Why can't a realtor follow up after a showing with the other realtor? (commission, price)
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Imagine that you've showed 37 homes in 5 counties in 3 days. For one client. Then imagine that someone calls you on one of those homes 3 or 4 days later, after you've shown another couple of clients a bunch of homes.
How much would you remember about an individual home that didn't make the short list?
Also, if they love the home and may be making an offer, feedback will be short, as well, for negotiating reasons.
I try to give worthwhile feedback if I can, but so often, by the time I've got time to do it, the house (and, more importantly, my clients' reactions to it) is lost in the mists of time.
I can understand where sellers, agents & buyers are coming from. My 1st agent was great, where we were looking at houses she'd given me the MLS print outs to write on, I also had my own print outs that I brang; plus she had her own copy. We both wrote notes on the sheets. If she was asked for feedback, she was able to give it.
As my sellers agent, she had a form that automatically got emailed out for feedback, plus she used to call. I appreciated this to this day knowing that the house showed well and was priced good. Sometimes that's all the feedback sellers want.
I understand that agents might have to give feedback on their competition and so what? If the houses are meant to sell they will. I don't care how much paint and whatever some sellers put in their houses.. if the house doesn't speak to a buyer it's not going to sell.
I think feedback is common courtesy and I've always thought that it was part of the job description. It's the agents job to give & take feedback.
That is a common misunderstanding.
It is not my job to offer feedback. It is a minor courtesy to give feedback, and not at all required to be a great agent. And I do typically offer some response to feedback requests.
Nothing in any Buyer Agency agreement I have ever seen binds me to give feedback, nor any provision in the code of ethics, nor my contract with my firm.
My ultimate job responsibility is clearly defined as a responsibility to take good care of my clients' interests.
If giving feedback, which is at best a secondary function, I must say nothing that may compromise them, in case they care to come back to a home in which they originally expressed little interest.
Saying, "Just didn't work for client," or other vague input has little value to the Seller, and is typical feedback to end the automatic email feedback solicitations.
I don't always give feedback. I only do so if my buyer client is definitely not interested and the listing is not in direct competition with one of mine. If a buyer client is considering a property, I never give feedback - I find it gives false hope to the sellers or reveals how interested the client is in the property.
If someone is interested, you'll get feedback in the form of an offer. If an offer doesn't come, they're not interested ... period.
Kind of like that book for women, "He's just not that into you."
The only feedback I am interested in as a seller is "an offer ... any offer."
As an agent, I can give my sellers honest insight about why there home isn't selling ... it's price, it's condition, or the 1000 stairs, or the smell of smoke, the cats everwhere, the purple paint ... the list goes on.
It should not matter what someone who isn't really interested has to say ... what DOES matters is what someone who IS interested has to say.
And that brings me back to my point, someone who is truly interested WILL give you feedback in the form of an offer, or with a call from the Buyers agent asking some specific follow-up questions. Everything else is just fluff and wishful thinking. I disllike getting bombarded by 24 agents on my voice mail asking for feedback for their clients. Many times I just say "it wasn't their dream house" I would rather fill out a 4 question form via email that includes link to the listing (to jog my memory) Those are easy, short, quick and effective.
Bottom line is: If there is NO offer - or a second showing, That IS the feedback:
They are not interested.
An offer, any offer is the only quality feedback - imho.
Only then can true negotiation begin and you will get all the feeback you want - during inspections and final closing.
I wholeheartedly disagree. Feedback, after a showing, can be very useful to the seller. It can give you an idea of specifics about your home or property that people like or don't like. It can potentially lead you to fix any shortcomings that you may be overlooking. Saying that an offer is sufficient feedback is just an excuse for being lazy and a way of attempting to justify poor business manners. Sorry. As I said, common courtesy speaks volumes.
Last edited by Steve_TN; 09-08-2008 at 07:57 AM..
Reason: Sentence structure.
I can understand where sellers, agents & buyers are coming from. My 1st agent was great, where we were looking at houses she'd given me the MLS print outs to write on, I also had my own print outs that I brang; plus she had her own copy. We both wrote notes on the sheets. If she was asked for feedback, she was able to give it.
As my sellers agent, she had a form that automatically got emailed out for feedback, plus she used to call. I appreciated this to this day knowing that the house showed well and was priced good. Sometimes that's all the feedback sellers want.
I understand that agents might have to give feedback on their competition and so what? If the houses are meant to sell they will. I don't care how much paint and whatever some sellers put in their houses.. if the house doesn't speak to a buyer it's not going to sell.
I think feedback is common courtesy and I've always thought that it was part of the job description. It's the agents job to give & take feedback.
As it happens, I provide the customer's MLS sheet copy to my buyers and I keep a copy of the agent's sheet myself. That being said, I provide feedback when it's appropriate and I can remember the house well enough - even if I make notes (and I do - especially if the house has some "tag" that I can put on it to make it memorable). I do challenge you to try this sometime - this many showings with someone you're introducing to the community, teaching how to get around, dealing with their lender, perhaps writing an offer, coming up with more alternatives for them, etc., all in a rush. While fitting in your other sellers and buyers at the same time.
Most times, the feedback I can give is "it just didn't ring their chimes". There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the house, it just didn't speak to those particular buyers. Sorry, but that's the pure and simple truth.
If a house has obvious issues (odors, paint, poor maintenance, clutter), they've almost certainly heard about this from their agent already. Not to mention the media and every home selling show on TV! If it's pricing, that really is the listing agent's job. The best feedback on that is no offers - or, really, the best feedback on that is no SHOWINGS, because if the price is off enough, the house won't even get any showings, as it will be eliminated from the lists before it gets that far, assuming that the other agents in the area know enough to know what's right for their area, and if they don't, their feedback won't be any good, anyway. If it's location or something else that can't be changed, what's the point?
I always found it to be extremely rude not to give feedback. When we were selling, I valued the feedback. Common courtesy speaks volumes to me.
I don't think it's rude.
As others have stated, we often don't remember the home. I showed 7 houses yesterday. Only two were of interest to my buyer. The other 5 just blend together in my mind and I can't really remember much about them. I haven't run market analysis on them. A couple were over priced for sure, others seemed about right. There isn't really much I could say to the agents (who will be emailing and calling me today and this week), except for the grossly over-decorated one that my buyers were mocking and laughing about as we drove away.
For the top one that my buyers are considering, I'm not going to tip off the other agent about their interest. If anything, I'll play it down and say I think it's priced too high and that my buyers were not that excited.
This often results in the listing agent volunteering useful information such as "well, the seller really would like to see an offer. They've already moved to Colorado and are ready to get this one sold, so if your people are at all interested, bring us any offer".
Now, if I had stupidly responded to the feedback request with "oh, they liked yours the best, it shows great and is priced well and we might be writing an offer", then what have I just done to the negotiating power of my buyer?
Bottom line, feedback is tricky, mostly useless, but we seek it anyway, mostly for leverage to get stubborn sellers to realize that what we've been telling them about the condition/price is shared by other agents. The other thing I've noticed, as a listing agent, is that some agents are more likely to follow up with their buyers more if we prod them a bit and encourage them to bring an offer.
As it happens, I provide the customer's MLS sheet copy to my buyers and I keep a copy of the agent's sheet myself. That being said, I provide feedback when it's appropriate and I can remember the house well enough - even if I make notes (and I do - especially if the house has some "tag" that I can put on it to make it memorable). I do challenge you to try this sometime - this many showings with someone you're introducing to the community, teaching how to get around, dealing with their lender, perhaps writing an offer, coming up with more alternatives for them, etc., all in a rush. While fitting in your other sellers and buyers at the same time.
Most times, the feedback I can give is "it just didn't ring their chimes". There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the house, it just didn't speak to those particular buyers. Sorry, but that's the pure and simple truth.
IIMO.. I'd be a darned good agent. You bet I could keep it all together, it's called organization. I used to volunteer with a rose society, I did their web site as well as made all sorts of spread sheets & data bases. I would probably make a template database for clients (buyers) that I could easily fill in as I got a new buyer. If they were interested in houses, I would have a spot in the database for the MLS number as well as address and comments. I can also get fancy and add a thumbnail photo of the house. When they give me the MLS numbers, I would then copy them over to their sheet. When we viewed houses I could take this sheet with me and fill it in with notes as we go.
There was an agent here that had their own database, that they also sold. At one time I checked their web site out and found what they made up to be really useful in this situation. They would print one out for each buyer (husband/wife) where they could write down things like room color, garage, bedrooms (adding facts liked about bedrooms).. then when they were done, they'd read over the sheets. They said sometimes the wife would like something but the hubby liked something else or they each wrote down different things.
I've been in the buyer/seller shoes; I've also hung around with agents, so I know what goes on behind the scenes. I think seeing the various things associated with selling/buying that it would bring something extra that not all agents have. I understand that sellers like feedback and that buyers don't want the seller to know they like a house as much as they do and if I was an agent, I wouldn't give that knowledge away; but I would give some type of feedback because you never know if the seller will be in the market for a new agent and they might remember that I was the only one that went that extra mile; so they might call me or they might refer their friends to me.
I don't think that agents realize just how much some sellers talk about who showed their house. I've saved every card that was left and have made notes on every card. Even though I am no longer in my old area, I still talk to some of the neighbors who are also planning to sell their house. They will be calling me before they do to get my input on who to list with & I'm going to get my business cards out and let him know who showed my house and who gave feedback, etc. In the case of the agents that don't leave cards, when the appointment was made, I always asked the agents name as well as what office they were out of.
So, while agents don't feel it is their job to do feedback; giving feedback might be what sets you apart from other agents. It's a few minutes of your time and might end up coming back to reward you later on.
As a seller, yes, hearing that my house was clean, showed well but wasn't exactly what their buyer had in mind is fine, at least I know that there is nothing I can change to sell my house.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady
If a house has obvious issues (odors, paint, poor maintenance, clutter), they've almost certainly heard about this from their agent already. Not to mention the media and every home selling show on TV! If it's pricing, that really is the listing agent's job. The best feedback on that is no offers - or, really, the best feedback on that is no SHOWINGS, because if the price is off enough, the house won't even get any showings, as it will be eliminated from the lists before it gets that far, assuming that the other agents in the area know enough to know what's right for their area, and if they don't, their feedback won't be any good, anyway. If it's location or something else that can't be changed, what's the point?
Depends on the market. Last year our market stopped dead there were no buyers or the buyers were at the lowest price point. In a dead market where not many people are getting showings a seller would have no clue how their price is.
Getting feedback from the few buyers that did come through was helpful as well as the feedback saying the house wouldn't work or they liked the house but not the street. Since I couldn't change it, it still helped me to know that it was nothing I could change.
Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve
As others have stated, we often don't remember the home. I showed 7 houses yesterday. Only two were of interest to my buyer. The other 5 just blend together in my mind and I can't really remember much about them. I haven't run market analysis on them. A couple were over priced for sure, others seemed about right. There isn't really much I could say to the agents (who will be emailing and calling me today and this week), except for the grossly over-decorated one that my buyers were mocking and laughing about as we drove away.
I will say this about one agent I had.. she was great with remembering houses, she paid attention to them and if I didn't remember something, she did. As a buyers agent, I found her very useful and would recommend her to other people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve
Now, if I had stupidly responded to the feedback request with "oh, they liked yours the best, it shows great and is priced well and we might be writing an offer", then what have I just done to the negotiating power of my buyer?
I don't think any seller would expect to hear that
As others have stated, we often don't remember the home. I showed 7 houses yesterday. Only two were of interest to my buyer. The other 5 just blend together in my mind and I can't really remember much about them. I haven't run market analysis on them. A couple were over priced for sure, others seemed about right. There isn't really much I could say to the agents (who will be emailing and calling me today and this week), except for the grossly over-decorated one that my buyers were mocking and laughing about as we drove away.
For the top one that my buyers are considering, I'm not going to tip off the other agent about their interest. If anything, I'll play it down and say I think it's priced too high and that my buyers were not that excited.
This often results in the listing agent volunteering useful information such as "well, the seller really would like to see an offer. They've already moved to Colorado and are ready to get this one sold, so if your people are at all interested, bring us any offer".
Now, if I had stupidly responded to the feedback request with "oh, they liked yours the best, it shows great and is priced well and we might be writing an offer", then what have I just done to the negotiating power of my buyer?
Bottom line, feedback is tricky, mostly useless, but we seek it anyway, mostly for leverage to get stubborn sellers to realize that what we've been telling them about the condition/price is shared by other agents. The other thing I've noticed, as a listing agent, is that some agents are more likely to follow up with their buyers more if we prod them a bit and encourage them to bring an offer.
Okay, I am not saying this about EVERY realtor here, but some of you are making a critical mistake. You are looking at feedback strictly from a realtor's point of view; not from the viewpoint of a seller. It is vitally important to look at it from the seller's (the customer's) viewpoint as well.
Okay, I am not saying this about EVERY realtor here, but some of you are making a critical mistake. You are looking at feedback strictly from a realtor's point of view; not from the viewpoint of a seller. It is vitally important to look at it from the seller's (the customer's) viewpoint as well.
It's also good to look at it from a buyers viewpoint. Most agents say they can't remember which house is which.. chances are, neither can the buyer. Some buyers count on their agents to help them remember.
As a buyer I wouldn't know if I'd work with an agent that can't tell me information about what we saw (if I forgot).
The one gal I had was sharp.. she remembered things about the new houses that were the same model by the cabinets or flooring.
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If an offer doesn't come, they're not interested ... period.
I disllike getting bombarded by 24 agents on my voice mail asking for feedback for their clients. Many times I just say "it wasn't their dream house" I would rather fill out a 4 question form via email that includes link to the listing (to jog my memory) Those are easy, short, quick and effective.
If it's pricing, that really is the listing agent's job. The best feedback on that is no offers - or, really, the best feedback on that is no SHOWINGS, because if the price is off enough, the house won't even get any showings, as it will be eliminated from the lists before it gets that far, assuming that the other agents in the area know enough to know what's right for their area, and if they don't, their feedback won't be any good, anyway. If it's location or something else that can't be changed, what's the point?
