1. STORY OF THE CELLERS FAMILY
At PropertyGuys.com we see many successful sales but we also see properties that languish on the
market. Here’s a story modeled after the real events of a number of our clients that conveys a few
important points.
Our fictional characters Jane and John Cellers put their house up for sale in September 2010. This is a
home they bought in Spring 2007 (a relatively ‘high’ point in their local market) for $340,000. During the
3.5 years they lived there they spent more than $100,000 on various renovations and improvement
projects to the property.
Though the Cellers were generally aware the market was slow, they wanted to try and get out what they
put into the house and started out with a PropertyGuys.com listing in Sept 2010 with the home priced at
$440,000. (What they originally paid plus the cost of the renos). After 6 months of being listed, getting
lots of hits on their website but not a lot of calls, they lowered their price by $11,000 to a new price of
$429,000. Two months later (now April 2011) they lowered their price by $20,000 to $409,000. They still
didn’t get much traction and were getting more determined to sell as Jane got a great job out of town
that started a few months later. Another month passed and they dropped the price by another $10,000
to $399,000.
Shortly after this and getting more desperate about selling they decided to list with an agent (while
keeping their PropertyGuys.com listing active). A month and a half passed with not much new traction
from working with the agent and in June 2011 the Cellers decided to lower the price by another $30,000
to $369,000.
Through the Summer they finally got a workable offer and in August closed the sale for $350,000. The
agreement they signed with the agent gave the agent the right to a commission regardless of where the
buyer came from. The buyer didn’t come from the agent and had contacted Jane and John directly
having found the property through PropertyGuys.com. They were required to pay the agent another
$13,500 plus 12% HST for a total of $15,120 in commission netting them only $334,880 from the sale 12
months after listing. More than $100,000 lower than their starting price.
There are a couple of key points to take away from this story:
• A price in line with what the current market will bear is a critical element for a successful sale.
Regardless of what you paid for the home or what you’ve invested in it.
• If your price is too high without you realizing it, you may feel at some point like the private sale
isn’t working and that going to an agent is the right solution. Remember the story of the Cellers
who signed on with an agent part of the way through the process hoping the agent would bring
them the elusive buyer that their PropertyGuys.com listing hadn’t brought. In the end all it did
was cost them an extra $15,000.
• If you are getting frustrated that your home isn’t selling then before doing anything you should
review the key aspects of Product/Price/Exposure (and most importantly Price) BEFORE you
sign on with an agent. Also consider having us run a Comparative Market Analysis (or re-run a

2. STORY OF THE CELLERS FAMILY
new one) to help validate your price and what the market is doing. A professional 3rd party
appraisal to validate price may even be a good idea.
We realize it’s hard but try to not get frustrated. Your private sale WILL be successful with realistic
expectations and a strong enough desire to sell.