This one is always interesting, but listing agents including myself need to prepare sellers for vacating their homes upon close. My very first transaction involved me representing a first time home buyer where the seller literally picked up their check at escrow and boarded a plane to California for good - food in fridge, clothes in closet, the tv was still one, etc. - you get the idea. It was not my job as a buyers agent to stand over her and make sure she left. The listing agent who happened to be pretty experienced should have seen the signs. Even a walk through on our part did not reveal her intentions.
Recently we had a seller completely disregard our buyer's feelings - we have a gorgeous couple buying a home and we had to force the transaction along on their behalf every step of the way. The wife is pregnant and we really wanted to make the transaction as painless as possible. The seller, though, just only considered himself. He left the house filthy and even left mattresses behind all over the house with no intention what so ever of picking them up. He just got out what he wanted and left town. Luckily his long suffering listing agent did help out and step up to the plate to get the rubbish out and we paid for a housekeeper for the couple.
You really should use the golden rule when moving out of a home - would you want your home to be left this way? For the most part, people are good thank goodness, but every once in a while you do get a rotten egg and it is nice to have a team behind you when that happens so that you still get a great home and experience. We shielded our pregnant client form much of the true stress and took care of it on her behalf along the way. This is how things get done:)
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This is information that we put into a templated letter that we send every seller after they receive their contract and again before closing. We tell them to leave the home the way they would want to be greeted if they were purchasing a home.
I guess I didn't realize that this was such an issue for realtors. You might expect someone who was delinquent oon their mortgage payments to be this way when they were forced ou of their home. Still then it would not be "acceptable". Of course you hear about the homeowner who is forced out and leaves furniture in its place , lights on and even water on to incur as much damages as possible.
But, for someone who is selling their home to leave it in such disarray is irresponsible. Truth be told, that gives a good look into their character.
Thanks for the article!
I had to say goodbye to a client I have had for 7 years. I have sold 3 of their homes and have had compliments from the buyers each and every time on how nice they left the house. If everyone just used the golden rule with so many aspects of our business, I'd be in Heaven! I'm a big fan!
Are you ready for another Friday Courtney?
Paul
I just closed a short sale and joined the listing agent at the house with broom and cleaning stuff in hand because he thought it was going to be left in a mess. As heartbreaking as it was, the seller's wife (divorce in progress) cleaned the place up. It looked spotless. That was class.
I see this a ton with short sales. Not so bad with standard sales as generally they understand "broom clean". It is definitely the listing agent's job to communicate to the sellers on how to leave the property.