Challenges can abound when listing your home, especially if you list with a close friend. One of the most serious is listing your home with a REALTOR® just because that Realtor is your friend. Consider the following tale of a home owner that selected their good friend to represent them as the listing agent.

A home owner listed his home with his best friend, that also had gotten his real estate license a few months ago. Because they were such good friends, the Realtor could not bring himself to tell the owner that his home was dirty and that it needed to be cleaned up if it was ever going to sell. Considering that the owner had just completed finishing the basement into a gameroom and had invited the agent over to watch the Big Game, the agent couldn't bring himself to to break the news to the owner that he had spent thousands of dollars on home improvements that did not increase the value of the owner's home.

You can imagine what happened, the Realtor listed the home several thousand dollars over the market value and in showing condition that would not get rave reviews. Not surprisingly, months passed with few showings and no offers. The Owner's friendship with the Realtor became more and more strained as each week passed without an offer. After several unsuccessful months, the owner lowered the price of his home to a price within market value, but by then it was too late. The few people who came to see the home had already purchased another house, and the most active buying season was over. The Owner decided to take his home off the market for a while.

Turn the clock ahead several months, the owner contacted a well-known, professional Realtor who met with him and told him the truth about what it was actually going to take to get the home sold. This Realtor shared with the owner the history of sales in the neighborhood, gave him a list of all the competition, shared an aggressive computerized marketing plan and suggested a fair marketing price based on the facts. Thirty-nine days later, the owner sold his house for 98% of the listed price.

The sad part of this listing is that the owner now does not talk to his friend for not being honest with him up front and for not getting his home sold the first time around. Although the owner's friend was a good professional, he simply couldn't separate business from friendship and as a result he lost the friendship and the owners business. That is just one of the dangers of listing your home with a friend.

Lets face it. most people in any profession have a difficult time drawing a distinction between friendship and business, so if you truly value your friendship and you sincerely want to sell your home in Northern Virginia, play it safe and list with someone who can be objective with you and who can sell your house quick. You should also never make the mistake of listing with a part time professional. Selling a home is too complicated and too important to entrust to a part time professional, who by not knowing the pitfalls and complications of the business can end up costing you money

Lets separate the professional job of selling your home from your friends. Keep your friends and sell your home. This is a true win-win situation.