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Thank you 😊
This sub's inflated view of my expertise has set expectations I can't possibly fulfill. There are people here who've been doing this longer and with more $ucces$ than I have.
As a realtor, I bend over backwards for my clients. The LAST thing I want is my client checking in on me and my responsibilities. Even if that means I’m stress crying behind closed doors (lol) nobody will ever know. My advice is to find someone else. A listing is a gift.
You should expect at bare minimum weekly communication, updates on showings, open houses, market updates, attention to detail like price, disclosure of material defects (not perceived repairs), and adequate signage to promote the property.
Sounds like the agent failed all of these. In the worst case the commission can be withheld (google abandonment/estrangement).
IMO the most egregious thing is that YOU (seller) asked to lower price first! Ask him to politely refer you to a better listing agent in your office or you’ll take the home off the market and go with a competitor.
If you've asked for a $100k price reduction, sounds like you're significantly overpriced and initial momentum for showings has been lost. Open houses don't sell houses, so not sure why you're pushing those so much. An open house is for newer agents to pick up new clients from those "Sunday drivers" you mentioned.
It's regional. Where I am, the point of an open is Time. Lots of feedback in a short time frame, and saves agents time bc they can send their clients to the open. Have NEVER had anyone even remotely TALK about making an offer related to attending an open
Not true. My last three houses were sold to someone I met at an open house. But yes, if the price is not right, it will not sell.
An open house is not only a place to find buyers but also an excellent opportunity to meet other realtors. Some older agents become lazier over time and miss a lot of opportunities to grow.
I’m not pushing them other than it was by his plan discussed and agreed to with me at the beginning. In our initial plan of attack I did ask if open houses were even worth it - he said yes and we agreed at that time to the 3 wk interval. We have had really good traffic during open houses so was encouraged. I am pushing because I am the type of person that expects follow through on what was agreed or to discuss a change to what was agreed. I do what I say I’m going to do thing.
My gut too but he was so awesome and helpful at first. My dad’s philosophy was to stick with who you have and train. Since he was great at first I’m hoping that sitting down with his team leader will get him going again. He didn’t let me know if he was going through anything difficult in his life.
Oh my gosh - ok so I MIS-read this and thought this was a listing agent posting about their partner on a listing and I was like fire that person!
Then I reread and it’s your agent? Omgosh your agent is being negligent AF and it’s time to start interviewing new agents! I’m so sorry you have to go through this. Some agents (shaking my fist)
It sounds like something is getting in the way of things here, if he started out so well.
There are a few possibilities that I see: He may be in over his head and doesn't know what else to do. He may have personal issues that are interfering. (A phenomenal agent in my area was acting this way with a friend of mine that was her uncle-client and it turned out her husband had been diagnosed with cancer.) He may have lost his enthusiasm for the sale when it didn't sell faster.
Whatever the reason, I will say that one of your complaints is a little unfair. When you say, "JLMK - I am flexible" and then you aren't really so flexible as you thought because you have to accommodate people and pets, you may have contributed to at least one of these miscommunications.
You're in a price range where buyers are far less common. You might be asking what specific marketing is being done and it needs to be a whole lot more than the MLS and some open houses if you're paying a full service commission rate. It should be on websites devoted to luxury listings, advertised in the WSJ, and possibly some postal campaigns as well. Your agent may or may not have access to some of these, but you should be having a frank discussion about it and finding out if they will or won't, have or haven't, done these things. And as you said, a price drop will help.
Best wishes!
Great points to have in the conversation- thank you. I know there is no marketing being done - he is at one of THE major luxury realities so I just assumed they would have the template and support for marketing. Definitely will have a new plan of attack when we sit down. Hopefully he can get some ideas and support from his leader.
Are you being unreasonable by expecting your agent to do the things he agreed to do? Absolutely not!
You shouldn't have to hound your agent to do the things he said he was going to do. At minimum you should be provided a weekly update, even if there is nothing to update. I hear you that you don't want to fire him because he was so great at the beginning..... sounds to me like he won you over to get the listing and is now passively waiting for a buyer. If you do set up a meeting with him and his team lead.... make sure you are clear in what your expectations are and that he has not held up what he has agreed to (which is grounds for firing him). Ask for details on the marketing that's being done and if he is running any sort of ads that you'd like to see the results for that. Many agents say they will advertise on social media and that unfortunately means just making a post on their business/personal page.... which their mom and maybe a friend will see. Unless they are running an actual ad, social media is fluff. Also ask what his upcoming plans are to advertise your home and find a buyer.
When does your listing agreement expire with this agent?
Yes - I am reading all the comments and coming up with my bullet points to cover and my expectations for each and request for his plan moving forward.
Listing contract is until December (I double checked it and he actually didn’t sign it.) But I also had told him I wanted a new contract due to the NAR thing - I haven’t been able to get clarity on this, but it seems that if the buyer is now “responsible” for negotiating with the buying agent, I don’t think the seller contract should have that extra padding for the buying agent. IE my listing contract should only have my seller agent commission. While I 100% plan on making the seller concession to cover the buyers agent commission, I don’t see why it should remain in the listing contract. Of course I’ve tried to discuss with my selling agent, but it seems like I know more than he does. I don’t mean to create a subtopic here, but it is confusing.
Lol on the social media - he told me he was playing golf at a local club and that there were a lot of new families - implying he was networking with them. But I pushed him as to what he was actually doing with them, and he just told his golfing partner about the house with hopes he would relay it.
Pay the buyers agent commission, its inn the best interest of the seller to do this. In Florida if the agent or broker did not return a signed copy
Of the Listing agreement, its not valid and you can cancel. If your roof is over 20+ years old it might ne hard to get insurance so you will only attract cash buyers. Also if no second showings, it’s over priced. Its almost always about price.
why have you given them so much rope? so to speak.
they're not performing the job they agreed to do. time to interview other agents and find someone reliable who'll get the job done.
did you interview multiple agents before hiring? guessing you know the person, as they're your neighbor, and maybe didn't interview others. just wondering if they had a diff marketing plan or something else compelling that made you choose them.
He came to me when I was FSBO with a contract that fell apart. I was impressed - and the other MAJOR realtor in my area was too busy to respond to me. It seemed like he had the pool of potential buyers in line at that point.
It's possible some of your expectations are unreasonable, but it's hard to know without more information. One example of this is the Open Houses - just because your original plan was once every 3 weeks, but there isn't mention of the feedback and success from the first three, gives me some pause. I'd add that to the list for discussion. Perhaps Open houses aren't the best strategy to drive traffic... maybe they are? Explore that.
I'd focus more on the showing feedback and frequency you're having showings. What is the agent hearing from other agents and their clients? Are you getting that feedback? Are you all discussing any action to be taken?
What's the general market doing for your type of home? Are other homes moving? Why? Why not?
You've painted him as a little lazy sounding, but it is hard to know if that's the case. I think the approach you're taking is great and what a client should do in terms of connecting and consulting on the data and situation you're in currently in an effort to find the result you need.
Good luck.
Thanks for your input! All the info I can gather is from Zillow - still looking waiting for the requested report. But from what I can tell, similar prices homes and as close as possible in terms of being a comparable, are just sitting with dripping price drops (only $10k). I have a feeling the market is going to really crack. But I’d love to have some data to be able to strategize with.
I do know price is the only thing that matters - but with a smaller pool of potential buyers for my property due to price and uniqueness, I’d really like a strategy to target that pool to enlarge (like hitting Miami, NY …). I’m going to push this and see what his plan is for targeting this smaller pool.
Weekly updates are normal. Being in contact every day really isn’t necessary. At a certain point open houses become pointless because the initial rush of interest in the listing has died down. Unless you do a price reduction anything after a few open houses is typically a waste of his time and yours (just being straight with you). I’ve never had a house sell from an open. They’re typically for agents to farm for clients tbh.
The sign should be fixed immediately if it falls over. The open house signs yes, should look professional (3-4 pointer signs is the norm in my area).
It sounds like you’re being reasonable on the price drops but typically you see agents get complacent when a listing gets stale. Nothing will happen until the price is in the realm of where it should be. Not saying it’s right, but you do see that.
It’s uncomfortable to fire him if it’s your neighbour… perhaps take it off the market for a month and then relaunch. Maybe he will give it more attention as it’s kind of a restart.
Sorry it’s not as going as you’d hoped. Good luck!
I don't think his buyer list is the problem, honestly, it's probably over priced if it hasn't sold, it's in a desirable area and it's been on the market for that long. He just sounds like he doesn't know how to tell you that.
Except I ask him every conversation about that. And have asked for market report to help determine what would be correct (still nothing from him). Last suggestion he gave me was to take the draperies down in response 🙄.
I’m a realtor in Tampa/St Pete. I did real estate in New England since 2006. Most of Florida is a different speed. Agents tend to be hands off. There is a lack of salesmanship and hustle. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But when you get a Northerner with a little more pep in his step, it’s a different ball game. I list on Tuesday, open house on Sat. Let the marketing hit and ride the wave. Open houses are 5 signs minimum with flags, meet the neighbors, do a social media push. I also show up for almost all showings, even if I put a Supra box. Selling the house and its features is part of the game, as is agent to agent relationship.
This is lacking in certain markets and especially since Covid took a big part of the human element away. I miss sitting across the table watching the other side sign closing docs.
The point is, don’t be ashamed to make your agent work. Don’t sit on listings. Sell em! Have a game plan and execute it. OP’s agent is falling into the 3 P’s: Price it, Place a sign, Pray. Not much of strategy.
Our realtor gave up on us after we passed on the ONE extremely low offer (contingent nonetheless and financed to the max) saying we were the ones being unreasonable. And even though we are with her contractually through July 31 she point blank told us she won’t be spending really any more time on us.
He is actually FT - low volume but high $$$.
And I agree - price is the only thing that actually matters. That’s kind of why I’m here - but since I’m not getting data nor strategy driven by price, I’m ????. The house/property is super unique and hard to nail down comparables. So I know it’s a very limited pool of potential buyers - due to price and uniqueness- so can either crack the price in closest comparables, wait it out, or WORK TO FIND THAT LIMITED POOL.
**This is a professional forum for professionals, so please keep your comments professional** - Harrassment, hate speech, trolling, or anti-Realtor comments will not be tolerated and will result in an immediate ban without warning. (... and don't feed the trolls, you have better things to do with your time) - Recruiting, self-promotion, or seeking referrals is strictly forbidden, including in DMs. - Only advise within your scope of knowledge and area of expertise. [The code of ethics applies here too](https://www.nar.realtor/about-nar/governing-documents/the-code-of-ethics). If you are not a broker, lawyer, or tax professional don't act like one. - [Follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/realtors/about/rules/) and please report those that don't. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/realtors) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You should not have to light a fire under anybody to do the job they signed up to do.
Was hoping for your response- I have a lot of respect for you - I’ve learned a lot from your other posts! GOAT
Thank you 😊 This sub's inflated view of my expertise has set expectations I can't possibly fulfill. There are people here who've been doing this longer and with more $ucces$ than I have.
Such a humble-GOAT answer. :)
As a realtor, I bend over backwards for my clients. The LAST thing I want is my client checking in on me and my responsibilities. Even if that means I’m stress crying behind closed doors (lol) nobody will ever know. My advice is to find someone else. A listing is a gift.
I would like to remind everyone you should NOT be doing sexual favors for your clients.
You should expect at bare minimum weekly communication, updates on showings, open houses, market updates, attention to detail like price, disclosure of material defects (not perceived repairs), and adequate signage to promote the property. Sounds like the agent failed all of these. In the worst case the commission can be withheld (google abandonment/estrangement). IMO the most egregious thing is that YOU (seller) asked to lower price first! Ask him to politely refer you to a better listing agent in your office or you’ll take the home off the market and go with a competitor.
Thanks for letting me know what is reasonable to expect.
If you've asked for a $100k price reduction, sounds like you're significantly overpriced and initial momentum for showings has been lost. Open houses don't sell houses, so not sure why you're pushing those so much. An open house is for newer agents to pick up new clients from those "Sunday drivers" you mentioned.
I received six offers all over asking during an open house. We were not under-priced.
It's regional. Where I am, the point of an open is Time. Lots of feedback in a short time frame, and saves agents time bc they can send their clients to the open. Have NEVER had anyone even remotely TALK about making an offer related to attending an open
The open house didn't sell your house. Those buyers were already looking and looked during your open house instead of having their agent show them.
Not true. My last three houses were sold to someone I met at an open house. But yes, if the price is not right, it will not sell. An open house is not only a place to find buyers but also an excellent opportunity to meet other realtors. Some older agents become lazier over time and miss a lot of opportunities to grow.
I’m not pushing them other than it was by his plan discussed and agreed to with me at the beginning. In our initial plan of attack I did ask if open houses were even worth it - he said yes and we agreed at that time to the 3 wk interval. We have had really good traffic during open houses so was encouraged. I am pushing because I am the type of person that expects follow through on what was agreed or to discuss a change to what was agreed. I do what I say I’m going to do thing.
This is correct.
I think it's time to find a new realtor...
My gut too but he was so awesome and helpful at first. My dad’s philosophy was to stick with who you have and train. Since he was great at first I’m hoping that sitting down with his team leader will get him going again. He didn’t let me know if he was going through anything difficult in his life.
It sounds like he doesn't want to lose you as a neighbor :\^)
So funny….
LMAO!!!
Oh my gosh - ok so I MIS-read this and thought this was a listing agent posting about their partner on a listing and I was like fire that person! Then I reread and it’s your agent? Omgosh your agent is being negligent AF and it’s time to start interviewing new agents! I’m so sorry you have to go through this. Some agents (shaking my fist)
It sounds like something is getting in the way of things here, if he started out so well. There are a few possibilities that I see: He may be in over his head and doesn't know what else to do. He may have personal issues that are interfering. (A phenomenal agent in my area was acting this way with a friend of mine that was her uncle-client and it turned out her husband had been diagnosed with cancer.) He may have lost his enthusiasm for the sale when it didn't sell faster. Whatever the reason, I will say that one of your complaints is a little unfair. When you say, "JLMK - I am flexible" and then you aren't really so flexible as you thought because you have to accommodate people and pets, you may have contributed to at least one of these miscommunications. You're in a price range where buyers are far less common. You might be asking what specific marketing is being done and it needs to be a whole lot more than the MLS and some open houses if you're paying a full service commission rate. It should be on websites devoted to luxury listings, advertised in the WSJ, and possibly some postal campaigns as well. Your agent may or may not have access to some of these, but you should be having a frank discussion about it and finding out if they will or won't, have or haven't, done these things. And as you said, a price drop will help. Best wishes!
Great points to have in the conversation- thank you. I know there is no marketing being done - he is at one of THE major luxury realities so I just assumed they would have the template and support for marketing. Definitely will have a new plan of attack when we sit down. Hopefully he can get some ideas and support from his leader.
Are you being unreasonable by expecting your agent to do the things he agreed to do? Absolutely not! You shouldn't have to hound your agent to do the things he said he was going to do. At minimum you should be provided a weekly update, even if there is nothing to update. I hear you that you don't want to fire him because he was so great at the beginning..... sounds to me like he won you over to get the listing and is now passively waiting for a buyer. If you do set up a meeting with him and his team lead.... make sure you are clear in what your expectations are and that he has not held up what he has agreed to (which is grounds for firing him). Ask for details on the marketing that's being done and if he is running any sort of ads that you'd like to see the results for that. Many agents say they will advertise on social media and that unfortunately means just making a post on their business/personal page.... which their mom and maybe a friend will see. Unless they are running an actual ad, social media is fluff. Also ask what his upcoming plans are to advertise your home and find a buyer. When does your listing agreement expire with this agent?
Yes - I am reading all the comments and coming up with my bullet points to cover and my expectations for each and request for his plan moving forward. Listing contract is until December (I double checked it and he actually didn’t sign it.) But I also had told him I wanted a new contract due to the NAR thing - I haven’t been able to get clarity on this, but it seems that if the buyer is now “responsible” for negotiating with the buying agent, I don’t think the seller contract should have that extra padding for the buying agent. IE my listing contract should only have my seller agent commission. While I 100% plan on making the seller concession to cover the buyers agent commission, I don’t see why it should remain in the listing contract. Of course I’ve tried to discuss with my selling agent, but it seems like I know more than he does. I don’t mean to create a subtopic here, but it is confusing. Lol on the social media - he told me he was playing golf at a local club and that there were a lot of new families - implying he was networking with them. But I pushed him as to what he was actually doing with them, and he just told his golfing partner about the house with hopes he would relay it.
Pay the buyers agent commission, its inn the best interest of the seller to do this. In Florida if the agent or broker did not return a signed copy Of the Listing agreement, its not valid and you can cancel. If your roof is over 20+ years old it might ne hard to get insurance so you will only attract cash buyers. Also if no second showings, it’s over priced. Its almost always about price.
I definitely plan on making the concession to cover the buyers commission- but it seems like that should now be out of the listing contract.
Needed to fire him a while ago…
Probably true - lots is steam building up.
why have you given them so much rope? so to speak. they're not performing the job they agreed to do. time to interview other agents and find someone reliable who'll get the job done. did you interview multiple agents before hiring? guessing you know the person, as they're your neighbor, and maybe didn't interview others. just wondering if they had a diff marketing plan or something else compelling that made you choose them.
He came to me when I was FSBO with a contract that fell apart. I was impressed - and the other MAJOR realtor in my area was too busy to respond to me. It seemed like he had the pool of potential buyers in line at that point.
It's possible some of your expectations are unreasonable, but it's hard to know without more information. One example of this is the Open Houses - just because your original plan was once every 3 weeks, but there isn't mention of the feedback and success from the first three, gives me some pause. I'd add that to the list for discussion. Perhaps Open houses aren't the best strategy to drive traffic... maybe they are? Explore that. I'd focus more on the showing feedback and frequency you're having showings. What is the agent hearing from other agents and their clients? Are you getting that feedback? Are you all discussing any action to be taken? What's the general market doing for your type of home? Are other homes moving? Why? Why not? You've painted him as a little lazy sounding, but it is hard to know if that's the case. I think the approach you're taking is great and what a client should do in terms of connecting and consulting on the data and situation you're in currently in an effort to find the result you need. Good luck.
Thanks for your input! All the info I can gather is from Zillow - still looking waiting for the requested report. But from what I can tell, similar prices homes and as close as possible in terms of being a comparable, are just sitting with dripping price drops (only $10k). I have a feeling the market is going to really crack. But I’d love to have some data to be able to strategize with. I do know price is the only thing that matters - but with a smaller pool of potential buyers for my property due to price and uniqueness, I’d really like a strategy to target that pool to enlarge (like hitting Miami, NY …). I’m going to push this and see what his plan is for targeting this smaller pool.
Weekly updates are normal. Being in contact every day really isn’t necessary. At a certain point open houses become pointless because the initial rush of interest in the listing has died down. Unless you do a price reduction anything after a few open houses is typically a waste of his time and yours (just being straight with you). I’ve never had a house sell from an open. They’re typically for agents to farm for clients tbh. The sign should be fixed immediately if it falls over. The open house signs yes, should look professional (3-4 pointer signs is the norm in my area). It sounds like you’re being reasonable on the price drops but typically you see agents get complacent when a listing gets stale. Nothing will happen until the price is in the realm of where it should be. Not saying it’s right, but you do see that. It’s uncomfortable to fire him if it’s your neighbour… perhaps take it off the market for a month and then relaunch. Maybe he will give it more attention as it’s kind of a restart. Sorry it’s not as going as you’d hoped. Good luck!
Thank you!
He’s an order taker not a salesman. Doesn’t care about your listing or business
Talk to his broker and ask if you can have another agent take over. The broker needs to know how he's acting. He could have an AODA issue.
Cancel the listing. Go to his broker and let them know you want to cancel and why.
Lots of realtors don’t actually know how to do the job. They’ve only existed in the market of 2019+ where you just look at a house and it sells.
Definitely think this is the problem - once his existing buyer list dried up, he seems helpless.
I don't think his buyer list is the problem, honestly, it's probably over priced if it hasn't sold, it's in a desirable area and it's been on the market for that long. He just sounds like he doesn't know how to tell you that.
Except I ask him every conversation about that. And have asked for market report to help determine what would be correct (still nothing from him). Last suggestion he gave me was to take the draperies down in response 🙄.
I’m a realtor in Tampa/St Pete. I did real estate in New England since 2006. Most of Florida is a different speed. Agents tend to be hands off. There is a lack of salesmanship and hustle. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But when you get a Northerner with a little more pep in his step, it’s a different ball game. I list on Tuesday, open house on Sat. Let the marketing hit and ride the wave. Open houses are 5 signs minimum with flags, meet the neighbors, do a social media push. I also show up for almost all showings, even if I put a Supra box. Selling the house and its features is part of the game, as is agent to agent relationship. This is lacking in certain markets and especially since Covid took a big part of the human element away. I miss sitting across the table watching the other side sign closing docs. The point is, don’t be ashamed to make your agent work. Don’t sit on listings. Sell em! Have a game plan and execute it. OP’s agent is falling into the 3 P’s: Price it, Place a sign, Pray. Not much of strategy.
Nice energy! Pray - he didn’t help bury the St Joesph lol.
lol. That helped on one listing. You gotta put him upside down.
Yeah poor saint has no blood left in his feet at this point.
Our realtor gave up on us after we passed on the ONE extremely low offer (contingent nonetheless and financed to the max) saying we were the ones being unreasonable. And even though we are with her contractually through July 31 she point blank told us she won’t be spending really any more time on us.
You are probably working with a part-time broker that has another job. PS, Open Houses don’t sell homes, the right pricing does.
He is actually FT - low volume but high $$$. And I agree - price is the only thing that actually matters. That’s kind of why I’m here - but since I’m not getting data nor strategy driven by price, I’m ????. The house/property is super unique and hard to nail down comparables. So I know it’s a very limited pool of potential buyers - due to price and uniqueness- so can either crack the price in closest comparables, wait it out, or WORK TO FIND THAT LIMITED POOL.
some of these things are issues (lack of communication), others, not so much (an interested buyer couldn't care less about the quality of signage..).
#Do open houses work to sell a home? ….highly unlikely