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FWIW, different opinion, I'm not sure I'm on board with calling the Broker unless you're sure you want to fire the guy RIGHT NOW and the agent is avoiding you. The Designated Broker can do that.
I'm not sure about showing up at the office either. Lots of agents hardly go to the office any more, and I'd bet the Designated Broker answers the phone less often than the agent.
We're not employees. We're independent contractors. The boss isn't going to call in the agent and reprimand him or write him up or make him do his job... though they do sometimes serve in a job coach/mentor type role as well. Rather, the Designated Broker is there to keep oversight over agents to keep them legal. It's up to agents themselves to run their business and keep their clients happy or risk losing them. More than likely a call to the broker will result in a friendly call between the two with suggestions on how to fix this angry client situation.
I would just call the guy. Email, text, keep calling, blow up his phone until he answers. If it's always this hard, then yeah... I'd fire him too. Was this agent by chance someone with a lot of impressive statistics about how many listings they have? Sometimes this is what that looks like. Sometimes the rock star agent isn't really the best at actual customer service. You can find one who is.... There's plenty of agents out there who are responsive and who actually answer the phone.
My two cents
The calls are not being returned, and there is no excuse for this! The client deserves professional treatment, and if the agent is hiding, then get the broker involved. The broker does not want to deal with unprofessional agents, and will have influence on the super dumb agent not responding.
Major pet peeve!
DO NOT WAIT. As someone else said, in real estate, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. We have this concept drilled into us - if your agent is such an ******* that he cannot respond, tell the broker you want to fire him!
UNACCEPTABLE.
Especially since it is your idea to lower the price.
Some of the older agents that a lot of business from their local area, as well as referrals, and might even be the go to on REO listings. Reality is that many are not hustlers, at all, and are literally banking on betting that you will simply drop the price to make the sale. I once compared notes with another seller in Phoenix about a certain agent that had a good amount of listings and was very visible. The agent employed a similar strategy, except it worked so well for him, that he was able to get people to list much too low, to get him the check as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, some use unethical systems to maximize their pay. I don't trust people, who ignore emails..it is almost like they only want to lie in person, as opposed to there being a permanent record of their statements. Likely within reach of a computer or smartphone 24/7.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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Thanks, again, for all of your responses.
My agent called me yesterday evening and I said I wanted to drop the price. He actually said, "no, I don't think that's necessary," he went on to say that my "numbers" still look great, despite the fact that I've gone a week and half with no showing requests. He also said he scoped out my competition and my house is the best of what is out there. Based on recent sales, my price is still competitive.
He also said that locally, this time period is slow and there will be another surge after Labor Day. He insists he can sell my house close to list before our contract is up.
He then said he has a more in depth report on marketing analytics that he's.....wait for it......going to email me. ugghhh. I don't care about market analytics. I just want to sell my freakin house. Of course, I don't have that email
I'm not going thru the broker because I don't think it will help. Like someone else mentioned, I think the broker will coach my agent on how to deal with me, not on how to sell my house. Quite frankly, I'm not even sure I'll use this brokerage again.
I know this for sure: I will never, ever, ever buy another freaking house. Locally, MLS will restart days if I withdraw for 90 days. When this contract runs out, I'm relisting around March. In the meantime, I plan to meet with other agents and ask their opinions. If the market sours, I'll hold onto the house. It's actually a great house in a great neighborhood. I'm just looking to move to a lower cost of living area in another state.
I'm also really bummed because I chose this agent so carefully. I'm doubting my ability to choose another. Uggghhh, this sucks.
My agent called me yesterday evening and I said I wanted to drop the price. He actually said, "no, I don't think that's necessary," he went on to say that my "numbers" still look great, despite the fact that I've gone a week and half with no showing requests. He also said he scoped out my competition and my house is the best of what is out there. Based on recent sales, my price is still competitive.
He also said that locally, this time period is slow and there will be another surge after Labor Day. He insists he can sell my house close to list before our contract is up.
He then said he has a more in depth report on marketing analytics that he's.....wait for it......going to email me. ugghhh. I don't care about market analytics. I just want to sell my freakin house. Of course, I don't have that email
I'm not going thru the broker because I don't think it will help. Like someone else mentioned, I think the broker will coach my agent on how to deal with me, not on how to sell my house. Quite frankly, I'm not even sure I'll use this brokerage again.
I know this for sure: I will never, ever, ever buy another freaking house. Locally, MLS will restart days if I withdraw for 90 days. When this contract runs out, I'm relisting around March. In the meantime, I plan to meet with other agents and ask their opinions. If the market sours, I'll hold onto the house. It's actually a great house in a great neighborhood. I'm just looking to move to a lower cost of living area in another state.
I'm also really bummed because I chose this agent so carefully. I'm doubting my ability to choose another. Uggghhh, this sucks.
Okay, so there is a non-responsive, unprofessional agent paired with a stubborn client who asked for advice, but has no interest in taking it.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
4,640 posts, read 11,938,904 times
Reputation: 9885
Quote:
Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness
Okay, so there is a non-responsive, unprofessional agent paired with a stubborn client who asked for advice, but has no interest in taking it.
Good luck. Sorry I wasted my time responding.
I respectfully disagree. I did rep you, though. Hope that makes you feel a little better.
But ultimately, it doesn't matter what my realtor says or thinks. The potential buyers have seen my house and, in not offering to buy it, are making their point. I think the price is too high. I don't understand why my realtor won't just lower it. I don't get why he's avoiding me and the price reduction.
I think he made a mistake on the list price and won't admit his mistake.
I think I'm the one being flexible in lowering the price.
I have a similar experience. Last year, We reached out to a realtor who had most positive reviews and sold a lot of houses in the recent past. She was very courteous and explained the comps. We agreed on a price and listed the house. We remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms right before the house was listed. As the kitchen and baths look new, We had multiple offers first week and we accepted a full price offer in the first 10 days. Until then, It was going very smooth.
Our listing agent stopped responding after accepted offer, her assistant would call/text us saying that she is out of town or attending to her parents. but we had to wait atleast 2-3 days for basic inquires and questions about the process. She(listing agent) would only communicate when the buyers had a question for us. or when the buyers wanted to show the house to their parents before closing. It was very stressful. Our movers didn't show up before closing day and we reached out to her to check if we can delay closing by few hours, we didn't get any response. I had to get a truck and move with few other friend's help. She didn't even bother to check with us on the day of closing or after closing and never heard from her thereafter.
We did the same mistake again this year. We moved to a new city and started looking tp buy after 1 year of renting. We chose an agent based on the recent sales and reviews. He is very honest and has good market knowledge. but it takes few days to get a response (for even a simple question) from him as he is super busy. it's frustrating sometimes. if we buy/sell again, we decided to choose an agent NOT with the most recent sales/reviews. The whole buying/selling is stressful and I think realtors' job is to make it less stressful and not the other way around.
My agent called me yesterday evening and I said I wanted to drop the price. He actually said, "no, I don't think that's necessary," he went on to say that my "numbers" still look great, despite the fact that I've gone a week and half with no showing requests. He also said he scoped out my competition and my house is the best of what is out there. Based on recent sales, my price is still competitive.
He also said that locally, this time period is slow and there will be another surge after Labor Day. He insists he can sell my house close to list before our contract is up.
....
I'm also really bummed because I chose this agent so carefully. I'm doubting my ability to choose another. Uggghhh, this sucks.
If you really want to give him a little more time to do it his way, fine... maybe he's right... but if you really want to drop the price then do it. In the end, it is YOUR decision, not your agent's.
Not returning calls or emails is inexcusable. If he's not returning calls for his own client, what else is he not doing? I would fire an agent for that.
At the same time, it's one of the hardest things about the business, staying on top of feedback and communication. I sucked at it when I started in terms of initiating the communication after I got the listing. Now I give people a communication guarantee that I'll update them weekly or they can fire me, no strings attached. I block off Wed mornings for those calls. Was a game changer for me.
Its fine to listen to your agent, but the final decision is yours. If you are happy with dropping the price, then call him and tell him to drop the price NOW. If it still doesnt sell, then it doesnt sell, and you can start over next year, but if you would be satisfied with a lesser price, then do it. NOW.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to say "I want to drop the price to $350K. I appreciate your advice and your confidence, but I want to drop the price today." - do it in writing.
And I say $350K because that's a magic cutoff for online lookers. If somebody starts their search for 350-450K, they won't even see your home at $349,xxx.
And I don't know what system is used for appointments/feedback there, but in MY locale, we can send a "Price Reduction" announcement to every agent (or even just those who expressed interest) that has shown our listing letting them know about the price drop. And we can include our seller on that email so they know we did it.
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