You should expect the agent to be responsive to your stated needs. If you were clear with her that you wanted to list right away, then I’d be looking for another agent without a doubt. Things move quickly in this market and the agents need to move quickly as well. Everyone is super busy right now. We are currently in the process of buying and selling at this very moment...agents are busy, mortgage people are busy, appraisers are busy etc.

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
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.

This may actually be part of the problem - I specified an "As Is" sale. If I'm going to spend days/weeks of my time and a few thousand dollars to "increase the curb appeal" I'll just stay here.

In fact, Mrs. PHPaul just gave me a short list of what she wants done to the house and permission to build a new shop.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Get one that is hungry for that commission. The one you have doesn’t appear to be, it seems like way too many of them get into the field to do minimal work and collect that commission.

My wife and I own a brokerage.

You need a new agent.

"Line up a photographer?" Please. She should already have a photographer or three that she works with. Her response to you should have been "My photographer wants to come by on these dates: which of these days works for you?"

You need a new agent that works quickly, efficiently and transparently. A week in real estate time is ages right now.

Caveat: this assumes you have a listing agreement with her already. We don't do work until we have an agreement in place, and we don't pressure clients to sign. If you walked away from the meeting without signatures, then don't expect her to do any work.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
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.

This may actually be part of the problem - I specified an "As Is" sale. If I'm going to spend days/weeks of my time and a few thousand dollars to "increase the curb appeal" I'll just stay here.

In fact, Mrs. PHPaul just gave me a short list of what she wants done to the house and permission to build a new shop.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Does the agent agree with your listing price? If she thinks you are overpriced it’s possibly part of the lack of motivation. In this market it’s best to list at or just below market value and let them fight over it.

Also regarding commissions you may be right on her getting 15k but without details it’s hard to say. I assume the co-broke is 3%. Around here total commission is 5% but it was 6% in the town I lived before. Keep in mind the realtor gets a portion of that and the brokerage gets a portion. Depending on the split the realtor could be getting a lot less than the 3%.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Caveat: this assumes you have a listing agreement with her already. We don't do work until we have an agreement in place, and we don't pressure clients to sign. If you walked away from the meeting without signatures, then don't expect her to do any work.

And therein lies the problem: I can't get her to show up with the paperwork to sign!

Decision has been made to fire her. I will talk to another agency in the morning. I will explain to them that it's simple: I need a no-bullshit price for an as-is sale. If the numbers work, great. If not, thanks for your time and have a great day.

Probably realtors HATE a situation like this. I don't NEED to sell. If I can get enough equity out of the deal to set myself up a bit more comfortably and closer to town, I will. If not, I could quite happily live out my days right here.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:

Does the agent agree with your listing price? If she thinks you are overpriced it’s possibly part of the lack of motivation. In this market it’s best to list at or just below market value and let them fight over it.

Also regarding commissions you may be right on her getting 15k but without details it’s hard to say. I assume the co-broke is 3%. Around here total commission is 5% but it was 6% in the town I lived before. Keep in mind the realtor gets a portion of that and the brokerage gets a portion. Depending on the split the realtor could be getting a lot less than the 3%.

Thanks for the info on the commission. Hadn't thought about that.

She's the one that came up with a price. She did say the number she gave me was at the high end of the likely range.

And don’t call her in the morning telling her you signed with someone else...let her drive by and see the new sign in the yard...when she starts to talk, shut her down immediately by saying that “x” showed up, took photos and listed it, get back in your car your are trespassing.

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.

Wow, commission in California is 5%. 2.5% each to buying and selling agencies. and each realtor and agent split the 2.5%

But other listing services are offering lower commissions now. There's a running ad on tv that offers 2% commission with actual local agents.

In any case, good agents are the ones they know they better strike when the iron is hot. She should have followed up with you with a listing agreement on her own. If she couldn't even get the energy to lock you in, how much energy will she expend trying to sell your house?

Have never had a good experience other than one time, selling a home. One realtor with ReMax. Other than that, all the others were horrible. They didn’t follow our requests, kept trying to make us do things we had not wanted to do, etc.
if you’re not in a hurry, shop around for a new realtor. They should be working for you, not against you.

quote:

Originally posted by SR:

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.)

Umm...no, there was no agreement, verbal or otherwise. If you call "show the house" the agent unlocking the door and letting me in, then that meets your definition of "show the house" according to what the agent did for me. My house is brand new so it was empty and the agent had to do nothing other than unlock the door and let me look around.

I'm a very ethical person, but when it comes to someone getting paid because they "show a house" that rubs me the wrong way. She got her commission in the end but I have a hard time with her getting paid for the little work she did. I could probably start a thread about my experience with her...

Sorry Paul, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Paul, My wife is a mortgage processor, she curious the broker you're dealing with. She said she could look up some that have had recent sales up there and give a few recommendations if you'd like.

Sending you an email.

It's been a number of years since we dealt with a real estate person and to say the least I was underimpressed by most everyone we met.

I probably made a several of them glad that I did not sign a buyers and sellers agreement with them. After the first couple we spoke to I started telling them that they were being interviewed as a potential employee because in a sense they were working for us.

We finally found one that we were comfortable with, she acted as our buyer's agent in our purchase and our seller's agent when we sold our previous house.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

.....She's the one that came up with a price. She did say the number she gave me was at the high end of the likely range.

Classic realtor scheme, convince the seller she can get top price in order to get the listing. The seller thinks even after her commission they'll get close to what they were hoping, so they sign the listing contract. Then after weeks (or more) of little activity she returns making some excuse about needing to lower the asking price.

There’s no law in CA who pays. Custom is 6% and that was set by realtors back when houses were way less expensive. I see many 7 and even 8 digit homes list for way less than 5%. I’ve also seen buyers pay the commission to win the deal in this crazy Bay Area market. I’m in process buying and selling different states. We lost a home we bid on because I felt the agent I had ( federal from a local family member) was no aggressive and Ill prepared on recent comps in the area we were looking at. Fired her without telling her and went with a local “super agent”. I’m in CA and she’s in FL and she’s been awesome.

I think you should have 3 agents at least walk your home and give you an estimate of what they think it will sell for and why alas well as what their marketing plan for your sale is. They are interviewing for the job they are making the commission.

quote:

Originally posted by remsig:

quote:

Originally posted by SR:

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.)

Umm...no, there was no agreement, verbal or otherwise. If you call "show the house" the agent unlocking the door and letting me in, then that meets your definition of "show the house" according to what the agent did for me. My house is brand new so it was empty and the agent had to do nothing other than unlock the door and let me look around.

I'm a very ethical person, but when it comes to someone getting paid because they "show a house" that rubs me the wrong way. She got her commission in the end but I have a hard time with her getting paid for the little work she did. I could probably start a thread about my experience with her...

Sorry Paul, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

In Massachusetts this is an ethics situation. I totally get your point. I had the exact same happen to me. Buyers agent showed me new construction. I made offer and she disappeared once it was accepted. But she sure as hell showed up at the closing table for her check. But the realtors have ethics “rules” and stealing buyers is a big no no. If an agent shows you a place she gets the commission. It may depend on if you sign a contract with her. My fiancé doesn’t make buyers sign a contract. They can switch to another agent anytime. But if they end up buying a house she showed them first she is entitled to the commission. Usually if another agent is involved in a situation like that she would back off or the agents make a deal on sharing commission.

quote:

I'm feeling like there's A) a lack of communication here, and B) absolutely no sense of urgency

Those are very reasonable requests.
I think before you "go find another agent" as mentioned you should at least have a conversation with her regarding above.
If after the conversation you and her are not on the same page or you get the feeling she hasn't got it in her THEN leave and go elsewhere.
One strike and your out isn't a good overall strategy, IMO ~ at least talk to her first.
It's a business decision so don't get emotional over some initial failure.
YMMV

Do I have bad breath? Do I need to shower more often? Am I on some sort of nation-wide realty shitlist?

Second agency came by Thursday morning, looked it all over, gave us a spiel about how hot the market is right now and told me she'd go back to the office, look at some comps and get back to us with a suggested price by Friday, or no later than Saturday morning.

It is now 4:30PM on Saturday. Not a peep. Answering machine on at the office this morning. She didn't leave any personal contact information.

I'll give it until COB Monday and then I'm fucking done. They can drag my stinking corpse out of this place in a body bag.

You probably look like a cock running in place.

Jus sayin.

This may be the problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...nnel=HEY-UMediagroup

Actually, these folks are all over the place. Keep looking.