Latham Jenkins of Live Water Jackson Hole On How To Get The Absolute Best Price When You Sell Your Home
An Interview With Jason Hartman
Stage your home, not only for the listing photos and video, but assure it looks the same when you have showings, no bait and switch like we have all experienced with hotel property shots. It looked great in the photos, but the place was a dump when we checked in.
How can you get the best price possible when you are looking to sell your home? Sometimes it’s a matter of timing, the right upgrades, or simply the right negotiation. In this interview series called “How To Get The Best Price When You Sell Your Home” we are talking to successful real estate leaders, who can share stories, insights and lessons from their experience about how to get the best price when you want to sell your home.
As a particular part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Latham Jenkins.
Latham Jenkins is a luxury real estate broker in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His personal mantra — connecting people with experiences — informs all that he does. As a realtor, it’s how he guides each homebuyer through this life-changing transaction, driven by his three areas of “hyper-local” expertise: real estate services, lifestyle insights, and valued relationships with premier financial planners. With Latham, buyers find more than a home; they find a way of life.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to your career?
I founded a creative agency in 1995, and some of our clients were luxury realtors in Jackson Hole. I observed how many of them never applied the full range of marketing best practices when marketing themselves or their listings. It was a standard disconnect between sales and marketing in the corporate world, but in this case, with individual realtors, who are a one-person company.
I saw this as an opportunity to get into real estate. I have always enjoyed marketing, sales, and the community where I live. My creative agency still publishes two local magazines for over 20 plus years. It has informed me deeply about the place I love and the people that make it happen.
Jumping into real estate sales has been a natural fit over the last seven years. It combines my love of Jackson Hole with my skills in sales and marketing, enabling me to work from a place of passion that both buyers and sellers feel in their interactions with me.
Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away, you took out of that story?
I was selling a commercial property, and the buyer’s agent literally was jumping up and down in front of me, waiving the offer while saying his buyer was rock solid and gold plated. His face was red, and he was sweating. Well, that buyer did not work out, and ever since I have always said, I cannot speak with 100% confidence for my clients; they are human and apt to change their minds
Do you have a favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share a story or example of how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my favorite quotes is, “There is no limit to the good a man can do if he does not care who gets the credit.” Our profession as realtors has us focused on self-promotion, which can steer us to only doing things for which we get credit. I make a point every day to do something that makes the world a better place, no matter how big or small. Whether that is sending a note to a friend or colleague to acknowledge something meaningful in their life that has happened to picking up that abandoned food wrapper on the ground. Imagine what the world would be like if we all saw our purpose as to make it a better place every day from our small acts of kindness, selflessness, and being supportive of others.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I am a member of the Jackson Hole Sustainable Management Destination Plan committee, which is charged with making recommendations to our Travel and Tourism board on how best to manage the impacts of tourism on Jackson Hole. We are being “overloved” by visitors. It is impacting the natural world they come to experience, the quality of life for locals, and making it impossible for the business community to successfully service their needs.
Our work will help ensure for the future that our four million-plus annual visitors will have meaningful experiences while visiting Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
All brands need to occupy a position in a consumer’s mind. Our focus on ranch and large estate properties has created a specialized niche. We have become known as a valued resource for both buyers and sellers of these types of properties. It has worked so well that we actually source the buyers for half the properties we list.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It goes without saying my parents have been the most influential people in my life. As it relates to my profession, I would say, my history teacher, John B. Young, was the one that most influenced my desire to be a great storyteller. He was in charge of publishing our school yearbooks and spent endless hours coaching and teaching us about what makes for a great story. I was the school photographer, and his critique of my work was invaluable in shaping my understanding of visual communication. Thirty-five years later, I still hear him in my mind saying, “what is that photo going to tell a viewer, keep shooting Latham, capture the story.”
Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. For the benefit of our readers, can you please tell us why you are an authority about the topic of getting the best price when selling a home?
With my background as a marketer and owner of a creative agency, I launch every listing just like a product launch. I generate a narrative, I support it by shooting the reinforcing visuals (photos and video), and I develop the creative executions to run in print and digital mediums.
I like to launch it with an open house and give the potential buyers and their agents an opportunity to tour it in person or virtually. This motivates buyers to act immediately and generates multiple offers. This helps a seller realize the best price in their home and enables us to pick from the offers which buyer is most likely to close.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry, as it is today? If you can please share a story or example.
1) Winning a competitive offer scenario for my buyers. We are in an inventory-constrained market now and for the foreseeable future. You realize as their agent the difference you can make for your clients and what a win-win when it all comes together.
2) Millenials leading the charge in homeownership. It is exciting to see this generation embrace the value of homeownership and the benefits that come with it. It proves that the American dream is still alive and well.
3) Technology. It is helping all of us work more efficiently with greater transparency. I have sold more homes recently through virtual showings enabled by Facetime or Zoom and complemented with the 3D and virtual tour offerings. The transaction software creates a seamless interaction in real-time now, so you can move through deal scenarios in a timely fashion.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry as it is today? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest? Please share stories or examples if possible.
1) Affordability. More than ever, the cost of homeownership is growing beyond reach for many Americans. With interest rates climbing again and inventory remaining historically low, the pressure on pricing is going to prop up housing costs. For homeowners, the escalation in property tax is becoming an issue, especially with those on fixed incomes. I have a client who recently asked I list his house because the double-digit, year-over-year property tax increases have made his home unaffordable.
2) Commission pressure. There is constant downward pressure on real estate commission percentages. I cannot imagine a software program being able to manage the nuances in trying to get both a buyer and seller together and through a transaction. It might seem easy on the surface, but I can tell you firsthand that the emotions at play would derail most transactions. You need third parties facilitating the deal and they are called upon 24/7 to keep things moving forward.
3) The offer process. For now it is tedious to try to bring two parties together. We type up offers, send them over for review, then counters come back, we counter again, and trading of paperwork is like an exercise in attrition of slowly wearing out both parties. I want to sit in a room with all parties and hash it out. Experience tells you when two parties are likely to come together if the process does not get in the way.
Based on your experience, what are a few of the biggest mistakes you have seen people make when they sell their homes? What must be done to avoid them?
Sellers “can’t see the forest because of the trees.” After living in a home for years, there can be a number of deferred maintenance items that need addressing before selling. It amazes me how often sellers don’t want to address them, they say, “I’ll let the buyer do that.” I have to remind them of the negative perception defects create with buyers. I use the analogy, “would you buy a dirty car with the bumper falling off?”
Another big mistake is not demanding enough of your realtor in ensuring the home has been well photographed. I just had a deal that cost the seller a couple hundred thousand dollars because the listing photography was so poor, it did not attract enough buyers to the property, and my buyers got a screaming deal.
I know this question has passionate opinions on both sides, but we would love to hear your opinion. Engaging a realtor is costly. Should people use a realtor when they sell their home? Please explain why you feel the way you do.
Realtors like many other professionals, are specialists. We engage a specialist for a reason, we have a specific need, call it a problem, and we need someone to help us solve it. We are smart to recognize that unless we do something very often, we are not an expert and are subject to making costly mistakes. Great realtors work to ensure your success in either buying or selling a home. They know what to watch for, how to prevent emotions from blowing up transactions, and assure positive outcomes.
Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider.” Can you please share five things you need to know in order to get the absolute best price when you sell your home? If you can, please give a story or an example for each.
1) Stage your home, not only for the listing photos and video, but assure it looks the same when you have showings, no bait and switch like we have all experienced with hotel property shots. It looked great in the photos, but the place was a dump when we checked in.
2) Choose a realtor that excels at marketing, not just your neighbor. I am often amazed at who sellers or buyers choose for representation. As with any need or problem we have in our life, you should put time and effort into selecting the right professional with a proven track record to represent you. It makes all the difference in the outcome.
3) Address any deferred maintenance. Buyers don’t want the hassle of fixing problems that sellers have punted down the road. You want a buyer to see your home as an easy move-in ready home that has been well cared for through the years. Get an inspection done on your home and fix everything on the report within reason. You can use this in the sales process to build confidence with buyers. The last thing you want to do as a seller is to make price concessions as buyers discover what you already knew needed fixing. In many cases, it will only cost you more than having fixed it upfront when you could manage the costs.
4) Respond to all offers! I cannot express this enough to my buyers. What seller puts up their best offer first? It is a process of coming together on price, and you need to play the game and understand what leverage you have as either a buyer or seller.
5) Market timing is critical. You’ll want to list when there are not many options in the competitive set for buyers to choose from. Wait for the market to reward you, so your home gets all the attention. Historically speaking, spring was the best time to sell, but with tight inventory levels, going to market without many like-type homes will help assure a better price.
Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Solving food insecurity. I live in the wealthiest county in the nation, and we have hungry kids in our community; how can that be? It is unfathomable for basic needs to go unmet in this day and age. We should all look to engage at a local level in how we can help. It could be as simple as donating to your local foodbank, calling the public school system and paying off someone’s overdue lunch account, or start an organization like one we have in Jackson Hole (Hole Food Rescue) that rescues unused food from restaurants and gets it to those in need.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Yes please join me on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/lathamjenkins.jacksonhole/ and sign-up for my email list on my website, LiveWaterJacksonHole.com
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
