Realtor expectations?

[Bernadine]

I'm not sure if mine are too low, or h's are too high.

We've had two showings in three weeks. What should she be doing?

Also, I asked her yesterday if we could see a house. She said she's going away for the weekend, but she can take us Monday. Should she have offered to have someone else take us?

And how long is reasonable for her to respond to emails?

[macmars45]

When H and I were house hunting with a REA (Feb 2015) we saw 7-8 in a day and then 2-3 on another day. The market was moving super fast at the time with houses being bought within a week of going up for sale. So I'd say it depends on your area's market.

ETA: our REA responded promptly each time we emailed him. (In thinking it through I don't remember how long it took but he was very on top of things.) Also, if you want to see more/move faster in your house hunt, then your current REA is too slow.

[newnamesameperson]

.

[dove]

I was a licensed assistant through college. I'll try to answer as though it were my boss


We've had two showings in three weeks. What should she be doing?

we would call the showing agent for feedback on the showing. Good or bad, the information is invaluable. Then w would relay info to you.

Also, I asked her yesterday if we could see a house. She said she's going away for the weekend, but she can take us Monday. Should she have offered to have someone else take us?
in this case, she would have a colleague or I would show the house. The only bad side is that if you do like the house and offer, then she would have to split the commission with the colleague. Some agents also pay the colleague a flat fee to site the house.

And how long is reasonable for her to respond to emails?[/quote]
most agents are tied to their phones. It's a commission based business. They don't want to lose a client or a sale. I would expect same day or next day response.

[zoomzoom]

When we sold our last house,the REA had a REA Open House. In our market, agents do that every Tuesday. The REA's look at the house and write down their feedback on a form provided by the agent showing the house. We received helpful feedback on how the house was priced and things to maybe consider changing for larger appeal.

[agnes]

For showings your house, I don't have advice.

But for seeing a place, I think she should have at least arranged for you to go with out her. When we were looking, I would email him to see a listing and we'd usually go that day. If he wasn't available, he would have still set it up. Our market was hot, so I would have been very displeased if I didn't get to see a place when I asked.

[foodiemom]

I would expect them to give you feedback on the showings, have you gotten that? I would also expect weekly updates. If your home isn't being shown often, why? Is your market slow? Is it a unique/niche home? Or is it overpriced? Who chose the price?

For the showing - are you ready to make an offer on a home immediately? Is it a new listing you may miss out on waiting 2 days? If so, I'd expect her to have them find someone to show the house for you right away. If not, I don't see an issue waiting a few days.

[TR]

It really depends on your market.

For showing your house - are you in a popular neighborhood where you would expect to get a lot of action? Did she do professional photos for the listing? Is it priced well? Make sure it's not right above a popular search cut off (like $252,000 or something). Open houses tend to be more beneficial for the realtor getting their name out than really bringing in a buyer so I wouldn't mind that she hasn't done that. Make sure she's reaching out to others in her office about your property.

For seeing other houses - if possible, our realtor would get us the lockbox code to go see it ourselves if she was busy. This was buying my first house. For this last one, we purposefully picked a newer realtor with less clients so she'd be less busy and we had amazing service so I can't speak to what she would do if she were unavailable because she never was.

[Deleted]

We're buying right now and listing next week.

Last time we sold we had probably 10 showings the week and an offer at the end of the week. I think it's heavily market dependent. Make sure the photos are good and the listing has enough information. Here, most homes are selling within a week so if we don't get a lot of showings we have probably listed too high.

If it's a new listing that's strange not offering to see it with someone else but if it's been on the market awhile I can see our realtor waiting.

We get emails back within hours.

[daisybuchannan]

I respond to clients very quickly. We usually email or text, both of which are obviously on my phone, so there isn't really a reason to be very delayed.

In terms of number of showings, I had this exact conversation with a client today. I can control how I do business, that people enjoy working with me, and that every contract I do is quick and sent out immediately, but I cannot control the market. There's a town near me that has very high taxes and very bad schools. It also has some very beautiful homes that would easily sell for double or triple where I live and work. I have a listing there and can't control the act that things are very slow.

In a hot market if I was out of town, I'd try to find another agent to schedule a showing for me (and pay them to do so).

[carrotsmakemefat]

I would expect same day responses, no more than 6-8 hrs. And I call bullshit on making you wait till Monday to see a house. I'd tell her (not ask) to arrange it so you can see it Saturday. If she pushes back can you get another REA or are you under a contract?

[chickadee77]

Depends on your market and your "style." We've bought several houses, and our realtors have been great at picking up on cues. We hate open houses and don't want to be "shown" a house. We come with a list to discuss, and they will tell us if there's a dealbreaker that isn't in the listing (no land, right off the freeway, whatever - and, lol, now that I'm thinking about it, we don't have many dealbreakers), or at least describe the place if they've been there and give the pros and cons.

Yes, we expect prompt communication. Not, like, "We want to see this house today. Make it happen," but at least if we express interest, some response saying, "We can do this xyz," or, "Hey, maybe let's sit down and talk about these listings first to make sure you really want to spend the time seeing them, oh, and by the way, here are some other places that you should maybe consider."

Admittedly, we're the prospectives that look at a ton of houses in order to find one that we love. We've "dumped" realtors that couldn't handle that, and no hard feelings, it's cool - like we're still friends with some of them. We're up front about our expectations. We're also willing to look at just about anything with potential - which can be either a realtor's dream or nightmare, ha. However, we don't dick around. We always buy, and usually above what we tell them our budget is, so we all walk away happy. And we usually buy them a good amount of cocktails, too.

[RamblingRose]

Sept 23, 2016 12:46:59 GMT -5 dove said:

I was a licensed assistant through college. I'll try to answer as though it were my boss

Well, she is an awesome realtor. I start comments to the BF who is looking in K-ville "well if KE was handling this..." and he says "why doesn't she work in my town?"
Poor dude. And she spoiled me for any future agents. Ya know, if I look in some other place.

[dancelnow]

Sept 23, 2016 14:59:25 GMT -5 TR said:

For seeing other houses - if possible, our realtor would get us the lockbox code to go see it ourselves if she was busy.

WHAT?!? I hope that did not happen? Do you want random unknowns having the ability to come to your house unsupervised when you're selling?

[TR]

Sept 24, 2016 7:58:15 GMT -5 dancelnow said:

Sept 23, 2016 14:59:25 GMT -5 TR said:

For seeing other houses - if possible, our realtor would get us the lockbox code to go see it ourselves if she was busy.

WHAT?!? I hope that did not happen? Do you want random unknowns having the ability to come to your house unsupervised when you're selling?

Ummmm...noooo...it didn't happen...

[foodiemom]

Sept 24, 2016 7:58:15 GMT -5 dancelnow said:

Sept 23, 2016 14:59:25 GMT -5 TR said:

For seeing other houses - if possible, our realtor would get us the lockbox code to go see it ourselves if she was busy.

WHAT?!? I hope that did not happen? Do you want random unknowns having the ability to come to your house unsupervised when you're selling?

Yeah, this is completely unprofessional, but also lazy and I'm guessing not even allowed?

[RamblingRose]

Sept 24, 2016 11:11:15 GMT -5 foodiemom said:

Sept 24, 2016 7:58:15 GMT -5 dancelnow said:

WHAT?!? I hope that did not happen? Do you want random unknowns having the ability to come to your house unsupervised when you're selling?

Yeah, this is completely unprofessional, but also lazy and I'm guessing not even allowed?

Pretty sure it violates their code of ethics. Oh well, I'm not buying or selling where TR was, so I'm going to just assume that that wouldn't happen here. Otherwise I could never put a house on the market again!

[my3boyz]

Sept 24, 2016 8:07:55 GMT -5 TR said:

Sept 24, 2016 7:58:15 GMT -5 dancelnow said:

WHAT?!? I hope that did not happen? Do you want random unknowns having the ability to come to your house unsupervised when you're selling?

Ummmm...noooo...it didn't happen...

Seriously, that is a violation of the code of ethics. If you have that agent sell your house, would you be ok with her having randoms walk through without a professional? These kinds of agents piss me off because it gives the rest of us a bad name.

[my3boyz]

So it sounds like you're selling first and then buying, my answer is based on this premise. As agents we work really hard, many nights and weekends. If she's taking one weekend off, I'd give it to her. There's no urgency for you to see the house you wanted this weekend because you can't buy yet, your house isn't under contract. I'd venture to guess that's why she wasn't too concerned about you seeing it until Monday. Personally my sense of urgency around something like that would be based on a clients situation as well as the market I'm in (competitive or not). I'm guessing with only 2-3 showings you're not in a hot market so you have time.

As far as the 2-3 showings on your house, she should have been able to get feedback from at least one of the agents. I would try to see what people were thinking about the house. I would request an open house be done next weekend with a lot of marketing to generate showings. And just ask her what kind of marketing has been done at this point. Whatever she promised at the initial listing appointment is what you should expect and hold her accountable to. If she's done good marketing and you're not getting showings you have a price, location or condition problem. Location and condition can be overcome with price.