Let’s say a potential client (a seller) has already given me (the rock-star, baller agent) the once-over. I’ve done the same to them. That’s the human side of the equation, with all the factors that can make us a good fit. But let’s forget about people for a second and focus on the bricks and mortar. Let’s look at the house itself – and see how I size that up.

Do I like it? Do I want it on my team? The answer is most often yes, since Matt and I don’t leave money on the table. We make money. We take risk. We accept challenge. We win games. Let’s play.

Beyond the owner, the other most valuable asset, what do I see? What do I like? Do I want to represent this? Is this my brand? Is this worth my time? How could I position this home for the market? How could I make this work?

Reading the Property: Questions I Ask Myself

• Is this a good house from a real estate agent’s point of view? Will it be easy to sell?

  Don’t shy away when the answer is no. Get creative.

• Will this property require a specific buyer? Who do I have in mind?

  Ask the right questions. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Think like others even outside of your standard client base. Who can I reach?

• Does my experience tell me it will be difficult to find a buyer for this home?

  Size it up properly. Compare it with your previous sales. What can you learn from those to help sell this one? How can you solve the difficulty?

• Do I understand the house and how people live in it?

  What works? What doesn’t? What plays to family, to singles, to the elderly?

• What houses have sold in this neighborhood in the last six months?

  Do your research. Be prepared. Check your comps – all of them. Get ready to point them out.

• What is happening in the neighborhood? Construction? Crime? School zone? Proximity?

  What’s it smell like in the morning here? What’s it sound like outside for now? What about later? Is it safe? Can kids ride their bikes? What can I walk to quickly? Stores? The beach? A park? The highway? Target your clients accordingly.

• How are the neighboring houses like or unlike this one? Style? Condition? Privacy? Outdoor space?

  Does this design fit the neighborhood? Is this out of place or unique? Is the property tucked away or does it stand out? Use this knowledge.

• Does the home need updating? How much? How willing is the owner to do it? What developers do I know who are willing to get their hands dirty? Anyone on my Dream Team?

  What can go and what can stay? Any easy fixes? Know the prices. Know the options. Have the suggestions.

• Is this a motivated seller? Or no? Ah, there I go again. I just grouped seller with property? Is that not the job?

  Yes, it is the job. How much will they get in their own way? Can you massage that? How?

• What are the utilities like? Is this a monster to run from month to month?

  Know the client’s money and care. Research. Ask. Listen. Do the math. Present reality.

• Is this a rehab? Is this a tear-down? What will the seller be open to? I’m listening, hunting for the hammers. Are they there?

  Be ready to recommend options with value assessed. Think of alliances that could benefit all. Let them know what they hadn’t considered is actually a great deal. Be respectful. Be sensitive.

• What about building code? Permits? Height restrictions? Laws?

  One thing a lot of agents overlook is the basic details of how a new owner can legally change a property. The good agents have this covered.

  But even more worrisome – especially when you’re dealing with a buyer – is being ignorant of how a neighbor who alters or does construction to their property may affect the listing at hand. Many agents shy away from this for a reason. They don’t want to turn off their client. Know the laws. Know the rules. It can be used as leverage.

  Once, and only once, were Matt and I blindsided by this. We had a property in the Hills. It was a new construction property. We took the listing. The owners of the house that went up behind our listing sued the owners of my listing because it was 2 feet higher than the building code. We couldn’t give that house away and, as far as I know, it’s still locked in legal hell. In plain, it sucked. We spent thousands on an unsellable house. Beware.

  This happens all over in all ways. In New York, residents sue builders over the shadows their skyscrapers cast. Become familiar with the building permits in your area. City governments post all building permits online, and they are accessible to anybody. We were mad at ourselves on that one.

• Finally, is this property a winner or a pig? How can I work with a pig?

  Who do I know? What do I know? How can I spin it? I think about this: all of it; every aspect. I take these factors into every consideration. I’m a killer and I often never say no unless it comes down to ridiculous pricing. So, eventually, I arrive at pricing. The price will determine my timeframe, and the timeframe may determine my price. The price will lead me to who, what, where, and how.

Let’s Talk Pricing

The more you know, the better. Research the hell out of the house. Find out when it changed hands and for how much. Figure out the comps’ average price per square foot. Compare listing prices (first asking price) to sales price ratio (actual selling price) for the neighborhood comps in the last six months, if possible. You will rely on what the comparative market analysis (CMA) tells you over and over again. It’s the foundation of your strategy.

I’ve been doing this a long time. In my market, I do a lot this stuff in my head. As I drive to meet the seller and see the house, I’m thinking, I sold a house on this block two years ago for $6 million: same view, same east-west orientation, same number of bedrooms, same-sized pool. I’ve got a number in my head but when I arrive, I see the view is partially obstructed. There’s a lot of noisy construction on the street and the exterior looks cheap. That’s when the $6 million in my head starts deflating. There’s just no getting around reality, no matter how much buzz and how many pictures you post. A seller knows what they paid for their house, and they want to make a profit. So, I go to work. I have to adjust expectations of the seller.

Owners tend to value their house higher than the market because they want to make money, and they made a lifetime of memories while living there. The challenge here is to get the listing and get the seller to set the right price. If I let an unreasonable client list a property that’s not been renovated in a decade for 20% over market, in most markets I’ll fail. Negotiate on price with your client. Know the money. Do the math.

Put the carrying costs and timing in their face versus the crafted drop in price. The listing battle is the first war of selling the property. No matter how long your contract runs, overpriced houses don’t often move easily, even in my fierce market. As soon as you get the listing price where it should have been in the beginning, boom! It sells. Handle the client from the door, and set yourself up right for your close.

Don’t be a “yes man” when it comes to price. It’s been easier for Matt and me to avoid being that person as our business has grown and proven our stats. Clients argue less with us because we’re experts at this and they know it. Check our brand. Still, you get the egos, the wannabe pros. I am amazed at how many people call me – experts in acting, directing, music, technology, and finance – to argue about some negotiation or another. I always say the same thing: “I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’d take your opinion on who has the best recording studio in LA, so why won’t you take advice on real estate?” This can be even harder when dealing with developers.

In one nightmare situation my client and her mother were locked in a war fighting over everything including the pricing. Worse, what they didn’t do was pay the mortgage for two years. I lost a potential commission on $6.75 million when the listing went into foreclosure. I was ripped.

Then, to add injury to insult, I get a call from a developer who bought the house at the bank auction. He’s putting $2 million into it and wants to put it on the market. Would I sell it? I wanted to recoup the time and energy I spent on this listing, but once burned, I hesitated. This listing felt like real estate dark matter; everybody that came near it was sucked into the void.

I asked him how much he wanted to list for and when he said his number, I laughed. I said, “List it at $11,995,000, you’ll get ten to ten and a half, recoup your investment and make another $2 million after that.” He thanked me politely and we hung up. A year later – and four years after I first saw this house – the guy calls me back. The listing didn’t move at his price of $13,995,000 and he was willing to try mine. We dropped it to $11,995,000; it sold, and I finally made a commission. You can’t make people take your number, but you can insist on not taking theirs. Again, pricing, and in final negotiations, are often the only times we say no.

Assess the house. If there’s a logical reason to put the house on the market for a higher price, do it. If not, you set up to fail. Even if the client insists, warn them. You’ll still get blamed, but warn them.

You may have your reasons for wanting the listing anyway. It could be a prestigious seller who opens you up to a whole new set of potential opens. It could be great press coverage. You may want to work with this particular developer. If you want the listing and take it at an inflated price, you’d better warn them with proof before agreement.

Do your research and smash your data: square feet, comps, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, most recent renovations, and so on. Have a price range in mind and back it up. Bring visual aids to the listing appointment if you must. Put the comps in their face. Warning the seller is all.

I take listings that the seller lists too high all the time, but I always insist on the right number prior to signing and continue to press my case for dropping the price if the property doesn’t sell. It’s the job. An Altman technique we use is to ask the client to write what they think their house will sell for on a piece of paper and we write what we think it will sell for on a separate piece of paper. After three months on the market with no sale yet, we open our estimates. We don’t shame them too much, but we do smile. This diffuses anger. This affirms expertise. This gets repeat business. We know what we’re doing. We make money.

One angle to play in super-hot markets is purposely underpricing, knowing they will get multiple offers that drive the final number up. Another angle is to agree to price high, but get an assurance from your seller to reassess and drop the price every 30 days. Also, always follow the “Rule of 99” – it’s a $1,499,000 house, not a $1,500,000 house. Come on.

I’m in the middle of working a close for a client who doesn’t understand why the house isn’t worth more. Eight years ago the house was an awesome cutting-edge design, but modern goes out of style quicker than anything. She wouldn’t budge, and we wanted the listings to start working that section of town due to the presence of certain developers. So, after five or six months, we brought in another agent to co-list with us and back us up on price. Another professional voice in her ear was what we needed to sway her. We sold the house. Our commission was split, yes, but we now work the hell out of that neighborhood.

On the flip side, I watch the overpriced listings of others like a hawk. These are perfect deals to grab from the first or second agent. That’s what I mean when I say I watch listings. They are not just proof to your overpricing client, but it’s an open in someone else’s failing close. Pay attention. You’re hunting – food for your client and another agent’s lunch. They should have been able to work it. They didn’t. We take it. Then, we put the facts of this in our original overpricing clients’ face. They can’t argue. They’ll try, but they can’t. Now we’ve got a win-win. It’s all about the pricing. Set up to close.

Pricing of course, leads me to timing. As mentioned above, I’ll use the threat of time versus carrying costs as a weapon in negotiating pricing with the client. Agents must also consider the timing for themselves. Is it worth it? Again, we don’t often say no to a listing, but is this a winning listing? Does the shot clock at play allow it to succeed? Is this filler for me, just something to gamble on, offer as an option to others until I find another gold star? What’s my timeframe? What’s the client’s timeframe? What’s the market’s timeframe? How does this affect the pricing?

Keep in mind that once you sign that listing, your first month will be spent on open houses, showings, then finalizing and executing your marketing plan. It’s “feedback” month. What you hear now will drive your pitch as you work the sale hard. In a cold or buyer’s market, six months should be the shortest. In rural areas, a year is reasonable. If the seller is leaving the country for two months and doesn’t want the house shown, find that out now.

The longest listing Matt and I ever worked was an awesome house in the Bird Streets in my Hollywood Hills, and for whatever reasons we couldn’t sell it. It took a year and seven months. The client was loyal, a rare thing in our market. He didn’t fire us when listing agreement after listing agreement came up for renewal. Finally, we brought on another agent to change the energy, as we’ll do with overpricing, and change it he did.

We sold the house to another Altman Brothers client, a marijuana king. How another agent brought us to our own client, we’re not sure, but the clients are happy and we made money. I guess it was all in the timing. That said, when the numbers don’t add up, the score is tied, overtime is reached, and you’re at stalemate, go with your gut. Remember, you’re “Hollywood” now.