Friday, November 01, 2013

If You Were a Realtor.....

and you met with a couple to talk about listing their home for sale, don't you think you would contact them fairly soon thereafter, instead of waiting 2 and 1/2 weeks??!! Note: This was written just after we listed the house in July.

This team  (husband and wife)  told us they were leaving on a week-long vacation two days later, and that they would try hard to get something in the email to us before they left. If not, they said they would call us as soon as they returned. They called.....18 days later. 

Of course we have already chosen another realtor; one who showed considerable interest in selling our home. She has been very responsive, and has initiated calls or email to us nearly every day since we told her that we would list with her. 

The part that gets to me is that the other team, who have both been in real estate for many years, and who are with one of the most prestigious real estate firms in this area, should know better. 

At the time they called my husband, I was brushing down the pool and writing  (in my head) a letter I planned to send to the president of their firm. I thought he might like to know how they had short-changed that firm by not showing a bit more speed and enthusiasm for listing our home. 

How does one get into the newspaper in the list of Top Sellers every year by such actions?  

If there was some reason they were loathe to list our house, all they had to do was call or email and say "We have decided not to list your home." I would certainly have wanted to know why, but at least we would not have been hanging on by a thread - waiting for a call. It was also a bit of a disservice to the other two real estate agents with whom we met, since it caused us to delay our decision by 8 days.

All in all it is a crappy way to do business. When I was a wedding florist, if I took more than 2-3 days to get a proposal out to a bride or her mother, I was almost guaranteeing she would sign with someone else. People don't like to be kept waiting, especially when other pressing decisions depend on that one. 

Those people are old enough and have enough experience in the business to know that......I still can't believe that's the way they work.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Real estate is a very competitive business. If the first two agents couldn't get your place listed before they went out of town, they should have provided you with a back-up agent who would have worked on both your and their behalf. They didn't do that. You absolutely had to find someone else who would work for you.

Gilly said...

Estate Agents over here are really cut-throat. But they can still send the buyer from hell over to you!!

Ginnie said...

I think it's critical to get an agent and agency that you see eye to eye with. I hope your new one will get you a buyer soon and you can forget the whole thing.

Granny Annie said...

What's worse is getting a very attentive and promising realtor who is right on target for getting the listing then disappears from sight for six months until their contract expires and you list with someone else. Meanwhile other realtors are the only ones showing your home. Yikes!! At least our home sold a few days after the new realtor took the listing and they got the commission and not the first one. Of course that was many years ago.