What to expect from a realtor. (Austin: appointed, short sale, to rent)

[Exiled Texan]

Most of what an agent does is handle negotiations, get you to closing, etc. If you don't have a bidder, they can't do much.

Price, house, and location do the work to get a bid. A good real estate agent manages the bids.

I don't think much more can be done for marketing it.

Just my 2 cents from someone who just bought and sold.

[TexasHorseLady]

CallDerek is right, showings have been few and far between the past few weeks, based on discussions I've had with other agents at broker opens, etc. While I have buyers and have been showing them houses (though not my own listings as what my buyers have been looking for doesn't fit the parameters of any of the listings I happen to have, which is not all that unusual, oddly enough) and writing offers, what I'm hearing is that most houses aren't being shown a lot.

Open houses, as said, tend to be a good way for agents who hold them to get new clients, IF anyone attends (another issue). Not so wonderful for selling the house, generally, at least in this market (markets vary widely in this regard as in many others). Better would be for the house to be put on the agent's tour so that all of the agents that attend the tour that week will see it and have it in mind when a client pops up that it might suit.

It's your agent's job to advise you on presentation and price, though the seller always decides the list price (the market decides the sales price ), and to market your property properly, making sure it's visible.

It's hard for someone to tell, based on what you've said, if your agent is doing everything they should be for you.

Did they offer you comps (sold and expired as well as active) to help you decide what price the market would respond to? Did you follow their advice as far as pricing is concerned?

Did they advise you on preparing your house to be on the market, rather than to be lived in? Did you follow their advice?

What does "a few websites" mean? Three or four, or thirty or forty?

I don't use flyers, myself, as our office has two other methods that work better for our sellers - sign riders allowing people to text for information on the property and for us to follow up with them, and to allow people to download the virtual tour, with information, which also allows us to follow up. With flyers, when the box is empty, you don't know who took the flyers - it could be a lot of people who are interested but when they get the information decide against your house for some reason, or it could be kids taking the whole bunch of them (yes, this happens, why, I cannot tell you). But other agents do use them, and it's really a matter of personal choice as long as something is going out to get your house in front of the buyers.

[cmaxmor]

We took their advice on the price. Then the person came to me a week ago wanting to drop several thousand dollars. The person offered comps, but now is giving me comps of houses that are NOT like our house at all. i.e. square footage, number of floors, neighborhood. A few websites means 4. The listings on said websites don't have the information that we feel is important. Mainly the new items and improved things. I don't want to get more specific. I really am not trying to rag on the person, I'm just making sure that what needs to be done is being done.

[Exiled Texan]

Editing text in website postings shouldn't be too much work. I would suspect, such feedback would be accepted.

[cmaxmor]

Originally Posted by Exiled Texan

Editing text in website postings shouldn't be too much work. I would suspect, such feedback would be accepted.

Such feedback has been given. This person knows that we are expecting certain information to be given to potential buyers and their agents. Improvements that we have done, desirable things that have been replaced. Ok. Well, I guess I just need to keep doing what I'm doing.

[cmaxmor]

Thanks all.

[CarnivalGal]

Open houses do two things: 1) they generate more business for your Realtor. This is because a lot of people come through who are house-hunting on their own, and it is the perfect opportunity for the Realtor to sell his/her services to them and offer to be their Realtor. 2) They offer great opportunity for would-be thieves to stake out your house, see what kind of stuff you have, and check out your alarm system. This makes it easier for them to come back later and rob you.

With that said, I do think Broker's open houses are worth-while. Brokers may see it and have a client who they think would love it. They can also give your Realtor honest feedback about the property.

I would be curious to know what the feedback was from the people who did look at it. Your Realtor should be contacting their agent (she can tell who looked at it from the lock-box information) and asking what their clients thought of the house. My Realtor would do this via email, and then just forward the response to me. That way I got to see the entire, unedited feedback. Some things you can change. If everyone is saying it's overpriced, then lower the price. If everyone is saying that the wall color is hideous, then paint it. But there are some things that you can't change, like size and floor plan.

When there are very few people looking, I would lean towards the house being overpriced. Have you seen the comps in your neighborhood? Not just the MLS listings of the homes, I mean actually gone with your Realtor to see what other houses selling for actually look like. I am also assuming that your house looks nice from the outside and well-kept.

[orbius]

Is she calling you at least every couple of weeks? A lot of realtors in this market are on the way out of the profession and have given up caring about their clients. If she isnt calling you and updating you properly I think to look out for your interests I would call the realtor company and lay the situation out to them. This is business and not personal if she isnt representing you, you should demand the company compensate you by having one of their best agents represent you. Time is money, especially when selling a house.

[rickc007]

Originally Posted by cmaxmor

If there is only so much a realtor can do, then what is the point of having one? So far the things that this person has done are ALL things that I could have done myself.

Hence, "For Sale By Owner"

[kbchitown]

We recently sold our first house (Chicago burbs). We utilized two well known and respected real estate agencies.

We were surprised how "passive" our agents were after listing our house. We thought our real estate agencies would bring in foot traffic (in the way of showings). But both our agents basically waited for potential buyers to contact them for a showing (after the potential buyer saw the house on the web or drive-by).

All in all we were very lucky...we sold our house rather quickly in a tough market. And I think in part because our house showed well (and believe me, it wasn't anything great - a small 50's ranch) - but everyone commented on how clean the house was.

I would encourage you to take a hard look at how your house shows. The house should look like no one lives there. While doing "research" (going to open houses), I was amazed how many "for sale" homes showing dirty and/or incredibly cluttered.