"What do you (Mr/s. Seller) think your house is worth?"

[Bob C.]

I was listening to Podcast Show 81 the other day and one of the things Michael Quarles said really surprised me.  He said that when someone calls him to sell them their house, he does not (ever) make an offer. He (essentially) starts the price conversation with "what do you think your house is worth?"

Reasons for doing this are

-He (Michael) doesn't want to be the one to tell them that their house is (probably) way over valued.  He doesn't want to be the bad guy.  (We've all been there, right?)

-If they don't have a value, then he asks them to find out what the value is AND THEN CALL HIM BACK. (WOW!)

He lists a buncha of good/rational reasons he does this.  And they all sound good... but wow. 

I'm inclined to try it, but I'd be scared to let the people off the phone and take the chance of them never calling me back again.

Does anyone else use this strategy?

[Dawn Anastasi]

If you've ever watched the show "Pawn Stars" their formula is always the same.

They ask, "What did you want to do with the item?"

If the answer is "sell it" then they ask "How much are you looking to get out of it?" and this is before they throw out a number themselves.

Then the seller will state a number that is of course way more than they'd be willing to pay, and they say "no".  Just flat out no.  Well, sometimes they say "hell no" depending on how outrageous the price is.

They will sometimes ask how the person came up with the number.

Other times they may need to bring in an expert to authenticate the item or give their opinion on the value of the item.

They also explain, when the person balks at their number, that they run a business, and have to make a profit, and have overhead, and that the person can take their item to auction, but it may sit several months, there's no guarantee to sell, the auction house will take 30-50%, whereas they can pay cash RIGHT NOW.  Hundred dollar bills.

There are cases when someone chooses not to sell, but then they just move on to the next person.