. Is the point? If we can just go in and do a paint job, or maybe it's just a deep clean, that's fine too. But remember, the funding partner pays for the inspection. So we can now intelligently discuss what's it worth spending money on, and the funding partner up front's the money. Yes, of course it all comes off on the back end, right, you don't get money for nothing and your chicks are free.

Speaker 2: 34:19

I didn't make up that line. Um, that is a famous song from the the 80s. If you didn't know that one sultans of the sultans of swing it's from. Do you want to go look it up? It wasn't me, I promise, I wouldn't say such a thing. So now we are on day 74 and remember, you're under contract on probably all three pieces here.

Speaker 2: 34:42

So on your conventional listing, the inspections are back. On average, they're going to ask you for 3% of the sale price on a repair request. Remember 40, 50 items on the repair request. It's normal, guys, it drops out over 30% of the time. The average dropout is 30% of the time. Or they're going to ask you for 3% of the sale, 5, 10, 15. By the way, if this is all like oh my gosh, like this is way too much, you can listen to it again on the podcast or make the appointment for us to come out and talk to you about it. We have a visual for this. It's much easier when we're sitting with you in your home, remember, we can tell you what to fix, what not to fix. So we're at the inspection stage.

Speaker 2: 35:26

For those of you who just tuned in, we're doing three options a conventional, conventional CPO and a cash CPO With your conventional, very common 3% sometimes it's 5%, it's of the sale price, right? So $500,000 house is $15,000. It's a repair request from the buyers who say to continue with this home purchase. We'd like $15,000. Did I mention it's moving more to a buyer's market in almost all of the country, guys, remember that. So that means they've got more negotiating power. It doesn't matter, guys, it's just. It is what it is. We're helping you work through all of this.

Speaker 2: 36:08

Okay, so now you are under contract. You're all ticked off. A lot of you are very stressed at this point. That's why I love the CPO process. Forget the cash offer, right, don't forget it. We're going to come to that in a minute. I'm not pushing you to the cash offer. I am pushing you to get that inspection if you can at all afford it.

Speaker 2: 36:28

Here's why Because the inspections are back now, the buyers are less likely to negotiate. This is a conventional CPO. You've paid for the inspection, possibly the appraisal and the home warranty. It drops out 7% of the time instead of 33% of the time. Same thing over in the cash CPO time. Warp over here. The inspections are back. The buyers are less likely to negotiate because it's CPO home. Same as the previous column, right, there's less chance of a dropout.

Speaker 2: 36:59

And then day 105, get this. I want you to tag on if you're thinking about listing 105 days, because that's on average. How long it's taking Now depends on your market. Again, we'll come out and see you explain all of this and tell you how long it's been taking, based on history in the last few months. How long are you going to sit? For once we list you, right, most likely. There's no guarantees in life.

Speaker 2: 37:31

So we're back on the conventional sale, day 105, it closes 67% of the time. Remember, if it falls out, you're going to get a check 67% of the time. That's scary, right. And, by the way, that's not to do with your listing agent. It's because of your house that we don't know what's wrong with it. It's because of buyers we don't know whether they leased a car or not when they're in the whole process. Right, all kind of reasons for that. The two primary ones are the inspection and the appraisal. And buyers get nervous. And when you tie up, when you take those nerves out of the process. You can especially do that if you're offering a home warranty. Yes, it might cost you 600 bucks, but the home warranty says none of these big things are going to fall apart in your first expensive year of home ownership. Right, people are worried about that. Now you can almost compete with a new home, right, because it's certified pre-owned home.

Speaker 2: 38:25

So conventional sale because these are the most important figures conventional sale is going to close 67% of the time. That means you're going to get a check in 105 days, 67% of the time, with a good agent 67% of the time. Or you can CPO it. Guys, don't just list it, cpo it. That's going to close 93% of the time. You're going to get your check 93% of the time. What would you rather do for spending 500 bucks on an inspection? It's a no-brainer. And remember too the stigmatization that happens Should it drop out, which it does about a third of the time. That means you're going to get less money overall. It drives your price down, most likely because everybody's calling again.

Speaker 2: 39:07

What's wrong with it? My buyer was really interested. You know there must be something wrong with it. It fell out. No, no, the buyer did this. The buyer did that. We try and explain it away, but it still taints it.

Speaker 2: 39:19

So let's go over to cash cpo. Where are we? At day 105, you're getting your second check. So it's going to close 93 93 percent of the time. Again, you're going to get your second check. You've already got your first one, up to 70%, way back on day 14,. By the way, this second check averages 20 to 50%. It's way too hard to look at or say on the radio. We'll explain this to you when we come out. But suffice to say, two thirds of our sellers make more with the cash CPO than they do. The other two routes Right. Again, we're not pushing you guys, we're just giving you facts. So you know, now I'm going to do the three, where you choose from the three options, and again we'll go through you. You know, with a whole, we've got a whole chart for this.

Speaker 2: 40:03

Like anything you're buying, you know, if you want to go and buy a Mercedes, I hope you're looking at the other two competitors as well, like you know BMW and maybe an Audi, and do you know what's different about? Or do you have to do all the research? Well, guess what? I think when you go and buy a car, they should have done it for you. I don't care, they're not selling a BMW and Audi, they're selling a Mercedes. So they should know how it stacks up. We know how this stacks up and we're going to help you through it. So I'll run through these quickly.

Speaker 2: 40:31

A conventional listing yes, you need showings, right? Not everybody wants showings In and out the house. You've got to keep it show ready. Conventional listing, conventional CPO yes, you have showings With a cash CPO. You do not. You have to keep it show ready yes and yes for conventional and conventional CPO no. With a cash CPO. Time to close Three to four months on average. That's with both the conventionals. I'll call them that to make it easier. Cash CPO 14 to 90 days, your choice. Can you choose your close date? Of course not with the conventional days. A big fat yes with the cash CPO. Likelihood of closing 67% with the conventional listing. Don't do it guys, spend the money on the inspection. Conventional cpo 93.

Speaker 2: 41:19

Now with a cash cpo, the funding partner upfronts the money for all of that. And um, again, you can. You, can you know likelihood of closing on the second place. For this you are guaranteed closing. It's a guaranteed sale in 14 days if you want it. We literally just got somebody out of foreclosure this morning. I'm so honored to help do that.

Speaker 2: 41:41

But that's not what this cash offer is for. It's convenience. It's if you're going into senior living. It's if your parents have died and we can go in and get you more money for the home. It's if you're a bank and you have maybe you've got some foreclosures on your books. Now, unfortunately, some REOs they call them in the bank world. We can go in, get you a check banks for up to 70%. That's usually all you sell it for.

Speaker 2: 42:03

Anyway, we'll turn around. We'll use our funding partners' money to do what we need to do as agents. We're going to take that broken glass out. We're going to paint it. We're going to get 90 to 120% of what you'd get within a conventional listing. That's two thirds of. You will get more.

Speaker 2: 42:21

So can you choose the close date? That can be very important. No, no on the conventionals. Yes on the cash TPO. You know, and then you've got the disclosure of things. So, yes, on the cash tpo. Um, you know, and then you've got the disclosure of things.

Speaker 2: 42:33

So, as a seller, you're going to fix up or disclose the items when we pre-inspect it, right, or when you're under contract. That's a yes, you've got to fix it. You're the seller, but you can say you're not fixing anything. But I can tell you if you're actually serious about moving and I don't like this for you and I'm sorry this happens the buyer is going to I need them to redo the roof or something like that, and right now you're going. I would never do that. Remember I'm 3,500 transactions in. I can tell you a lot of you do it because you go to sleep on it and you go. You know what it's $15,000. Let's just get it done.

Speaker 2: 43:04

We don't want to lose this buyer, especially as the market in most places is slipping now. Does that make sense? So some of you want to make a non-contingent offer on a new home. You want to move somewhere else. We don't advise you to do that on either of the conventional. You can do it. Sometimes it works as well With the cash CPO offer.

Speaker 2: 43:23

Have at it. You've already got your money. Maybe you'd like to secure your senior living spot when they call you and you're finally off the wait list. You can't really do that with the conventionals because it's going to take you 105 days or longer. Sometimes. Can you move on from divorce faster? That's a big old no. With the conventionals You've got to wait it out and you're probably arguing which agent to use. Everything else we can get you your money in 14 days.

Speaker 2: 43:48

Your new home build. How do you know when to list your house? When you're building a new house, how awful is that Right? And your builders have lots of things that come up against them. It might be weather.

Speaker 2: 44:01

We've done again whole shows on this. Go to realestatenewsradiocom realestatenewsradiocom. That's where all the old podcasts are. You can see all of our old shows. This you may be listening on the podcast right now. This airs live every Saturday. This is a 12 year long show.

Speaker 2: 44:18

Thank you to all of you who listen on a weekly basis. There's nothing that warms my heart more. I talk to sellers all over the country. You're asking me for CMAs, home values, cash, offers, all of those things. I pick up the phone and I call you and there's nothing that warms my heart more than somebody in Arizona or Timbuktu saying yeah, we listen to your show every week. You can listen to it live anywhere. There's a link on there to listen live if you're not listening through the local broadcast. It's awesome.

Speaker 2: 44:48

So the builders you can imagine. You know, let's say, somebody's building a home in Western North Carolina and they're moving from Virginia. They're moving from California. We have a lot of people moving from California right now, for obvious reasons. Maybe Gavin's podcast is going to put it all right. He's asking some interesting questions there and getting some interesting guests in, who knows. So a lot of people are moving from California. They're building a house in Western North Carolina.

Speaker 2: 45:18

Are you really going to hold that builder's feet to the fire and say I've got to be in by July 4th Because that's what you do and it's not their fault, guys. They don't have any control over the ports closing down or suddenly materials have gone up by twice or I don't know one of their their key crew members breaks a leg or something, right, it's very hard for them to hit their date. However, when they get when they know, 14 days out from when they get their co, their certificate of occupancy. So what does that mean? It means that you don't have to list your home. Worrying about listing your home when you're building a new home, you can wait till the builder says to you hey, I'm getting my CO in 14 days. Right, a builder 95% of the time knows when they're going to get that CO because it's very close to the finish date.

Speaker 2: 46:08

That flips in the beginning Again. You see whole builder shows. They're some of our most popular shows on the podcast. Just go and look on realestatenewsradiocom and at realestatenewsradiocom there's a button that says podcasts. There's also a button there. If you want a friend to listen to this and you're listening live. Just text them and say go to realestatenewsradiocom, click on the button to listen live, so they can listen in with you at the same time, because people need to hear this, especially who are building a new home or on a wait list, or getting divorced, or maybe that one of their parents died and their unit might be in probate, might not be in probate all of those good things that cause us to move, which we went through earlier With the builders. The builders are going to tell you 14 days out oh, now we have no problem, we haven't had all that stress. Meanwhile, we can press the button to get the cash offer. You can get your money when they've got the CO and that you can move in. And now we can make your current home worth more. You haven't had to think about painting it, put a new roof on all of that stuff while you're thinking about building your new home. How miserable. Maybe you're just private. Maybe you've got a business.

Speaker 2: 47:21

I had a case once where I won't mention what the business was, but the reason they did this is they didn't want to sign outside right. They were working with other local businesses and, while they were still able to work in a mobile fashion, they were moving to another state and they were worried that they would lose customers. They didn't want their customers to see the sign outside. There's lots of reasons. We just did one in New Jersey, actually for somebody who is a celebrity. They're in sport. I'm trying not to give it away here, they're in sports, let's just leave it at that.

Speaker 2: 47:57

They didn't want to sign outside. They didn't want people coming into the house. You know they'd heard stories about people stealing pills. It does happen, unfortunately. You know they didn't, or they just don't want people coming into the house and taking pictures and then, I don't know, shooting off to the National Enquirer or something. Yes, that really happens. And so people like their privacy. Guess what? With CashTPO you don't have a sign outside. With the other two you do, and a lockbox on the door and all of those showings and everything else that goes on.

Speaker 2: 48:29

So I hope that's helped you through the process there. Can you believe our shows are about 55 minutes? I cannot believe that we but I guess there's a lot of material to cover there, right that we've spoken about the kind of things you get in feedback, the kind of things that you need to think about when you're listing your home, all the steps to get there, the fact that it would be a really good idea to do CPO, certified pre-owned. That's when you as the home seller get the inspection right. A piece of land I'm not so worried, although you definitely could get a septic perk on there. That would really help you. A piece of land I'm not so worried, although you definitely could get a septic perk on there. That would really help you sell your piece of land, because land takes a very long time to sell. We have all kinds of programs to do that as well. We work with the builders. We have on the builder CPO program to draw something for us to put on the land and then we market it pre-construction. It really helps you sell your land. Land is not an easy sell, guys. So we've gone through all of those steps. Please, please, please, don't just list it, cpo it.

Speaker 2: 49:37

Wherever you're at in the country, give us a call. 828-333-4483. We've got people standing by 24-7 to take the call. If you're doing the night shift and you sleep most of the day, it doesn't matter what time you're calling us. Maybe you're on the way to your job at 2am, give us a call. Maybe it's lunchtime for you, give us a call. We've always got somebody standing by. I've never had somebody say they can't get through. We've got a whole team of people standing by 24-7. They're amazing. Thank you, you awesome people who stay up all night taking our calls.

Speaker 2: 50:16

Again, we can help you anywhere in the country, right? So you want to get us in now? Don't be scared. Oh, you know they're going to think badly of us because our house is upside down. Guys, we're agents. Any of us that have any experience you should see our houses. We're busy. The successful agents in your world are busy. You should see our houses. We'd be embarrassed, right? I get on Zoom calls with agents. Sometimes I'm like good Lord, that's the worst mess that my house is because we're busy and we're successful. Don't worry about being embarrassed. We're coming in to help you with that.

Speaker 2: 50:51

Yes, we'll probably say declutter and all the other things that you've Googled, like what should I do to prep my house for sale? Right? Please don't worry about that. As long as your dog doesn't bite us, please put the dogs up. I did get bitten by a dog last year. The lady said oh no, he just growls a little bit. He's just protecting me, don't worry. And the dog, um, took a bite out of the back of my leg. That was in June last year. It's not pleasant. Please don't let that happen. It's not fun. You definitely don't want that with the buyers because they probably won't buy your house. So again, give us, give us a call. Let let us come in now. We will tell you honestly what you need to fix, what you don't need to fix. We'll help you get the inspector in now. Let's do the preparation, even if you're waiting to sell until the green leaves come on.

Speaker 2: 51:38

Don't miss this window of opportunities, guys. It's a really, really important window of opportunity. Clément Juglar, 1860. I know you're tired of hearing it. Clément Juglar 1860. I know you're tired of hearing it. Clément Juglar 1860. He's probably tired of hearing it at this point.

Speaker 2: 51:55

Seven to 11 years we crested in our market in Western North Carolina. About two years ago We've had a minor increase, but that means we're bumping along the top. None of us know exactly when it goes down. It's like a roller coaster it picks up speed. Do not chase the market down. Please. Don't tell me you're waiting out a year to see what happens with politics or interest rates or something else. It's Clermont-Jougla, guys. It doesn't matter what Trump's saying, doesn't matter what um whomever's in charge of the Dems now are saying it's a natural cycle, expect some price reductions, which is really wonderful, because you're probably buying a house as well.

Speaker 2: 52:32

Thank you so much for listening guys. I love you all. I always appreciate you listening so much. 828-333-4483. You can book an appointment anytime there for anywhere in the country. We're going to help you out with this. And go to realestatenewsradiocom. If you want to share this podcast with somebody that's realestatenewsradiocom, you can share the podcast with them. So if you've just listened, you're like, darn it, I'm in the car or I'm in Walmart or wherever you're at and I just want to listen. You know what? She had some good points and my sister's in Maryland and she's thinking about selling. I've got a brother or a dad or a mom or a kid in California that's thinking about selling. Send the podcast to them please. Realestatenewsradiocom Click on podcast as a share button right there. If you can't figure it out, give us a call 828-333-4483. Tell us who to send it to. Thanks again, guys. See you on the radio next week.

Speaker 1: 53:34

This has been the Plain English Real Estate Show with Rowena Patton. Visit Rowena and post your questions at radioashvillecom or call her at 828-210-1648.