I'm pretty sure there are quite a few people who think the goal of agents is to take as many listings as they can, but that's definitely not our philosophy. I'm going to share a little secret: of all the things we do to sell a home, getting the listing is the easiest, especially if the property is located in Fairview, Lucas, or Parker. We consider that our wheelhouse.
Chances are, the homeowner already knows about us, and that's why they called us. So we don't have to sell our track record. If we had no ethics, all we'd have to do to get the listing is explain our marketing program and then give the seller an unreasonable and highly inflated opinion of value.
The other agents the seller is interviewing will almost certainly provide an opinion of value quite a bit lower than ours if they know this market, so the seller will be pleasantly surprised when they hear our number. Their thinking will probably be "They really believe in our home, plus they've sold more than anyone out here. Why wouldn't we list with them?" Of course, we don't work like that, but there's no doubt some agents do.
Why Would Any Agent Want An Overpriced Listing?
Why would an agent take an overpriced listing they know they can't sell? There are two main reasons. The first is so they can place their sign in the yard to introduce them to the neighborhood, and the second is that they can use the home to "fish" for buyers who they can sell a more reasonably and correctly priced home to. The winning listing agent has just "bought themselves a listing", but from our perspective, that's a recipe for disaster.
After months without a showing, much less an offer, the seller will eventually realize their listing agent severely overpriced their home. The neighbors will think the same thing and start to wonder if the listing agent is incompetent or unscrupulous.
In a best-case scenario, the listing agent might be able to convince the now aggravated seller to drop their price two, three, or maybe even four times to get the home to where it's priced right, then they can sell it. Maybe they'll have found a buyer for another, reasonably priced home.
In the worst-case scenario, if the home doesn't sell and the agent loses the listing, they've at least had their sign in the yard for months. They've gained lots of neighborhood exposure and been able to market the home on social media platforms. They might end up with nothing, so they just write it off as a "loss leader".
How We're Different
The Grisak Group has been well established in this area for a long, long time. People know and trust our knowledge, experience, and ethics. We have "For Sale" and "Sold" signs throughout the area and typically carry $20 to $30 million in listings at a time. As of July 25, 2026, we have 30 properties listed with a total listed value of $31.5 million. We could easily carry another $4 million or so if we had taken several listings we had to decline.
Why would we take on a listing with an out-of-touch seller or a property with issues that can't be resolved? Our marketing costs run into several thousand dollars for every listing we take, and that adds up quickly when we don't get a return on our investment by selling the home. This might sound a bit "cold," but we sure don't need more practice listing homes; we're in business to sell them.
Homeowners might not know much about the inner workings of our industry, but they'll eventually figure out what happened. If that same scenario plays itself out two or three times in a small market like Fairview, Lucas, and Parker, the word gets around. Neighbors talk, and the end result is the agent loses all credibility. Once that's lost it's hard to get it back.
Who's Interviewing Whom When We Go On a Listing Appointment?
While the seller is interviewing us, in a way, we're also interviewing them. We have to make sure the sellers and we are pulling the cart in the same direction. Are they going to be reasonable on pricing, or are they trying to hit a home run in a challenging market? Will they take our advice on what we believe is important to help them sell their home? Are they going to ask us to do things outside of our normal marketing package? Are they going to be patient sellers or expect us to deliver a miracle in a short period of time? Is the pride of ownership evident, and will the home be in good condition when it's ready to hit the market?
All of those things are very important to us, and we take them all into consideration before we commit to a listing. It's never about the price of the home when we decline a listing. In fact, more affordably priced homes are easier to sell than multi-million dollar homes.
The Downsides of Rejecting a Listing Opportunity
Trust me, it's not an easy conversation when you have to tell a seller you're going to respectfully decline listing their home. They have probably never heard that before and might become offended. We never want anyone to think we're "too good" to list their home, but unfortunately that can happen no matter how we delicately we try to coach the conversation. We have to be direct and honest with them, explain our concerns, and hope for the best. We'll always recommend another good agent if they need a name, and quite often they take us up on that.
