Okay, I admit right up front that I failed my due diligence in researching a realtor to sell my house. She was a good sales agent, she really met my needs in finding a new house that "fit." As far as selling the old one, not so much.

I'm five months in on a six month listing. It's been horrible. I should have made a change earlier. When she prepared the initial forms, she had the wrong address on the house. I had to make her correct them several times. Her photographer just sucked. The contractor she obtained for us (that I paid) apparently cleaned his brushes and rollers in the upstairs bathroom bath tub. I discovered this two weeks later and spent two hours scrubbing. She held open houses twice before I discovered she wasn't posting them on line, she only ran ads in the local paper. Her yard guy screwed up my plants. She never gave us any guidance on pricing, I set a price and she just went along with it. I just had an appraisal, the listing was 50k over appraisal. It goes on and on. I have terminated the contract, and have a release. Currently I am trying to get her to release the listing on MLS, she used the wrong computer transaction and it can't be relisted without her company modifying it.

I'm recovering. Fortunately, there is no mortgage on the house. I'm only out utilities at this point. I have an aggressive realtor with an excellent sales record in the neighborhood.

Let my experience be your guide. There are excellent tools for researching realtors out there. Don't be a chump like old Fred, do your research. In my defense, this is the first house I ever sold (or bought) without a relocation company. Oh well, lesson learned.

It's mind boggling how bad some real estate agents can be. My wife is a new real estate agent, having just started in September, and she catches so many mistakes made by others. She switched careers from a large consulting company, and it's really pretty much night and day the level of professionalism you encounter with the real estate riff-raff compared to other people she deals with in the consulting world.


The worse part of it is that it shouldn't be hard. Communicate frequently and thoroughly. Make sure your forms and MLS don't have mistakes. Base your guidance on available statistics in your area. Buy some nice clothes and don't look like a slob. Read the yelp reviews on your vendors.

Went through similar when we moved last year.
Our 2nd agent was head & shoulders above in all aspects.

You had me at "she never gave you guidance on pricing." Everything else just makes the hole deeper. It sounds like she's only good at looking for houses instead of selling them.

I would just undo the contract. Keep the house off the market for a month or however long her contract says you would owe her if the house sells and get a new realtor.

The contract is voided, under current KY law. Just got a call from the new agent, the listing has been released. A pro photographer comes Monday, new listing goes up Tuesday. Meantime, it goes out as a "pocket listing"-friends and associates who have asked for early notification on houses that meet their requirements get called for private showings thru Monday. Sometimes I need to be more of a dick, oddly enough. You'd think I would have learned by now.

Two years ago I started considering a move (should have done it. My neighborhood has gone down.) I have a real estate agent "friend." I saw a house a couple of miles away that I was really interested in. Keep in mind this man has no idea of my finances, just that I employed him previously. This moron told me I simply could not afford a house in that price range. I just walked away. Bitch of it is, I could have written a check for the listing price. Oh well. The obstacle to purchasing it would have been my wife. She refuses to spend money. Always made me generate extra income for guns and motorcycles.

A great agent shouldn't be that hard to find, but it seems they are. I've encountered the same type who can look, but cannot competently process to sell.

Worst ever was an agent who (abbreviated but not at all exaggerated) did not tell me that buyers were not ready the day before closing. 1/2 my house was in truck, so I went to get take out for lunch and stopped by the RE office to say hello. He had his feet on desk, reading Sunday comics, and when he saw me he cleared his throat and said he'd been meaning to call. Closing would not be tomorrow!!

Then the lawyers got involved... and all expenses came out of commissions.

Since then, you meet with at least 3 to improve your odds of finding competent help.

quote:

Meantime, it goes out as a "pocket listing"-friends and associates who have asked for early notification on houses

So, between this and the prior overprice at your direction that you are blaming on the ignorant realtor, you are still hoping to score some sort of home run.

'bout right?

It's a house. No longer a home once the sign goes in yard. Price it based on realistic market, not what you wish for or have invested, and move on. Buyer market, not seller/dreamer market. It will sell. Been there....

price the property realistically and it will sell

When I was selling a home in NJ I had a really bad realtor experience, lesson learned! He was a nice guy, did everything we could have asked for except close a deal!

There were issues, the home had flooded during a hurricane and was basically rebuilt, $50,000 worth.

After a year I listed with another agent and sold within a week!

My wife is a Realtor so I hear a lot of the stories, some true, others not so much. Remember, there's three sides to every story.

A good agent can price your house but having a licensed appraiser give you a written appraisal is helpful too.

Banks require one for a mortgage and savy cash buyers will have one done too so that's what will often determine the final price. If I was selling anything other than a cookie cutter subdivision house, I'd pay a couple of hundred to get their opinion.

Closing attorneys and mortgage brokers are another potential trouble spot. We have probably 12-15 attorneys in our area and I'd trust 2 to do a closing for me. There are even more that call themselves mortgage brokers/bankers and only a couple that I would ever consider using.

The truth is that in almost any profession most aren't all that competent if you know what to look for.
Remember, even in Harvard Medical School, somebody was last in the class.

When a Realtor sticks his foot not in his mouth but in his own throat upon your first contact it kind of sours you opinion of those "professionals".

In Michigan you take a 40 hour class and a test to become a Realtor. The class teaches you to pass the test, nothing about being a Realtor. The company I worked for had me teach new Realtors how to list/sell real estate. Most of the real estate agents got zero training after the state required class in my area. Is it any wonder that there are really bad agents out there.
Rod

My employer moves me every few years. If a realtor does a good job helping me buy a house a few years later I enlist them to sell the house. It's worked well 75% of the time, but the time it went bad it went real bad costing me money and causing me stress. It made me realize it takes a different skill set to sell than buy.

When I bought the house, she had helped over a dozen coworkers buy houses in Houston. I wondered how she could be so generous with her time as she spent 3 days straight with me (2 days looking, and the last day looking at top two then making an offer). I found out how when I sold the house as she doesn't answer her phone or return calls to people selling through her.

She had an assistant when I bought with her, and the assistant:

handled the paperwork. When I sold with her she no longer had an assistant and she couldn't do the paperwork worth a shit. 20+ years experience and couldn't fill out anything properly. For example, I found errors on the MLS 3x.

took care of details. When I went to sell, the realtor put the for sale sign in front of my neighbor's house (I confirmed she personally did it instead of hiring a service) so I had to move it in front of the right house. I went out of town on a business trip the next day which was the day it was going on the MLS. Her only task that day was to drop off some flyers to set on the kitchen counter. When I arrived home, I was dismayed to see the flyers were for a home she was selling 20 miles away for half the price.

double checked things before sending to me. If they received a document from the other realtor she'd read it first before sending to me. Not when I sold, and the buyer's realtor was a technical idiot so would send scanned documents in a proprietary format instead of pdf.

When I buy, it's with the intention of selling so I always ask for what their feedback would be if a I were selling the house. In all my years of moving she was the only one who did a 180 when it came to sell (negative after negative after negative even though it was all there when I bought).

She was really good about my travel schedule when I was buying the house as I lived in SoCal and had a trip to Africa prior to moving. When I sold, I was driving to Alaska and I explained the 9 days, the lack of cell coverage on 3 days, and the time zones. As I mentioned earlier she wouldn't answer her phone which really pissed me off as I'd stop for lunch in a town of 400ish people and have cell service while I was there. Remember how I said that she didn't read attachments before sending to me, imagine getting to a hotel in the middle of nowhere and connecting to dial-up speed e-mail to discover the attachment is unreadable.

When I was buying the house she was really concerned about getting me the most for my money. She had been the realtor for over a dozen of my coworkers so she knew our relocation program inside and out and would trade things to the seller that my employer was paying for to get the seller to provide me something for free. Complete 180 when I was selling with her as she was only about getting it over with and getting her commission. For example, the glass shower in master bath was abutted to the garden tub, and the home inspector took my handheld shower head and sprayed the seam and it let a few drops of water through the caulking. Here is the kicker, it let the water onto the granite surround on the garden tub which was sealed so in other words it was a meaningless drip that could be stopped with a tube of caulk. They asked for a $2500 reduction because my dumbass realtor had told them I was in the middle of nowhere on the way to Alaska so they knew I couldn't repair it myself for $7. My movers packed all of the manuals for the oven, fridge, etc. and the sellers asked me to mail them at my cost so I countered with a $2500 processing & handling fee (btw, they didn't accept for some reason).

The house sold, but it was no thanks to her. The buyers were on their evening walk, saw the for sale sign (remember, I put it in front of the right house), and I was out washing my truck so I chatted with them about it.

Honesty. She seemed pretty frank and honest throughout the buying process so I was shocked at what a lying sack of shit she was when selling. For example, I worked 15 minutes from home, and would exchange texts before leaving to insure she was on her way. Her office was 45 minutes away and more than once I'd spend over 2 hours waiting for her to show up.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

That was a funny read. Put the sign in front of your neighbor's house. I hope you posted that on your review of the Real Esate company.

Well on the first meeting when a Realtor says "So where are you renting now?" to which I corrected him with "No, we own,fifteen years, this is the second house in twenty five years we have owned" set the tone for the whole encounter. Best part, it even got worse as time went on. Tried to make us believe that we "Needed to up our game" as "We didn't know the market pricing here". It ended with his admonishment while pointing a finger at me "When you are done with the other agent you come back here and I'll help you" to which I retorted with the same finger point and my best Little Rascals "OTAYYYYYYYYYYYY"

Unfortunately for him we had researched our targeted area and had prequalified ourselves in excess of what we had set as our maximum price. The other Realtor we saw that day ultimately sold us our new home at less than our maximum set price one week later. Maybe he should have looked beyond the jeans and biker leathers we both wore that day.

I did a lot of research when I had to sell my deceased parents home - and I discovered that "I" was the most qualified Realtor. Sold the home myself in 4 days and got full asking price. Paid a 2% buyers broker fee and $900 to my attorney.

I'll never use a Realtor again.

Sorry for your troubles.

When we sold, I just drove around our neighborhood and called the realtor who had the most houses for sale.

Turns out that she actually lived in the area and knew the market like the back of her hand. I actually disliked her, even more so when I saw an Obama sign on her lawn. But, she got our house sold in less than a month.

quote:

Turns out that she actually lived in the area and knew the market like the back of her hand. I actually disliked her, even more so when I saw an Obama sign on her lawn. But, she got our house sold in less than a month.

TO a DEMOCRAT????

So.....the house was listed Monday at 4pm. The realtor showed it as a "pocket listing" over the weekend to 5 people. Monday she showed it 3 times after 4pm. Tuesday she showed it 5 times. Wednesday evening we had a contract for the asking price. Now you know why I was frustrated with the first realtor.