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I guess I can go in the category of "deluding myself." Our house is in great condition each and every single time we leave the house. The only factor that's out of our control is how much our cat decides to shed that day. We have 2 cats + a 3-yr old. There's not a chance I would have come back to the house and ruined my anniversary to clean some more. We both work and most of our showings are scheduled and occur the same day while we're at work. The house is in great condition because it has to be. We just got an offer and the buyers scheduled and visited while we were away for the weekend.
I want to point out that this is a great seller - and their house got sold.
Today I had an agent show up to my home, I didn't have an appt scheduled for that hour. I asked her when she called and she could not tell me when, cause she was lying. I confirmed with my real estate agents office that there was no appt scheduled. She had clients with her and when I asked her if she wanted to come in she remarked "well do you want to sell your house". She was rude and unprofessional and I will file a complaint with her broker. My house has been on the market for over 30 days so imagine the inconvenience. I have not complained about the no shows, late appts, etc. But this agent really upset me... I want to sell but even if she came with an offer with her clients I wouldn't accept it. She is unprofessional and rude! At the end of the day this is still my home and just because it's up for sale doesn't give agents the right to behave like I have no rights. At this point websites like "4salebyowner" are looking very appealing.
You are right - she was rude and I would call her broker. That being said, going for-sale-by-owner isn't about less aggravation - it's WAY more. It's cutting your nose off due to one rude agent.
I have had situations where 1) the buyer became too ill to continue 2) the buyer took a lot of time looking and we were running behind or 3) the buyer found "the one" and wanted to stop. I called the occupied homes via showing service or agent to let the others know - it only takes a few minutes.
Now let me have a go at sellers. Out-of-town buyers come in specifiacally to find their new house. I have had sellers cancel at the last minute because "it just wasn't a good day - tell the buyer to come another day". My friends, this is a buyers' market. If I have someone coming in across the USA or from another country to select a home that day - I can assure you that they won't schedule another trip to look at your precious home because you might find the vibes to be right.
I had to cancel a listing last year - they refused 11 out of 15 showings in three weeks - and had the gall to complain that their house wasn't selling. Evidently, connecting the two dots of people seeing the home and people buying the home - was beyond their grasp.
Yeah, you do when you actually have to LIVE in a house and both people work. And since buyers expect a HGTV "model home" level of cleanliness and sparkling no matter how little of a time frame you give them, you have to do the extra each and every time.
We're under contract but while my house was on the market I made sure it was spotless any time I was leaving if I was going to be too far away to run home and straighten for a last minute showing or had plans I didn't want to disrupt. With three kids and a dog that meant constantly keeping things straightened and in order. I didn't get to unwind and veg out in the evenings because the house needed to be cleaned. In a market where the average DOM is 120+ days we sold in under 70.
When we were looking at new houses we drove an hour and a half to the area we were interested in and all our showings were scheduled the day before. That morning one of the sellers called to cancel our showing for the house that was our favorite. She didn't want us to see the house with a giant dumpster in the driveway for some work their were having done. We insisted it didn't bother us and we really wanted to see the house. All day our agent went back and forth with her suggesting we come back during the week when it was more convenient for her. Finally, late afternoon, she told us we could come by an hour later. By then we'd finished seeing all the other homes on our list and needed to get back to our children. She tried to get our agent to promise we'd come back another time! Uh, no. We've since found several houses we're more interested in, meanwhile she's still stagnating on the MLS.
Now let me have a go at sellers. Out-of-town buyers come in specifically to find their new house. I have had sellers cancel at the last minute because "it just wasn't a good day - tell the buyer to come another day". My friends, this is a buyers' market. If I have someone coming in across the USA or from another country to select a home that day - I can assure you that they won't schedule another trip to look at your precious home because you might find the vibes to be right.
The sellers that frustrate me are the ones that "Reschedule" your 10am showing to 4pm or much later in the day. Hey, if I was going to be showing this client at 4pm I would not have set up a 10am appointment. By 4pm we may be 3 counties over and we ain't coming back to see your home.
Some sellers just don't appreciate the effort and expense it takes to get a qualified buyer inside their home.
The sellers that frustrate me are the ones that "Reschedule" your 10am showing to 4pm or much later in the day. Hey, if I was going to be showing this client at 4pm I would not have set up a 10am appointment. By 4pm we may be 3 counties over and we ain't coming back to see your home.
LOL - at 4:00PM, we are probably writing an offer on a house with a less difficult seller. BTW, it has come from the buyers more than a couple of times that if it was this hard to see the house, think how difficult the seller will be throughout. Not hard to see their point.
There is absolutely no excuse for that kind of behavior. I'd like to think that this is not standard operating procedure. Get the names and brokerage information of agents who call to set up a showing. If they don't show up, or are unreasonable late without having called you, contact their brokers.
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