I gave the Realtor that looked at our house the go-ahead to list it a week ago. I heard nothing. I emailed her today and when she got around to replying, she wanted to know if/when I wanted to sign a listing agreement (um...duh?) and she was "trying to line up a photographer".

I realize that patience is NOT one of my virtues, but I'm feeling like there's A) a lack of communication here, and B) absolutely no sense of urgency on her part. If things things don't start moving, and soon, I'm seriously considering firing her and her agency and going with someone else.

Am I being unrealistic in my expectations?

Find another realtor.

When I list one of my properties even just for rent (which is a hell of a lot smaller commission than this realtor will get selling your house). I expect the realtor to have the listing drawn up and ready to sign and post on the MLS within 24 hours, 48 hours at the most. If she is that lax about getting your house listed, how little effort do you think she is going to put forth during the listing. MOVE ON ASAP.

It would depend a tiny bit on how you choose her. But I am with J123. You get what you got. A realtor needs to be on the ball.

This comes with some personal experience. I had a realtor (my realtor) that had a buyer lined up. A friend no doubt. She told me what she thought the house should sell for. Immediately brought me a full price offer. Found out later that the house was worth more and she screwed me for the benefit of one of her friends.
A smell a tint of that in your previous post. Do your due diligence.

I would be tempted to look for a new agent but I don't know everything.

FWIW housing market in my area DC/MD/VA is crazy. Agents don't have to do much to sell a house and get multiple offers. Often they will sell the first weekend they are listed. I wouldn't play games with an agent that wasn't helpful.

Find a new agent, every one I’ve listed was beating down my door to get me to sign and had camera in hand.

One in the housing slump and one three years ago.

Is free with everyone else. Find an agent that wants the job. This one sounds like this is too much for her to take on.

I agree with jimmy123x. Move on.

I bought a house and moved in Nov, 2020. I fired 3 separate agents prior to buying with the agent I used after they gave the same type of effort you mention Paul; and the only reason I went with the agent I did when buying was because she arranged the showing of my house. I was told because the agent showed the house, no matter if I fired her or not, she would still get the commission because she "showed" the house.

I did all the legwork to find my house to include finding 90% of the houses I looked it prior to buying the one I did. I have very little patience for lazy people, especially when I will be paying them and they aren't helping me. If I were you, I would fire the agent yesterday.

quote:

Originally posted by 95flhr:
Is free with everyone else. Find an agent that wants the job. This one sounds like this is too much for her to take on.

Or her commission isn't going to be what she wants. Either way, there are a lot of other realtors that will be more eager to work with you.

The commission is 6%. She'd make north of $15K if we got our asking price.

Methinks I'll be shopping around in the morning.

There are dominate firms in every market and superstars within each office. It doesn't sound like you have superstar.

If you feel like giving this person a second chance, send an email along these lines:
We met a week ago and little has happened; the home has not been listed, no photos and you didn't get the listing contract to me promptly. You did not reach out in the x days since we met. I'm not sure if our styles are compatible but willing to reconsider. If you want to move forward, please provide 5 references that I can call to get an understanding of your work style.


As far as a listing agent - when they walk the house they should have made suggestions on things to change and ways to stage to maximize value. We used Joe Williams on the most recent sale. (He's the Williams of Keller Williams.) Joe actually gave us a to-do-list and said he wouldn't list the house until they were done - he was super nice about it and absolutely right. (Things like paint this wall, remove these pieces of furniture, plant certain flowers to approve curb appeal, etc.) House sold quickly at the full asking price.


But the most you can expect from a seller's agent is ideas for staging and accurate pricing. These should be done promptly and professionally. Once listed, things are out of the listing agent's hands until you get a contract.

From my experience you should expect very little.

If you can't get her off her butt when she's trying to get you as a client, you're definitely not gonna get her off her butt once you sign.

Dump her and find a motivated Realtor. I've bought 6 houses and sold 5 in my lifetime and I've always hired motivated ones. Only blew it once and fired him 4 hours after I hired him. (He was hired to find me a house)

No sense of urgency with that one. Too lazy to get a signed listing agreement she will be too lazy to market your property properly.

Next. It won't get better from here.

6% is a normal commission. Each agent gets half and they split part of that with their broker and pay a variety of other fees.
Don't get a friend or relative or similar. Talk to others in your area that have sold recently. If you know an attorney that does closings, ask them for a recommendation.

quote:

Originally posted by remsig:
I was told because the agent showed the house, no matter if I fired her or not, she would still get the commission because she "showed" the house.

umm... I think it comes down to contract law in the state. Will be interested in what attorney's might say in this thread.

However, if you allowed them to show the house it would seem there was at least a verbal agreement to compensate them if the house sold. (If not legally, at least ethically.)

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
The commission is 6%. She'd make north of $15K if we got our asking price.

Methinks I'll be shopping around in the morning.

In CA, if my memory serves, it is a max of 3% to the seller's agent and 3% to the buyer's agent.

If the two agents are the same person, then the person gets the full 6%.

Think also, if she is representing you and the buyer, who does she owe her duty to - you who wants the price of the house as high as possible (and hence a larger pay check) or the buyer, who wants to pay as little as possible.

Kind of a conflict of interest right there.

quote:

The commission is 6%

I'd negotiate that down as well. Higher priced homes around here are listing at 5% and sometimes less.

But don't forget that the agent doesn't get that commission or even half. The commission is split in half between the buying and selling side, and roughly in half again between broker and agent.

My fiance says that a lack of communication is a red flag and she dropped the ball. She would be on it immediately. These days, at least around here, the photographer is not very busy because inventory is very low. It should not take long. But she would have contacted you and got the listing ready to go right away even if the photographer was going to take a week. My fiance is a top agent in our area.

After the listing, how much the realtor helps can vary by market. Just a few towns away where I used to live the realtors did practically nothing, while my fiance hand holds the entire process. She said it's normal for Shrewsbury where I lived for realtors to do little, but not in her area.

If you didn’t sign anything, move on. I’ve dealt with many realtors - few seem motivated.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
...I’ve dealt with many realtors - few seem motivated.

That stinks. We've sold 4 homes and purchased 5 and all have been motivated. Guess we were lucky. Oh, I guess we had one on the buy side that was motivated but dense - couldn't seem to understand what we wanted. She was cut loose quickly. (Hadn't signed a buyer's agent contract.)