I was listening to an interview with Tom Waits recently when he shared a piece of advice from one of his mentors.

“Fast, cheap and good… pick two.”

If it’s fast and cheap, it won’t be good.

If it’s cheap and good, it won’t be fast.

If it’s fast and good, it won’t be cheap.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d spent forty years watching this exact principle play out in real estate.

Or had I?

Let’s pretend for a moment that it does.

Imagine fast means your home sells in a week.

Good means it sells for a price you’re thrilled with.

Cheap means you deliberately price it well below market value.

At first glance, the rule seems to fit.

Price a home aggressively and chances are you’ll get lots of showings, multiple offers and a quick sale.

But here’s where things get interesting.

Did selling quickly actually produce the best result?

Sometimes it does.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

I’ve seen homes priced low that created incredible bidding wars and sold well beyond expectations.

I’ve also seen homes priced low that attracted bargain hunters, leaving the seller wondering if they had left money on the table.

There are no guarantees.

Then there are the unicorns.

Every market has them.

The custom-built home.

The house backing onto conservation land.

The property in the neighbourhood everyone wants but where almost nothing ever comes up for sale.

Those homes often rewrite the rules because buyers aren’t simply buying a house. They’re buying an opportunity they may never see again.

As markets cool, sellers naturally begin looking for ways to stand out.

Ironically, today’s ideas aren’t nearly as creative as they once were.

During the slower markets of the early 1990s, I remember sellers offering below-market financing, prepaid property taxes, vacations, even automobiles as incentives to attract buyers.

Today, most people simply adjust the price.

Which brings me to what I think is the real lesson.

After forty years of selling homes, I don’t believe real estate is really about fast, cheap and good.

I think it’s about three entirely different words.

Price.

Location.

Condition.

Those three variables determine almost everything.

A fantastic location can overcome many shortcomings.

If the location isn’t ideal, price usually makes up the difference.

A home needing work can absolutely sell if it’s priced appropriately.

A beautifully renovated home in a great neighbourhood can often command a premium.

Marketing matters. Professional photography matters. Video matters. Presentation matters.

But they all take a back seat to one thing.

Price.

The market is remarkably honest.

It tells us every single day what buyers are willing to pay.

Our job as sellers isn’t to convince the market it’s wrong.

Our job is to understand what it’s trying to tell us.

Maybe Tom Waits was right after all.

Just not about real estate.

If you are planning on selling a home, I would be happy to share with you how 40 years of experience can help you sell for a high price in a market flooded with homes. I can be reached at lindsay@buyselllove.ca or 905-743-5555