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I am in search of my first condo / townhouse. I work during the day and search online in the night time (and I have very low ability to play phone tag during business hours). So I have been e-mailing the selling agents at night with a quick question about their active listings. Usually it's an e-mail asking about the HOA $ amount - which seems to be purposefully left off the listing. Days & weeks go by, but I don't receive an e-mail reply back.
I am e-mailing directly to their listed company email address. Some of the townhomes have been on the market for months. Either they are not selling because their agents aren't actively involved in trying to sell it, or they know the HOA amount will scare away everyone. OR, maybe I am offending the realtors by asking about HOA right from the get-go? I ask nicely and include basic etiquette.
The few replies I do get back seem to be a bait-and-switch ("Seller is thinking about removing the listing. May I add your e-mail address to my mailing list?") or side-step the question ("When is a good time to schedule an appointment for you to view this property?"). I don't reply, and never hear from them again. Seems like a good salesperson would at least follow-up with a potential buyer. Then again, they could be very busy and not need more sales work right now.
Well...I suspect that if you don't otherwise show an interest in seeing the property they probably don't view you as a prospective buyer. You said that you don't reply to some of their responses, so it just looks like human nature at play.
The few replies I do get back seem to be a bait-and-switch ("Seller is thinking about removing the listing. May I add your e-mail address to my mailing list?") or side-step the question ("When is a good time to schedule an appointment for you to view this property?"). I don't reply, and never hear from them again. Seems like a good salesperson would at least follow-up with a potential buyer. Then again, they could be very busy and not need more sales work right now.
Here's how I would have replied to their emails:
"Seller is thinking about removing the listing. May I add your e-mail address to my mailing list?"
No, thank you. I'm just interested in this one particular house. If it's still listed--and the HOA fees aren't unreasonable--I'd like to schedule a viewing.
"When is a good time to schedule an appointment for you to view this property?"
I really don't want to waste my time or yours, so I'd like to get some more information about the property before I schedule an appointment to see it. One of my main concerns with buying a condo or house is the amount of HOA fees. Do you know what the HOA fees are for this unit?
Quick emails are easy to overlook. A lot of people who contact real estate agents about a house are just tire-kickers, they're just casually looking around and are not really all that serious about buying. A quick email probably puts you in that category in the eyes of many agents.
If you're serious about trying to buy a property, perhaps you'd be better off by trying to find a buyer's agent who could help you. I realize that most people nowadays start their searches through internet searches, so an agent may not provide that much help in that regard, but it couldn't hurt. Also, you could get more serious about your search by first getting qualified for a loan, unless you'll be paying cash. The more you can narrow down what you're looking for, the more an agent may be of assistance. Maybe that's why quick emails aren't working for you--you may need to provide more substance to your inquiry.
Good luck house-hunting...and make a few phone calls to agents over the weekend.
Last edited by jackmichigan; 04-16-2013 at 05:21 AM..
If you're serious about trying to buy a property, perhaps you'd be better off by trying to find a buyer's agent who could help you.
Ding, ding. Winner. One buyer's agent could answer your questions about all the properties you're interested in AND will advocate on your behalf in contract terms and negotiations. The listing agent is prevented from doing so. Do yourself a favor and find a good buyer's agent and let them deal with all the difficult listing agents.
Tough love here but you are what is called a tire kicker. Meaning one that few sales people will waste time with. If you want someone to do your leg work for you, then committ to them.
I am in search of my first condo / townhouse. I work during the day and search online in the night time (and I have very low ability to play phone tag during business hours). So I have been e-mailing the selling agents at night with a quick question about their active listings. Usually it's an e-mail asking about the HOA $ amount - which seems to be purposefully left off the listing. Days & weeks go by, but I don't receive an e-mail reply back.
I am e-mailing directly to their listed company email address. Some of the townhomes have been on the market for months. Either they are not selling because their agents aren't actively involved in trying to sell it, or they know the HOA amount will scare away everyone. OR, maybe I am offending the realtors by asking about HOA right from the get-go? I ask nicely and include basic etiquette.
The few replies I do get back seem to be a bait-and-switch ("Seller is thinking about removing the listing. May I add your e-mail address to my mailing list?") or side-step the question ("When is a good time to schedule an appointment for you to view this property?"). I don't reply, and never hear from them again. Seems like a good salesperson would at least follow-up with a potential buyer. Then again, they could be very busy and not need more sales work right now.
Do realtors selectively ignore e-mail inquiries?
I suggest you get a buyers agent to help you find info and set up the viewings. You'll have better results.
Tough love here but you are what is called a tire kicker.
Eventually the tireckicker will buy a house. The salesperson helping them will get the commission. A good sales person can talk someone into anything. The listing realtor could have easily looked up the HOA fee and just emailed the number. It's just lazy. This is why sellers hate realtors. They do as little as possible, and when the sale finally goes through, they get a nice commission.
When I sold my last house I used a fake email account to ask the realtor a couple of questions about my own house, just to see if she is doing her job of trying to sell my house. She did. It sold fast.
Trust..... but verify.
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