Am I expecting too much from my agent? (incentive, 6%, commission)

[Leah79]

Hi all, I was wondering if you could impart on me some of your collective wisdom!

My husband and I are selling our first home. We are using the same agent (a 60-something "certified residential specialist") who helped us buy the home, and we walked away feeling good about that experience. Her husband (an engineer) would come along with us and inspect things in the homes as we went, alerting us to problem areas and such. Everything about the buying experience went as smoothly as could be expected. We sincerely liked both the agent and her husband personally, and it seemed mutual.

Fast forward 6 years. Now that we're asking them to help us sell our home, my husband and I have been very disappointed with the service. I feel like it's pulling teeth to get responses from her, especially over e-mail. The first e-mail I sent (to her address on the company website) went unanswered. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I found her cell number and called her, & she said she didn't get the e-mail since she doesn't use that address. Um, ok. The next week, she said she sent ME an e-mail which I never got. This week, I e-mailed her 2 days ago with suggestions for the "remarks" section for the MLS listing on our home since all she put on our print copy was "move-in ready and convenient location". No response. Today, our house went up on the MLS site, and none of our suggestions were implemented. How are vague and nondescript comments like that going to SELL a house? Especially for what should be a very sellable house, that is updated, in a desirable neighborhood, and offering buyer incentives?

Also, FYI, we've listed our home for 89K. Our area has a low cost of living, and that amount is fair for a nice 2 BR home. I realize it's not high commission, even though we did go with 6% instead of 5.

That's the short story. My questions:

- As realtors, how much do you depend on e-mail? Do you frequently receive queries about homes from other agents or potential buyers via e-mail? I assume that e-mail is used as much for real estate as any other business, which is why it worries me that she can't seem to get it together with e-mailing. I worry that we'll be missing a potential sale because our agent doesn't respond in a timely manner, if at all.
- What do you consider a reasonable turnaround time for responding to e-mails? I would prefer to receive a response the same day, but I think 24 hrs is fair in most circumstances. Is that out of line?
- I can understand that pricier homes would receive more attention. Do agents dread selling 2 BR's? (Especially an agent that's only listing 4 homes?)
- We signed a 6-month contract. I'm not sure what happens if I want to get out of it. I didn't see anything on the contract about breaking it or anything that really protects us all that much if we don't feel like we're being reasonably served. Any advice there?

I feel like I've given her the benefit of the doubt several times, and now it's just getting silly. Bottom line, from our experience so far, I don't trust her to respond to buyers or to put serious effort into selling our home. What are my options, beyond having a come-to-Jesus conversation with her?

Thanks!

[SmartMoney]

I work with Realtors everyday and one thing stands out to me, her lack of comfort with email, and possibly, technology. This isn't the same world as when you bought. Six years is a lifetime with IT advances. Not all 60+ (maybe 70 now) agents are able to keep up, or even want to. Today, it's all about property websites, social networking, SEO, and IDX. Just 10 years ago, it wasn't unusual to run across an agent that didn't use email.

I can speak up in support of why she may not have received your email. Realtors (and loan officers) learn quickly not to let a company own their email. So if you went to the company site and that site did not have the capability to forward to an account she had control of, I can see where that was missed.

But your lack of confidence in her abilities is a red flag and could be an expensive mistake. I would visit a couple open houses this weekend in your area, in your price range. Pay attention to the materials on-site and pay attention to any marketing that agent has done. Compare it to your home. If you find yourself short, contact the broker and make an appointment to meet and explain your concerns. He or she will most likely pair you up with an agent that's a bit more "with it" in the IT world and more responsive to your emails. And don't worry, chances are she'll still get a portion of the commission.

If it were me, I wouldn't let it fester.......I would deal with it Monday morning after checking out the competition.

[CAugust]

We cant tell if your home is priced right, every area is different. What would sell here for 200k would sell for over 1mil in CA.

An old friend in real estate once told me - dont you love listings? you put a sign on the lawn and walk away and wait for calls - ummmm no I do not, but I guess some do.

What stands out most to me besides the emails, which I check a few times a day is that her write up sucks .... sorry to be so blunt - when I see that and sellers call me, I say, well what did you expect? along with one pic of the front of the home?

Best of luck in selling your home! Call the broker and explain it to him or her - dont be afraid, its a business not a family get together

[AmberFlynn]

What about her other listings? Did you check those out first to see if you liked her marketing plan? Do those have good pictures and write ups? If so, then maybe she's just been really really really really busy or in the hospital (only excuses I can come up with to justify that) and she plans on going back to 'fill in the gaps' later.

I agree with previous posters, perhaps she's just technotarded. There are lots of 60 somethings in this business who are very savvy with computers/emails/FB, and there are some 30 somethings who aren't, but I have no idea how any agent with a more than two clients can survive without utilizing technology to the highest extent. And email is on the very bottom of the techno food chain. If she can't handle email, I don't think I would want to hire her.

FWIW, I have a Blackberry and check my email as they hit my phone.

[Silverfall]

I get many requests by email and of course everything off Craigslist is via email. I rarely get called from them. As an agent I often check availability of listings by email. It is essential to have a phone that pushes your email regularly or at minimum check it on your computer a few times a day.

[sheenie2000]

Our agent had a blackberry and would respond to emails and texts immediately. He was completely with it when it came to technology.

[Leah79]

I really appreciate you all for responding so quickly. Every perspective helps!

I don't have a problem with the pricing of the home... I've been watching the market for awhile now, and I think it's right on target.

So I'm not crazy to think that the lack of quick responses to e-mail is a red flag. That's good to know about the unreliable agency e-mail, but still... I'd think that a conscientious agent would check it anyway. She very well may be technotarded, and that's fine if that's how she wants to do business, but I expect more than that and for me it's not okay and perhaps we're just not compatible.

Amber - I had found her other listings in a magazine, but I'm having trouble finding them online. One of her homes that I had looked at previously had an adequate write-up. I just checked again and now I'm not seeing where she has any website or place where all of her listings can be located in one place. She's showing up through the agency site but there's no way to look up her own listings. I don't like that.

I can't complain about the pictures that were posted of my own; they were fine.

My experience with her was so GOOD last time that I honestly didn't think I'd need to worry about doing so much investigation before hiring her to sell my home. And, (I'm attributing this to my first-time selling naivete), I didn't think it'd be necessary to verify whether someone was technologically savvy. I just assumed that to survive in this business, the agent had to be so it wasn't an issue to even question. Wrong!!

Honestly, I'm seeing that these are all things that I should've checked into more thoroughly before hiring her. Maybe she's just a great buyer's agent and that's it. I do appreciate you all for your input and telling me the way you do things.

To confuse matters more, she's going out of town this weekend for a week (I knew this upfront). We start taking showings this Saturday and her colleague is handling her calls. It's going to be interesting.

[Leah79]

Oh yeah, just for kicks:

Here's her write-up
Well maintained home, ready to move into, convenient area to downtown, UT, etc.

Here's mine:
Well-kept home on quiet street in convenient, charming Fairmont neighborhood. New roof, large eat-in kitchen (appliances stay), plenty of storage space, updated bath, fenced backyard, lots of windows providing natural light. Great curbside appeal. Move-in ready! Seller offers a 1-yr home warranty and will pay $3000 toward buyer’s closing costs at list price


Arrrrghhh.

[PghREA]

I rely heavily on email mainly because no time is wasted waiting for call backs.

I'm thinking your agent is not in to technology. We have a few older Realtors in our area that rarely use email or cell phones and it's tough working with them.

You can always call her manager/broker and have your home reassigned to a Realtor who will respond to your emails and requests.

[cheryjohns]

I have clients that operate mainly through email and texting. If I didn't have a Blackberry - I would be in serious trouble. I am in my fifties and love what technology does - but I have seen agents that refuse to move with the times. I had one agent tell me that she didn't even want clients that communicated by email and she only checked hers about once a week. She wasn't able to understand that her client base is literally dying out. Sometimes a few hours can go by before I respond - I am not going to respond while at someone's closing or while I am showing houses to someone, but not days.