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I have a four questions for Realtors to help me with. I am selling a home and presently deciding on which agents to set up interviews with. I'm going to interview three agents and two I have selected so far are from the same reality company, but at different locations in Knoxville. Question: May I interview both and if so would that propose any problems for myself in the future or for their working relationship in regards to my home sale?
I live out of state and the agent I have now has been helpful and willingly taken care of meeting contractors, services or whoever needs to get in the house and then lock back up. She does live in same neighborhood, so not out of way really. Question: Was she just being nice to help or is this expected for an agent to help out with if needed? Because I am not sure if I should compensate her for her trouble and what is acceptable or expected for a realtor to help an out of state client?
The realtor we used was fairly new to real estate but we hired for other reasons. She worked for large company in town and she did lots of marketing on my home which we were very pleased with.Question: Did she pay for that herself or did her company help with her marketing expenses? I don't blame her for not selling home, just the timing and inventory. But I do hate it if she used her money with no results and we are moving on with someone else now.
And last question: In selecting an agent to sell, do I need to use agents who refer to themselves as a Listing Agent? Is there a difference ?
Thanks for taking to time to read this and any help is appreciated, I just want to be fair and hopefully more successful this time.
I have a four questions for Realtors to help me with. I am selling a home and presently deciding on which agents to set up interviews with. I'm going to interview three agents and two I have selected so far are from the same reality company, but at different locations in Knoxville. Question: May I interview both and if so would that propose any problems for myself in the future or for their working relationship in regards to my home sale?
I live out of state and the agent I have now has been helpful and willingly taken care of meeting contractors, services or whoever needs to get in the house and then lock back up. She does live in same neighborhood, so not out of way really. Question: Was she just being nice to help or is this expected for an agent to help out with if needed? Because I am not sure if I should compensate her for her trouble and what is acceptable or expected for a realtor to help an out of state client?
The realtor we used was fairly new to real estate but we hired for other reasons. She worked for large company in town and she did lots of marketing on my home which we were very pleased with.Question: Did she pay for that herself or did her company help with her marketing expenses? I don't blame her for not selling home, just the timing and inventory. But I do hate it if she used her money with no results and we are moving on with someone else now.
And last question: In selecting an agent to sell, do I need to use agents who refer to themselves as a Listing Agent? Is there a difference ?
Thanks for taking to time to read this and any help is appreciated, I just want to be fair and hopefully more successful this time.
Question #1-You may interview both and it shouldn't pose any problems for you in the future.
Question #2-She was being nice and I believe most Realtors would do the same thing under the circumstances you described. If it was a huge inconvenience for her(i.e., having to drive an hour each way to get to the house on a frequent basis) it might be a different story.
Question #3-The marketing/advertising money that she spent probably all came out of her pocket. That's one of the risks a Realtor takes when they list a property.
Question #4-Most real estate agents handle both the listing and buying side. A listing agent is basically an agent who has a listing. They probably also represent buyers. There is a small percentage of agents who only represent buyers or sellers.
Hope this helps.
Roxy's Mom -
Can I ask why you are changing agents? You indicated that you "don't blame her for not selling home, just the timing and inventory. But I do hate it if she used her money with no results and we are moving on with someone else now." What are your expectations for a DIFFERENT agent that this agent wouldn't be able to fulfill?
I'm assuming by the fact that you've decided to make a change that there were OTHER things about the relationship that were unsatisfactory - did you share those with her? Did you give her an opportunity to correct any deficiencies or problems?
I've recently had something similar happen to me - after investing a couple of hundred dollars and many hours of marketing a home and servicing my clients needs (supervising landscaping projects, getting contractors into the house...) only to have the listing expire without selling (2 offers that failed due to various reasons...and 3 months of trying to get the owner to lower the price without success!)...3 weeks later, the house was listed with a new agent (at the price that I had been TRYING to convince the owner was the right one) - and the house now (60 days gone by) has a "SALE PENDING" on it.
No hard feelings (truly!) that's the nature of this business sometimes...but I would have appreciated either a continued opportunity to serve this client OR some feedback as to why they felt they needed to make a change (nothing but positive comments were ever received - and somebody else got a commission...even though I felt like I earned it). Ok...not about ME, but I'm asking that you consider
* Making sure the agent who apparently worked hard to serve you gets some feedback so that she can improve...OR
* Maybe stick with her...it's a tough market (as you said) and I'm sure she'd appreciate the vote of confidence from you in appreciation for all she's done to date.
Thanks for listening and I wish you the best in getting your home SOLD and achieving your goals.
We hired a realtor who was just starting in her career. She lived in our neighborhood and had sent out very a professional looking mailing and we set an interview. We asked her about her career or experience at our first meeting, then we learned how new she was. I think at that time she knew we looked concerned and after she left she called back within a couple of hours and convinced us to talk to her again, that she had a mentor in her company who would be helping her. So we met both of them, the other realtor was a top producer in their company and made an impressionable sales pitch to us. The way they presented it, we would be getting 2 realtors for the price of one. Sounded good to us. But after that we never saw the other realtor again or heard from her. In the meantime we got good marketing, but her communications with us was not there. We called and emailed we wanted to know about the showings and feedback, so we could address the issues if needed. But the only time we heard from her was wanting us to change the price, but she never could provide us with information or comparables of home sales to come up with a reason for lowering the price. We did give her ample time, was not 3 months we gave her, but a year! I know we did not get anymore marketing really after the first 3 months. It was not a smart decision on our part looking back but being in another state and an unforseen major medical emergency, it was the easiest thing to do at the time.
I have no idea if I will get better results with another realtor, but it is time to move on. Her contract is up in few weeks, and I have two homes in the $800,000 range I am making morgages on, utilities and regular maintenance. So I have a big investment that I can't continue as it is now. As far as the house, it is in excellent condition, I know everyone says that about their home, but it is and it shows like a model home. The subdivision we live in has 30 homes for sale out of 250 homes. Out of those, I am probably competing with 10. I do know how the market is tough right now, not only for a new realtor but for all realtors and homeowners.
I do appreciate your input and sharing your experiences. Always something for us to learn and hearing others situations helps everyone. By the way, as they say ... this wasn't our first rodeo. We have bought and sold 8 homes in 20 years, however, things being different we should have done something different way before a year went by, but things happened that was not planned.
Roxy's Mom - Thank you. The information you added really gives a much fuller picture of the situation and I certainly have a lot of respect for your patience. I think what you described offers some GREAT information for other new Realtors out there and how to do the best job by their clients.
At the end of the day, the lesson we can ALL learn is that the communication with our clients - counsel, education, frank and open opinions backed up by solid research and facts - is really the key to keeping the relationship in tact.
Good luck in getting your home sold...and thanks again for your perspective.
DaveP
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