When you step inside a house or a condo that’s listed for sale, and you see a dozen business cards on the dining room table, what’s the first thing you think of?

Believe it or not, leaving cards on display is a “strategy” put forth by listing agents.  But is it a good one?

I’ve seen some unbelievable business cards produced by members in my industry.

On the wall next to my desk at work, I have a collection (currently about eight) of real estate agent business cards that are so ridiculous or funny that they just have to be on display. 

I have one business card where the Realtor spelled her name wrong, and another where a Realtor of a European background basically put her resume on the back of her card in broken English (“Excellent promotion of client best interest”).  Since when is a business card also a place to tout your (supposed) strengths?

But my all-time favorite is an agent that has a photo of himself talking on not one, but two cell phones at the same time!  It’s like he’s saying, “I’m such a high profile agent that I have to talk on two cell phones at the same time just to keep up with my business!”  But as a consumer, would you really want to hire a Realtor that is speaking to you while he’s speaking to another of his clients?  Listening to half of what you’re saying?

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in real estate “teams,” where one big name agent sits at the top and has one, two, or ten sub-agents working under him.  I also have a business card in my collection that looks like a freakin’ family reunion, with no fewer than eight people pictured on the business card!  All their names are displayed above their heads in little bubbles.  Very cute!

It seems that no matter where you look, there’s a real estate team lurking around the corner.

LIKE THIS ONE!

My colleagues and I, not to be outdone, have come up with our own “team”

Henceforth, we shall be known as “The Firm.”

Or not.

I think we’re all better off on our own…

But back to the point about business cards.

It is common courtesy for a Realtor to leave his or her business card behind when showing a property.  This lets the seller know who was in the home, and if the seller leaves and comes back, it lets the seller know that the Realtor has come and gone.

But for those of you that are currently looking at houses or condos, or that have been through the process in the last few years, you’re used to seeing business cards laying around in those properties, and sometimes – proudly displayed!

The photo at the top of this blog post is one I took over the weekend at a very popular property in the east end.  Here it is again:

I referred to this as a “strategy” by the listing agent, and it shouldn’t be taken for granted.

At the same time, every listing agent should think about what they’re doing when they leave business cards behind, and decide if this will hurt or help sell the property.

The way I see it, the hurt/help equation has to be broken down further by those properties that have a set offer date, or a “hold back,” and those that have offers any time.  Let’s analyze this…

Properties With A “Hold Back”

When you’re holding back offers on a property, you’re basically putting out a signal to the market and its participants that you expect to have multiple offers, or at least you’re setting the table for them.

The listing agent will display all the business cards of Realtors who have shown the property (as seen above) to demonstrate the interest in the property.

For the property above, we see the cards on the table and we think, “Good Lord, a lot of people have been through this house!  Wow!  That’s a ton of interest, and I’m sure this house will get offers on offer night.”

But does this help?  Or does this hurt?

On the one hand, it helps because it sets the table for a big price.  You have to take the interest seriously when you see the amount of cards on display!  You have to know that in order to be successful on offer night, you’re going to pay top dollar, and bid against all those other agents and their clients.

On the other hand, it could scare people off.  As a buyer, you might walk into the living room, see those cards, and say, “This is ridiculous.  This is bound to be a gong-show and I don’t want to get involved.  We’re just gonna get blown out of the water.”

The for the listing agent is – you need ALL offers in order to get top dollar for the property.  You need the “little people” who offer the asking price even though there are five competing offers.  You need them because they help prop up the eventual sale price.

You can’t afford to scare them away.

If your $599,000 property receives six offers of $599,000, $600,000, $610,000, $645,000, $655,000, and $661,500, you’re only getting that $661,500 offer because that buyer knows hes competing against five other buyers.  If you scare off the “little people” at $610,000 and below, and there’s only three offers instead of six, then you won’t end up at $661,500.

As a listing agent, you need to play this business-card-strategy quite carefully.  Even the most arrogant, naive listing agent must know that leaving 100 business cards on the table might scare people way.  Or at least, I hope he/she does…

The decision to leave those business cards on the table can’t be taken lightly.  For a listing agent, he or she must remember that this isn’t a popularity contest, and you can’t leave the business cards behind as a way of saying “look at me, look at me,” because it isn’t about you, it’s about the property and the sellers – your clients, remember?  I feel as if so many agents leave the cards behind without thinking it through first.

Properties With No Hold-Back

Whether the property has been on the market for one day, or three months – you need to consider how leaving business cards behind affects a buyer’s impression, as well as your potential bargaining position down the road.

On the one hand, leaving the business cards on the kitchen counter enables you to tell a cooperating agent, “Hey, I’m getting a ton of showings.  I don’t need to take your lowball offer because there’s a ton of interest in the property!  Just look at all the cards on the counter next time you go to the house!”

On the other hand, every card left behind for a property that is still listed for sale represents a buyer who did NOT buy the property.

I’ve been to vacant properties that have been on the market for months and there are 80-90 business cards on the kitchen counter!  I think to myself, “This is a mess.  All these showings and yet nobody wants to take the plunge and buy this house.  Let’s get out of here.”

The bottom line is – when you display business cards of everybody who has shown the property, you’re tipping your hand.

You’re showing buyers and buyer-agents who has been through the property, what kind of interest there has been, and in some cases – which agents have seen the property!

I’ll shuffle through the business cards and say, “Oh wow, John Doe was here!  He always gets his clients to overpay.”

I know a lot of my colleagues will disagree with me here, but I never, ever leave business cards on display at my listings.

What do you have to gain?

For properties with no offer date, you’re just advertising how many buyers have said “no” to the property.

And for properties with an offer date, you run the risk of scaring off buyers, and I don’t think that a would-be buyer will be more aggressive because of all the cards on the table.  I think the only thing that matters is how many competing offers there are at 7pm on offer night, and NOT how many business cards were on the table when they viewed the property.

I know a lot of Realtors read my blog, so I’d love to get some feedback here.

Just remember, I’m right about everything, and you have no clue what you’re talking about…