photo credit: Tallent Show
In Part 72 of our 180-part series on “Why Isn’t My House Selling?” we take a look today at one possible factor.
In order for the average buyer to feel compelled to purchase your home, the average buyer will first want to see it.
I was making my appointments yesterday to show the dozen or so homes my client is interested in seeing today. A tour including a dozen homes is not uncommon in today’s market; we have plenty of diverse inventory, and I always encourage our buying clients to hold steadfast to the mind set that they are not buying a pair of shoes. Once, after having shown a family a single home, the young daughter said, “I like this. Are we buying it?” “Maybe, but not yet,” I replied. “If you are shopping for a cool shirt at the mall, do you just try on one, or do you want to try on several to make sure you buy the one that fits you best?”
Now, the client I will be with today is also relocating from another state, so it is especially important that we not only try on many homes, but many areas. Putting together an intergalactic tour is like solving the Rubik’s Cube; one must plan the route and estimate timing. Is the client a fast looker or a deliberate one? What will the traffic be like from Point A to B to Z? Making an appointment to show “sometime this weekend” is poor form, and I owe the sellers the courtesy of a narrower window. But, that narrower window becomes elusive when the sellers would have us, me and someone with the motive, the opportunity and the weapon (the checkbook), serving entirely at their pleasure. Do you want to sell your home?
We can make this hard, or we can make this easy.
Sure, there may be reasons why one agent told me that my window of 10:00 to 11:30 was unacceptable, and that only 4:00 would work. In this case, they had “plans.” So did I. My plans were to show your home, but it won’t be happening. Not today, and not with this buyer. Then there were eleven.
Two other homes, the “by appointment” variety, are also no-gos. In one case, the agent has not called me back, and I can only show after having made arrangements to pick up a key at her office, a key the office won’t release until the agent surfaces and approves the request. In the case of the second, the agent is otherwise indisposed with her own out-of-town clients. Would 5:30 work instead? No. Then there were nine.
Undaunted by the obstacles being thrown in my well-intended path (I am trying to be a cooperating broker here), I continued making calls. For another, nothing before noon is convenient, but if you can make it at 12:30, we can accommodate you. Oh, but just give me a call when you are fifteen minutes away so I can drive over and meet you. Okay, fine. We will rearrange the entire tour, and will now be backtracking at a clip of nearly $4.00 a gallon to fit you in. I am certain the agent will be counting the forks once we have departed.
The Lockbox is Your Friend
Lockboxes are nifty. They are even automated now to provide a complete log of the folks having activated them, so if one were to return home and find that their Spoons of Europe collection had been disturbed, they would know where to come looking. Why, then, would a seller stipulate that their home be shown by appointment only? In some communities which shall remain nameless (La Jolla), the “shown by appointment” home is the rule, and not the exception. Does the seller believe that this practice elevates their home on the exclusivity scale? Does their agent convince them that this practice constitutes an added level of care?
I honestly don’t know, but I do know of at least three homes that my client won’t be making an offer on today.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
BawldGuy Talking
04.27.08 at 10:56 am
Does Pru have a policy they recommend for their agents on this topic? You make such obvious common sense.
It’s more than a little surprising to me that office managers, or broker/owners don’t draw the line for their agents in this kind of market. They know why some aren’t being shown, but don’t respond?
Have you spoken with agents sharing your thinking on this?
Sven
04.27.08 at 7:11 pm
Although not a real estate salesperson myself, I’ve seen the same behavior in my attempts to shop for a house for the last few years. I see it as just a carryover of the first half of this decade where the seller was the one in possession of the “precious” and if you wanted a taste, well you had some Indiana Jones esque trials to go through. Although to be honest, it’s really just the sales agents that I have such a bad impression from. In the real estate market of opaqueness, you almost never meet the seller.
When I first started seriously looking for my dream home, I remember contacting many agents who were specially trained to not be helpful. If you had a question, they either didn’t know or didn’t want to tell you. I actually told someone once “You know, I’m sorry I was just trying to give you over half a million dollars. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”.
The last house I was trying to buy, me and my agent couldn’t even get the selling agent to ask the seller when the title on the damn house changed hands. This is actually critical for FHA financing, and it could have been answered by a simple phone call, but the selling agent was only getting a 2% commission and couldn’t be bothered. After waiting over a week for an answer on this, I ended up having to dig through public records to find out who was the title holder and contact them myself to get the information. This is not my happy face.
When you can actually get the time of day from sellers, THEN it will be a buyer’s market. I ended up not buying the house because I didn’t want to reward the agent for being lame. I know it sounds silly, but it today’s market of high inventory, I can get my “precious” elsewhere.
Kris Berg
04.27.08 at 8:12 pm
Jeff - No policies, but most share my thinking (informal survey, your mileage may vary). In one of my examples, I finally got a call this afternoon, an hour after my showings ended. “I am home now, next door, doing some gardening. Come by if you are still out.” Hmm.
Kelly made some excellent points in her post http://tinyurl.com/4w5xlz , and I give her kudos for putting the positive spin on things. There are, in fact, many legitimate reasons for “appointment only showings,” and we have had many of these ourselves. But, we always bust our hineys to get the door open when opportunity is knocking. We have had to walk dogs and find and quarter cats, avoid nap times and children home alone, and allow day sleepers to sleep. Alas, my examples were ones not encumbered by these challenges.
Sven - At the risk of sounding like the proverbial broken record, not all agents are created equal. I am sorry you had so many bad experiences and, this weekend for sure, I feel your pain, but I cling to the notion that this isn’t indicative of an entire industry. There are too many good - great - agents trying to do the very best job for their clients they can. When I vent, it is because I know we can collectively do better, because we are better than that and our clients deserve it.
Jamie Geiger
04.27.08 at 10:37 pm
Makes you question the “Motivated Seller” remarks that seem to be most prevelant in the current market. Showing homes this past week, I came across many of the same things- in an area riddled with foreclosures, you would think sellers would do what ever it takes to have a showing.
Phil Hoover
04.28.08 at 6:37 am
Your post reminds me why I like to show vacant homes; especially new construction.
In our market, about 50% of our listing inventory is vacant, and much of it is new construction.
Those homes are easier to show and (most of) the builders know they need to make a deal to get the bank off their back.
Many of the resale sellers don’t “get” how important it is to have their home in top showing condition, priced correctly, and easy to show.
We have a lot of homes owned by flippers who stayed at the party too long, and those are occupied by tenants who “require 48 hours’ notice”, have pit bulls, etc.
Those tenants seldom get bothered by those pesky agents with qualified buyers.
Kris Berg
04.28.08 at 8:14 am
Phil, We actually have a listing in our MLS that reads, “Seller Has Large Bird! It’s Going to Squak (sic) Very Loud at Times!” If all I had to contend with was a squacking bird yesterday, I would have considered myself lucky.
Dru Bloomfield
04.28.08 at 12:49 pm
Kris, Same thing for me yesterday. Had 12 possibilities, and then 4 “no you can’t show today” responses. I was amazed at the range of reasons. And you are so right, the buyer did not make on offer on those houses.
Leif Swanson
04.28.08 at 1:13 pm
Kris, Similar situation with me on Saturday. One of those “no lockbox ‘cuz we work from home” sellers and then they didn’t answer their phone. The seller called me four hours later and said they needed “more notice” for showings. In the meantime, I showed other houses and had time to write an offer on one of those!
I mentioned it in my blog today: http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?p=1754
Kris Berg
04.28.08 at 8:27 pm
Drew and Leif - You know, I almost eight-sixed this post because I feared it might be too negative. At least I have the comfort of knowing I am not alone. I do know this - As a listing agent, if I think someone has a serious buyer in tow, I will move the earth and stars to get them into a home, as will my clients. True, circumstances (and personalities) often dictate that we handle particular homes a little differently than we would like, but these are the exceptions. Geez - It doesn’t haven’t to be this hard!
Kris Berg
04.28.08 at 8:41 pm
Dru - Didn’t mean to overlook you. Speed reading failed me.
Your statistics are running parallel to mine. Today is Monday, and this evening I finally got a call back from an agent I left messages for on Saturday regarding my Sunday showings. “Is it too late?” Uh, yeah.
Admittedly, I always counsel our selling clients to keep some control. But, I say this in the context that if someone shows up unannounced at your door while you are in your jammies, or if an agent calls from the driveway and it is a bad time, don’t be afraid to ask them to schedule an appointment. What we are talking about here is not breach of protocal or common courtesty, but buyers’ agents trying their best to be courteous and follow rules while attempting to expose your home to their client.
As a seller, yes, you need to balance your home as a commodity and your home as your home. But, presuming you intend to sell your home, it must be exposed. Sometimes, this exposure will require some inconvenience.
Capr Girardeau Missouri Real Estate
04.29.08 at 8:47 pm
It is amazing how some sellers are their own worst enemy. We run into the same problem trying to schedule the real estate photos.
Us: “Great you want to be on the HouseViewOnline site. We can be there tomorrow and take the photos”
Seller: “Tomorrow will not work, call me next week”
Follow Monday
Us: “When would you like to schedule the photos”
Seller: “I’m not ready yet, I’ll call later”
Friday around noon
Seller: “We are having an open house Sunday, we must be online today!!!!”
Jim Rake
05.01.08 at 5:12 am
“We can make this hard, or we can make this easy.”….yet, they continue to choose the former….
Having stepped into this profession following a career in the military (while it isn’t perfect, it is bound by rules, regulations & procedures), the lack of common accepted professional practices continues to be a disappointment.
Kris - you’re exactly right, agents could make our jobs much easier, and it wouldn’t take much effort - simply answer the phone or return a call!
And, as far as clients go, while we certainly appreciate them…. that’s another story all together!
Kris Berg
05.01.08 at 7:33 am
CGMRE and Jim - You raise a good point. Listing agents have to play the hand their dealt, and it is not always the agent’s fault. We, too, have had clients dictate showing instructions that read like a nuclear reactor self-assembly manual written in Zulu.
Tara Jacobsen
05.01.08 at 5:18 pm
One quick word for listing agents here! I have had at least 50 phone calls this year from agents who want to show owner occupied houses within an hour. Now don’t get me wrong, I know there are times that you are in the neighborhood and it can’t be helped. BUT sometimes I think they are actually scheduling their day that way regularly (one agent who will remain unnamed does this frequently). I KNOW - I should be happy that they are wanting to show the house but a little notice would be great for my clients!
Sven
05.02.08 at 2:05 pm
I got a question. How many of these homes that are “difficult” to show have been short sales?
I’ve been hearing a lot recently that owners who are negative on equity are choosing to go into default and then negotiate with the bank to list the property below what they owe as a short sale. During this period, they just don’t pay any of their mortgage, property tax, or HOA fees. Because the bank’s point of view is that it couldn’t do any better as a REO and the price of foreclosing would even cut into the value more, they end up delaying the foreclosure process for this.
So, what I’m wondering is this: Are these sellers just being retards and not realizing the change in the marketplace, or is making it hard to show just a ploy to increase time on market and how long they get to live “rent free”?
Kris Berg
05.03.08 at 8:22 am
Sven - This “jump through hoops for the honor of showing” phenomenon is not, in my experience, limited to short-sales. In La Jolla, it seems to be business as usual. A few months ago, when I was showing clients who did eventually buy a home there, I had one afternoon where I showed three homes, and each required that I pick up the key and return it to the real estate office (all different offices). Three hours to show three homes. Aargh! I am wondering if it isn’t just a residual mentality from our recent feeding frenzy where the only heroics required on the part of the seller were that they not get personally injured by the first-day onslaught of crazed buyers waiving their checkbooks over their heads. Selling a home is not a picnic; the first couple of showings are exciting, and then reality sets in. I understand that it is a drag to have to keep a home in show condition day in and day out. It is no fun to have a steady stream of strangers imposing on your life and parading through your space for months on end. But… Why would you knowingly throw obstacles in your own path if your goal is indeed to find a buyer?
Tara - I hear you. And, because too many agents don’t at least attempt to be considerate of the seller, extending common courtesies like reasonable notice, it does tend to wear on the sellers. This is why we always encourage our selling clients to set some reasonable boundaries at appropriate times, knowing they will invariably encounter unreasonable agents and showing requests. We warn them that agents will call and not come, or they will come and not call, and at these times, it is OK to just say no, particularly when you get a call from your driveway in the middle of Grandma’s surprise 90th birthday bash. These are not the situations I am talking about.
Sven
05.05.08 at 12:34 pm
“Why would you knowingly throw obstacles in your own path if your goal is indeed to find a buyer?”
Why indeed. In a short-sale situation, I can see it as self-serving. It’s really in your best interests to delay the sale as long as possible. I’m hearing many stories of people living rent-free for over a year in a delinquent property. You’re already going to get the forgiveness on your credit report, and the 30, 60 day late marks are already there. Very often you can negotiate a surrender before a trustee sale so you don’t have a foreclosure on your credit report. Truth is, banks do the math, and they live by it. A short sale is the way to go right now, and they’ll take a long time to kick you out if when your property is listed.
Now when it’s not a short-sale… I dunno. Maybe selling their property just isn’t that big a priority to them.
BawldGuy Talking
07.07.08 at 3:09 pm
I have a secret for ya too. Give me a break.
Kris Berg
07.07.08 at 3:25 pm
As much as I loved your comeback BG, I am deleting the comment you were responding to for reasons which I think are quite obvious.