I refuse to leave your home until you let me price it right!

Last week my partner Steve received a call for a listing appointment. It happen to be in Century Village of Deerfield Beach Florida. Now he usually handles all of our buyers. As a matter of fact...we just sold 4 units in there in the last 3 months and they were all cash deals and they closed within 2 weeks to 1 month. We also have closed 4 rentals in there as well. we know pretty much every model in there after having showed over 100 of them to the buyers and renters we worked with so we have a pretty good idea what they want. This particular unit is a bit different from the others. It is only a two story building versus the normal 4 story high-rise. They called us from a postcard we mailed out almost 2 years ago. Most of the postcards we mailed out were delivered but about 50 came back. We never received any calls from this mailing until now. "pretty amazing huh?"
So now we go on this appointment to meet the sellers. They are probably in their 80's to 90's..."god I hope I live that long and can still function." Anyway we go to meet the people and their daughter was present as well....she actually lives there too so she wanted to be involved to protect her parents interests which was fine with us. She was really nice but she was their voice so we had to show her what the property values are in their community. We also knew going in that the property had been listed before.
I always check the history first just in case there are any surprises. The place was in pretty good condition. It also had a water view and a nice private location. We explained to them that there were over 400 units on the market there and only about 200 that closed since the beginning of the year. The range of value was anywhere from $50,000 to $85,000. Originally it was listed at $89,000 for six months.
I wanted to find out what happened and why it did not sell. I asked them how many showings they had..they told me six and no offers. I now knew we definitely had a price issue. We really were trying to convince them to price it in the low $80's range because of the averages we came up with. The daughter said.."I want to price it at $96,000 because my parents need to clear $91,000. I told the women that there was probably no chance it would sell at that price unless there was a change in the market. I feel we have another 24-36 months before we see any change for the better...we just have to suck it up in the meantime. I kept going back and forth with the daughter. I asked her that if 6 months ago you were not making any progress at $89,000 then how in the world would pricing it at a higher price help you? I could not really understand her reasons but I said..."it has been a pleasure meeting you all and we appreciate the opportunity but we have been in your home for almost 3 hours and I refuse to leave here without pricing it right or we leave now without the listing." They finally bought the idea and so after 3 hours of jousting we priced it at $84,500 which hopefully will be a good price to draw offers. They just emailed us the other day that they were very pleased when they saw all the advertising we sent them for their property. Since Century Village is a great place for adult living....... I think we might have to do a little farming there.
It just goes to show you that even though it is not a large deal...persistence pays off and honesty still rules for respect. As Realtors(R) it is our job to guide the clients in the right direction.