GROW WITH LIBERTAS & EXP REALTY
By Tim & Julie Harris · November 11, 2026
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Your seller opens the door and says, “Zillow says we’re worth $520,000, and the other agent said $549,000.” You haven’t even sat down yet.
The truth is, the listing you take overpriced costs you more than the listing you lose.
Price is now sellers’ number one objection
In a survey of 2,165 agents, 63.7% said price is sellers’ top objection, up from 52.7% in 2020, and a third lost a listing over it, Broke Agent Media reported October 29. Price isn’t a section of your presentation anymore. It is the presentation.
Priced right, nearly one in four homes still sells above asking
In the four weeks ending November 1, about 23% of homes sold above list price, the same as a year ago, Redfin reported November 5. Asking prices rose 2% while sale prices slipped 0.4%.
Asking prices are up, but sale prices aren’t. Buyers decide the price, and homes priced for them still sell above asking.
One in five listings cut its price in October
Realtor.com’s October report found that 20.5% of active listings had a price cut, and the typical home sat 63 days. Every cut started as a listing priced on hope. Bring your top zip code’s price cuts to your next appointment.
Your year-end money is hiding in your price conversations
Say you’ve made $300,000 this year and want $50,000 more by New Year’s. You’re not short on appointments. You’re leaking money at them.
Here’s the illustrative math. At a $10,000 average commission, a well-priced listing sells in 30 days, and if its sign calls bring a buyer, it’s worth $20,000. The overpriced one sits 120 days, costs you $1,500 and 25 hours, comes off the market and pays zero. That’s a $20,000 gap.
Now the honest calendar. On a typical 30-day close, a home must be under contract by about the end of November to pay you this year. So the plan: two stale listings under contract this month, $20,000 by New Year’s, and three new listings priced right, $30,000 more early next year. Put both in The REAL Plan.
Step 1: Rescue the listings you already have
For every listing over 21 days with no offer, review three things before you mention price.
Exposure and access. Check photos, remarks, showing instructions and canceled showings. A home buyers can’t tour doesn’t have a price problem yet.
Activity and feedback. Log every showing and what buyers said. One comment isn’t a pattern.
The competition. Go see it in person, the way a buyer would, including new construction. Compare condition, layout and updates, not just beds and baths.
New to AI? Paste your showing feedback, minus client names, into your AI Business Bot and ask: “Group this feedback into price, condition, location and access. What do buyers keep saying?” Then bring your seller one recommendation, not a menu.
[Seller name], the market has been talking for three weeks. Here’s what buyers said, and what they bought instead. If we want you moved and paid this year, which one change do we make this week?
Step 2: Send a pricing package before every new appointment
Book with our seller pre-qualification script in Premier Coaching, then email that day: three to five closed sales an appraiser would likely use, the active competition, and one question: “Which homes feel most like yours?”
Then preview the competition in person, as if you’re the buyer. Walk through every active listing in that price range, tour the new construction a buyer would also see, and ask about builder incentives. Ask, “If I had this budget, which home would I buy, and why?”
I walked through every home your buyer will see this week, including the new builds down the road. Here’s how yours stacks up, and what it will take to win.
Let AI build it. Copy your MLS comps into your AI Business Bot and say:
I’m a real estate agent. Here are recent sales and active listings near my seller’s home. Sort them into three groups: aspirational, homes nicer than theirs; comparable, homes most like it; and competitive, homes priced to sell fast. Give one plain-English reason for each. Then write a short, friendly email asking which homes feel most like theirs.
Check every number against the MLS, or hand the whole package to our Agent AI team at HarrisAITeam.com.
Step 3: Let the seller sort the comps into three piles
At the appointment, the seller does the sorting.
Aspirational: the price we hope for.
Comparable: what the appraiser will use.
Competitive: the price that brings showings in week one.
When a comp lands in the wrong pile, ask, “Is that the right pile?”
Then make the key point: the launch price dictates the showing activity. The first two weeks bring the most buyers you’ll ever get. Priced high, they scroll past.
The price we launch at decides how many buyers walk through your door. Let’s pick the one that fills your calendar with showings in week one.
Step 4: Show the buyer’s side
Buyers shop by payment. At Freddie Mac’s November 5 average of 7.18%, with 10% down, principal and interest is about $3,350 a month at $549,000 and $3,140 at $515,000.
Your buyer doesn’t see $549,000. They see $3,350 a month. Which house wins at that payment?
Step 5: Sign a price-adjustment agreement before the listing goes live
Agree on the decision points in writing.
No showings in the first 10 days: we sit down and adjust.
10 showings and no offers: we sit down and adjust.
21 days with no offer: we run the same three-part review from Step 1, together.
Each trigger is a decision point, not an automatic price cut. Our 180-day seller communication plan in Premier Coaching covers the updates in between.
Write your walk-away rule before you leave the office. For example: more than 5% above your comparable pile, with no signed adjustment agreement.
Step 6: Answer the higher numbers
When the seller says another agent quoted more, get curious.
I’d be curious too. What sales did they use? Any agent can win a listing with a number. Your buyer’s appraiser still has to agree.
And when the seller says, “Zillow says $520,000, another agent says $549,000, and I asked ChatGPT and it said $575,000”:
Three numbers, and none of them has walked through your home. AI is great for a lot of things, but it’s guessing from what it can find online. Let’s look at what buyers actually paid.
The moral of the story: the seller should say the price before you do. Once they’ve sorted the evidence, it’s their number, not your argument.
Your questions
Today is Veterans Day. To every veteran, service member and military family reading: thank you.
Brooke in Jacksonville, North Carolina: “Listing agents keep picking conventional offers over my VA buyer’s. How do I compete?” Have the lender call the listing agent before you submit. Under the VA’s Tidewater process, an appraiser who expects to come in low gives the lender two business days to send more sales data, so have comps ready. And VA seller concessions are capped at 4% of reasonable value, with normal closing costs not counted. Confirm details with your lender.
My buyer has served our country, and the lender is ready to answer any question you have today.
Kevin in Colorado Springs, Colorado: “I still take overpriced listings because I’m scared the next agent will. How do I stop?” Use a technique we call deciding before you’re in the room. If you don’t decide ahead of time, fear decides for you. Write down what your last three overpriced listings cost you, set your minimum standard on paper, and read it in the car before every appointment.
I’d rather lose your listing today than have you hate me in 90 days.
Laura in Scottsdale, Arizona: “I list unique, higher-end homes with no good comps. How do I price them?” Go further back in time and wider in area, show every adjustment, and consider a pre-listing appraisal.
With a home like yours, the market will tell us. Let’s agree today on what it has to show us in 21 days.
Reggie in Provo, Utah: “My seller wants to match a house that’s been sitting for 90 days.” Use it as evidence.
That house is doing us a favor. It’s showing us exactly what buyers won’t pay. Let’s not pay for that lesson twice.
Simone in Winnipeg, Manitoba: “Sellers keep quoting their tax assessment.” It’s set for taxes, often as of an earlier date.
Your assessment tells you what you pay in taxes. Recent sales tell you what a buyer will pay.
Your challenge this week: By Friday, review every listing over 21 days and get one seller to say yes to your recommendation. Then book three listing appointments, each with a pricing package. Email us three numbers: listings reviewed, appointments booked and listings signed inside your comparable pile.
The overpriced listing is the most expensive one you’ll ever take. Win the price conversation with evidence, and the money follows. Join Premier Coaching at PremierCoaching.com. Try it for 7 days for just $1.
Meet the Harris AI Real Estate Team
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— Tim & Julie Harris
Founders of Tim & Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching | Publishers of Harris Real Estate Daily | Hosts of PowerHouseTalk | eXp Realty Sponsors at Libertas
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