The guy on the left? The guy on the right?

Who are you hiring? If you are selling your home, there is a good chance you have no idea. Let me back up a bit. 

 

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 13th

 

I get an email from a friend who got one of my auto-listings that matched what her and her fiance are looking for, and she emailed me to ask me if I had any other photos, as there was only an exterior shot. 

 

I contact the listing agent , we will call him "Jerry" (because that is his actual name) and ask if he has more photos, and he replies with "Hi Paul, yes it is still available, taking more pictures on this Friday Thanks! -- Jerry"

 

I say Great! please send them Friday. 

 

FRIDAY JANUARY 15th

 

I text Jerry in the morning asking if he had the photos at 10am, no reply. 

I text him "??" at 1pm and he says "Sorry Paul I have been busy for the morning, yes I will send you the pictures in this evening"

 

No photos come. 

 

SATURDAY JANUARY 16th

 

I text at 11am "Did you forget about the photos??" -  No reply

 

Finally at 5:30pm I text again "Hello, its me I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet, to go over, everything.....including the photos you were supposed to send me for your listing which is over a week old"

 

No Answer. 

 

Its now January 19th, still no answer, 2 week old listing, still no photos. (I guess Jerry is not an Adele fan?)

 

Moving on, to another client I have wanting to see a house. 

 

I call the listing agent "Charlie" and ask him to see his new listing on Monday at 7pm, to which he replies "I cannot Monday, I play squash on Mondays".........ME "ummmm ok how about Tuesday at 7pm then?" CHARLIE " Oh, Tuesday won't work, my wife has an appointment and I have to drive her, she doesn't like to drive in the dark"......you can see where this is going. 

 

 

So the funny part of this is, these sellers likely have NO idea that someone wants to see their home. 

SELLER "Hey Charlie, hows my listing going?" CHARLIE "No calls..."

VS

SELLER "Hey Charlie, how's my listing going?" CHARLIE "Great!!! lots of calls , but I have been too busy to show it, I will get around to it, when I can fit it in.....gotta go, my wife needs a ride! talk soon"

 

Which do you think Charlie said to his seller? 

 

I wonder a couple things. I wonder if these listing agents realize that they are playing with peoples lives. Their sellers may need to sell their home quick to facilitate a purchase of their dream home. Perhaps they are in a miserable marital situation and just need to sell the home and move on. Maybe a big job opening depends on them selling their home and moving to a different city? Is Charlie thinking about this during his squash match? Realtors make a lot of money to sell homes, and part of that is payment for being inconvenienced. Sometimes you are going to miss drinks with your friends, or be late for a birthday party, or not be able to watch football on Sundays (this one still makes me sad) but its part of the gig. You know this going in. There is a misconception that WE make our own schedules......we do not. Our clients make our schedules, plain and simple. We get paid to service our clients at their convenience, not ours. 

So my advice is, if you are employing a Realtor, know who you hire, trust who you hire and keep them accountable. 

 

 

Just my 2 cents. 

-Paul