Consider the Tomato Frog

A few days ago, I placed a property up for sale, and many questions were going through my mind. Most of which were of small concern. Did you get the property staged? Yes. Is the marketing in place? Yes. Are the mailings going out? Yes. Custom painted? Yes. Open house preparations? Yup. I even scrubbed the terracotta stairs that lead to the front door to make sure we have a good first impression. Needless to say, there are many points to cover in the checklist, but there was one question still ruminating now and again that will take some time to settle. That question is, "Why?"

Why are you listing a property in the first place? Why sell a property that has possibly reduced in value over the last year by around $60-70k or even more? Maybe the owner/seller is in financial woes and needs to sell it to avoid bankruptcy. Or, what if they are being told the "f" word, foreclosure. I can assure you that it is none of these. The answer really is the simple fact that the owner is ready to relocate. It's just time.

Now that we know why, where does the Tomato Frog fit in you may ask? This property for sale is going to be my Listing Indicator Project, LIP. For those of you who are not familiar with the indicator concept, consider the Tomato Frog of Madagascar--

Definition: A kind of frog that is red and has a plump, squishy body.

Context: The tomato frog is considered to be an indicator species, meaning that it can be used to measure the health of an ecosystem. If the frog does not do well, it is an Indication that something is not well with its environment.

The townhome I am listing is neither red, plump, nor is it squishy. Rather, it is a cute townhome in Fremont CA in an area called Parkmont. It is 30 years old, but the property and the rest of the subdivision looks young because both are well maintained. The home has 2 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. So, because this will be a normal motivation to sell, we have a good unit, and we will market it as is expected, I believe these conditions will allow the property's progress through the listing period to be used in measuring the health of the recent real estate economy, a real estate ecosystem if you will.

We'll log the events that take place relative to the listing then report all the happenings to you on this blog as often as we can.

1. First Event: Saturday April 26th at 12:19p--Couple saw the signpost I placed out in the common area away from the other units (signs are not allowed on the subdivision, but I placed a sign in). I got the call on my treo. They wondered if there was going to be an open house; they wanted to see it. I explained that there was going to be an open house next weekend, however they are welcome to view it at any time. They came, they saw, they liked. We will be meeting in my office on Friday May 2nd. to consider an approach in making an offer.

My LIP now has a problem. The problem is I just got hit with an exception. You see, if in fact a transaction occurs too suddenly, it may be considered an exception to the rule (stick a sign in the ground and it sells). It would be like someone planted steroids in the Tomato Frogs diet, not a true indicator. Sigh.

by Jeff Pereyda

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