Honest Pricing and Prep Advice From a Portland Realtor

An agent who only tells you what you want to hear can cost you on the biggest asset of your life, so I’d rather give you the truth backed by data.

I like to tell people that I’m not their friend. I’m their Realtor, and I say it with a smile, dimples and all. Of course I love the people I work with, and I do care about them. When you hire me, though, I’ll be your agent. I won’t agree with you every second or tell you only what you want to hear.

Direct advice comes from experience. I’ve built my practice on being a straight shooter. Sometimes I’m too direct, and my emails can skip the niceties because I get right to the point. After a couple of decades in this business, I’ve seen a lot. I know what a seller needs to do to sell a house and what a buyer needs to do to get one, and I’d rather say it plainly.

Caring sometimes means being brutally honest. I’ll speak up when a buyer wants to offer 20% below list on a two-day-old listing just because that’s the number they want to write.

Sellers get the same candor. If you didn’t think you needed to paint, clean the carpet, or declutter, I’ll tell you otherwise. A couple of years ago, a home that was an 8 or an 8.5 out of 10 could get away with it. Today it has to be an 11 out of 10 to compete with what’s on the market. I’ll give you my honest read on price, condition, offer terms, and all of it.

A real friend tells the truth. I joke that I’m not your friend, yet honesty is exactly what a real friend offers. Good friends tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear, and that’s what gets the job done.

"A real friend tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear."

Data has to support the price. It may sound like a humble brag, but I do enough business that I’ll eat whether we work together or not. Plenty of newer agents sell one, two, or three homes a year, so they’re pretty motivated to tell you what you want to hear. If your home is worth $600,000 and you want to list at $750,000, some will do it just to get their name on the sign out front.

I recently turned down a listing that was one of the most beautiful homes I’d seen. It would have set the highest price in the neighborhood, yet the comps on that street were nowhere near what the sellers wanted. I told them I cared about them and wanted them to succeed, but I wasn’t their person because I didn’t see the data. I went home and slept well because I believe alignment is essential.

Someone always has to be the highest sale, and there aren’t comps for everything. When a price is an order of magnitude off, I’d rather have a frank discussion, shake hands, and stay friends. As I like to joke, there are 300 people in Portland, and we all know each other. Telling you the opposite of the truth would only hurt you and cost you your biggest asset.

My best clients trust the formula. I’m human, so I’m open to feedback and happy to talk it through, or even debate it, within reason. Still, I stand firm on using my experience to tell you what I see and what I think will happen. Some of my best clients simply trust me. When I tell them to stretch and clean the carpet, paint, stage, and stay within a certain price range, they say, “Great, where do we sign? Let’s get to work.” They know I have a formula that works and a proven track record.

Honesty, truth, and data are what it takes to sell your home. If you want a direct approach that’s friendly, professional, and firm, call me at 503.522.0090, email me at sarita@asksarita.com, or visit blog.asksarita.com. I’d love to put that experience to work for you.