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What exactly is a selling realtor supposed to do???

Eric Perry

Eric Perry

Jun 16, 2002
12,630
692
the depths of fiery hell, I mean Phoenix
www.facebook.com
#1
Because mine's not doing a damn thing! I listed my house just over 90 days ago. Since then I've only had a handful of people look at it. I haven't had any bites. My realtor was fully accommodating before the contract was signed. He came to the house several times, took measurements, gave advice, etc. etc. Then, after the contract was signed, he's essentially disappeared. The house is listed on multiple online sites, but isn't any any local newspapers, circulars, etc. That's frustrating to me. The last time I e-mailed him a question, he never even wrote me back! He's contracted to make 5.5% off the sale. For doing what I see as essentially nothing. I'm in the wrong field, apparently, as I have to WORK to get paid!

This is so frustrating to me!!! :mad:
 
#4
Have you guys done any research into selling it on your own? I had done that once but it was a long time ago, somewhere around 2001. It was a pain in the butt to be honest but we managed to do it and get a little more $ on our sale.
 
#7
Eric Perry said:
Because mine's not doing a damn thing! I listed my house just over 90 days ago. Since then I've only had a handful of people look at it. I haven't had any bites. My realtor was fully accommodating before the contract was signed. He came to the house several times, took measurements, gave advice, etc. etc. Then, after the contract was signed, he's essentially disappeared. The house is listed on multiple online sites, but isn't any any local newspapers, circulars, etc. That's frustrating to me. The last time I e-mailed him a question, he never even wrote me back! He's contracted to make 5.5% off the sale. For doing what I see as essentially nothing. I'm in the wrong field, apparently, as I have to WORK to get paid!

This is so frustrating to me!!! :mad:
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's the same all over, but the commission is split when a broker or agent who's not the listing agent/broker sells it. He seems to be waiting for someone else to do the work. Talk to his boss.

They don't get paid unless the property sells.
 
#8
That would be frustrating to me too, especially since he was so active before you signed the contract. Check the contract to see what his obligations are for advertising, showings, open houses, etc.

-Mike
 
#11
MJ5150 said:
That would be frustrating to me too, especially since he was so active before you signed the contract. Check the contract to see what his obligations are for advertising, showings, open houses, etc.

-Mike
Click to expand...
I read through it this morning, and really didn't see anything written in stone regarding advertising obligations, etc. I'd never sold a house before, so I was pretty naive going in. He seemed to be on top of everything in the early stages, so I felt confident.

Now I feel like an idiot!
 
#12
There are some things that he or she may be doing behind the scenes. For example, most listing agents should be working with their buyers agent contacts to find a fit for the sale. Regardless, you should be getting responses from your agent. Thats not cool. If it were me, id stop by his or her office on a tuesday morning. Thats when most typically "caravan" so you are most likely to catch them in the office before they leave. Hope this helps!

And as we say on tb... glwts
 
#14
Ugg. Been there, done that.

The 5.5% should be split between buying and selling realtor. You should know this split. Typically for that, it's 2.5% selling / 3% buying. If not, that can be an issue. Make no mistake, the buying realtor is the one that does the most work.

If you don't like the realtor, you should switch. I'll typically talk to 3 of them, get a sense of where pricing should be (they should match up with each other within 5% or so) and then hire the one I like best. I would do this even if you already know who you're going to use. They should discuss the marketing plan with you (where they will list property, what they will do). Frankly, I don't give much value to the marketing unless your place is really unusual (like, the more expensive house in town.)

Review your selling contract; typically minimum time commitment from listing is 3 months, and that's as much time as you should give any realtor to list a place for you.

Little activity points to problems. Usually with price. At 90 days you should discuss with realtor what you can do to drive in traffic... bottom line is either need to make minor changes to house or lower price, with latter being the more attractive option.

Most realtor suck, frankly. I had a real dog on my last place; I gave him 4 months (in retrospect, too long) and biggest issue I had with him was that he just didn't seem to care whether the place sold... no advice on what to change to increase traffic. Did a price change and restaged house with new realtor, she had a couple offers in as many months and we sold the place in 2009 (horrible year to be selling.)
 
#16
I just e-mailed him. Here's what I wrote. Too harsh??

"
Todd,


I wanted to touch base with you. The house has been on the market for over three months now. I've gotten no bids. What else can we do?? I saw you made the small video thing, but was it posted anywhere? I know you asked me to circulate it, which I did, but you are the one contracted to make commission off the sale. Shouldn't you be doing that? Other than throwing the listing up on some online sites, what have you done to market it? If it sells, you'll be making a pretty decent commission. I'm clearly in the wrong field based on the work/reward ratio. Along with that, I asked you a question via e-mail regarding the last people who looked at the home, and you never even wrote me back. I don't mean to come off as harsh, but this is incredibly frustrating to me.


Have you had any other leads? Can we drop the price? Is there ANYTHING we can do? Steph may be moving in the next few weeks, as she has a tentative job offer. If she goes, I will most likely pull the house and simply rent it so I can move as well. It's far from ideal, but I have few other options at this point.

Eric"
 
#20
I was a Realtor for a time here. Here's my too sense. (Yes, I know I spelled it wrong. I was being ironical..... and junk.)

You ever notice that the vast majority of commercials you see on TV or hear on the radio from real estate firms are about SELLING your home, not BUYING a home. What a Realtor wants is LISTINGS, not buyers. The reason is that his firm gets paid no matter who buys the house or what agent finds the buyer. And it is a win win if they can do both. But so many have gotten into the mindset of LAND THE LISTING that that is all the concentrate on. They assume that the market will bring them a buyer and they will get paid either way.

1) The squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you raise enough hell, they will either do more for you, or let you out of your contract. If you get no response, threaten them with Angie's List, social media, and stuff like that.

2) Here's where you have to tuck your ego away. There may not be a market for your home. Price, location, local economic conditions, school districts, and a ton of other factors may be creating a situation wherein your home is just not as desirable as the others in the same price range.

Find out from your agent how many houses have sold in your price range recently, where they were, how they differ from yours, etc. And don't let them hassle you about this request. Through the MLS, that information is so easy to bring up it's silly. They do CMAs all the time with this information and are good at sifting through it. So, ask questions. (Google MLS and CMA if you don't know the terms. Not worth getting into here.)

3) How is your kitchen? That is where most sales are saved or lost. I don't mean to be sexist here, but usually if a woman doesn't fall in love with the kitchen, it will be hard to get her to give a crap about the rest of the house. Bathrooms are a close second for her. The guy will ultimately go with whatever the wife can live with. These aren't my rules. But they are pretty spot on. So, if your kitchen has 1987 burgundy and white vinyl flooring, and your bathrooms have 1975 mint green tile on the walls, you will turn off virtually every woman who comes to see the place. And the man will only see the dollar signs it will take to make her happy down the road (cuz he/we don't give a crap usually).

Hope this helps. Ask more questions if you think of something specific I might be able to assist with.
 

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