Leigh Thomas Brown tells real-estate agents to walk away from sellers demanding unrealistically high prices. Listing at a price that misrepresents market value violates the REALTOR® Code of Ethics and damages your reputation. Set expectations early that initial pricing is a starting point, not a guarantee.
All right, there's another question here that says, how do you help sellers understand price when the market's changing? All right, this is gonna go all the way back to the first time you meet with a home seller. They need to understand that this market is different than '20 and '24, which is different than '23, '22, '21, 2019. Every market is unique and different. So when you're at that first meeting, you gotta let your sellers know that pricing is fluid and the number we have today may not be the number we get tomorrow. The market is all over the place. And the most important thing you'll say as a REALTOR® is that the number I give you today may not be the number we get tomorrow. Now, if the seller doesn't want to negotiate and they said, yes, but we want this price way up here and we are gonna wait 'cause it only takes one buyer and we don't care what the data says. You as a professional have a decision to make 'cause your reputation's on the line with this. Or are you going to say to them, I don't agree with you. I appreciate you, love the opportunity, but I can't do this, and close your laptop and go. If the market price shows $500,000 and the seller wants $700,000, you and I know that's not going to happen, which means actually taking that listing at the higher price is a violation of the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.
