Seattle real estate - Geez Louis!
I drove 350-something miles since Friday showing houses to four different Seattle real estate area buyers. I showed houses all morning, all day, and until the clock on the key boxes wouldn't let me open any more doors. I had to coordinate tours, keep time, answer questions left and right, and generally be "on" the entire time. I have a headache:) I did manage to write up a couple offers out of all that so I will see where it all goes, but the two things that were made even more glaringly clear to me than before are these:
1. If you are a real estate agent and you want to sell houses, you need to actually work on the weekends, show up on time, and return your phone calls. I ran into several agents who did not answer their phones at all. I understand being tied up, but at least call me back when I clearly have an interested buyer. One agent got a call form me at 9AM on a Sunday - I asked him if he was going to be having an open house that day because I saw his seller required 24 hours notice (don't even get me started) - I knew I could not show the house based on the 24 hour notice requirement so I figured I would squeeze in a showing via an open house. He called me back this morning (Monday) at 10:30 to tell me that he did have an open house. It must have been too busy for him to check messages?
2. If you are a seller, you need to let people see your house. It is hard enough to have to coordinate appointments perfectly to show up on time and make sure that the tour progresses properly plus be professional and even be courteous and take my shoes off in your home. There should be no need for me to have to convince you that my buyer actually can buy a house. Believe me, I am sorry that you don't feel like cleaning your house and making it available for me to show it on the weekends, but I assure you that I would not be asking if I didn't think my buyer had a serious interest and was actually able to buy. I just don't waste my time like that and thought you wanted to sell your house. I actually ran into some great sellers and thankfully the majority of Seattle sellers understand how to be accommodating. There are those few, though, that I felt like submitting a resume of qualifications for both me and the buyer might have been more helpful than just trying to schedule an appointment. I literally got the third degree in some cases. Weird.
To me, these are two major issues of selling houses in today's real estate market. There are buyers out there, believe me, but you have to be available in the evenings and on the weekends whether you are a Seattle real estate agent or a Seattle seller!
Courtney Cooper, Seattle Realtor & Designated Broker for Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services, Seattle Washington real estate courtney@cooperjacobs.com
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Listing agents should be bending over backwards these days to accomodate selling agents. Sadly, it's not always the case. Sometimes I wonder if it's because many agents have had to get "real" jobs and are no longer able to provide full service to their clients. Happy New Year Courtney, hope you'll be able to make REbar in Seattle!
Hey Colleen! I will SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Be there! I am so excited to meet you all in person! Happy new year to you, too!
I'm mostly a listing agent and can't even imagine not returning calls until the next day. Even for sellers who require more notice, I will still call them and see if I can sweet talk a buyer through the door. It might just be the one! At least the weekend wasn't a complete bust - good luck on the offers!
Excellent points made in this post! I have never had such a difficult time reaching listing agents to schedule appointments as I have had in the past several months. I try to prepare my buyers and ask that I get three days to reach agents to schedule appointments. I think many agents now are working full time as baristas! I often wonder about the poor sellers who aren't getting their homes shown because listing agents aren't accessible for scheduling showing appointments.
Hey thanks Lisa - I hope I will get at least one of the two and should:)
Russ - you are right - probably because like Colleen said above and you are saying here - they are working somewhere else. Not good. I planned my scheduling on freaking spread sheets because there were so many!!! LOL
Courtney - I cracked up when I read this. I'm amazed at the stories we all have of our attempts to show property with sellers that theoretically are hoping to sell. Thanks for a laugh. Hang in there!
Hi Courtney, Oh you make such a good point! You did very well to drive that far and schedule showings for 4 different buyers!! IN SPITE of the lack of help from the listing agent and those sellers....oh those sellers!! :-) I do feel their pain, but a necessary evil if they want to sell their house.......