What's up with NW Houston Realtors? (Beaumont: sale, foreclosures, houses)

[TGM]

Is there some unwritten rule about realtors not wanting to show their own properties here? Do realtors monitor the emails from HAR.COM or from their websites? I have never had a problem before coming back to Houston after 6 years up north. I sent emails over the weekend requesting to see 5 houses today. Nobody called or emailed me back. Is this normal? In Wyoming if I contacted a Realtor wanting to look at one of their listings I would have an appointment within a few hours and they would work hard to sell themselves during that showing to sign themselves as my buyers agent.

To be clear, I want to sign ONE buyer's agent, but I like to shop for Realtors by meeting them at a listing I am interested in and it gives me a good chance to test how soon they call me back, return emails, and how good they are at trying to sell the property they have listed. After seeing a few houses on my list with a few different realtors I know who I want to represent me. But this approach is not working here.

After flipping a house in Beaumont, TX just before Thanksgiving - I wanted to interview two agents that were recommended to me as a seller's agent. The 1st one flat out told me if I was going to talk to any other realtors she wasn't interested in listing our property, "I don't compete with other agents" she said. Now, the 2nd agent was great, too bad she isn't in Houston.

Please don't post a lot of recommendations - I'm past that and having a friend that is an investor/realtor find me an agent. But what I am interested in is your comments about the situation...

Am I doing something wrong here? Any good reasons why there would be no response?

[City Love]

It's not just you! As a Realtor, I get the same thing from other agents. I call them, text, and email only to NOT hear back from them for a couple days. It's frustrating, but at least as a buyer, you can take them off your list completely and just stick with the Realtors that are returning your calls/emails.

There can be several reasons. Most likely, they are just lazy or slow as responding. I've come across plenty of agents who only check emails once a day. Being busy doesn't really qualify as a excuse. In my eyes, the busier you are the more of a reason to return emails. It's much easier than returning calls and you can do it at your leisure(relatively speaking.)

[TGM]

Thanks City Love - glad it's not just me, LOL

[Beto]

I have to agree that some agents are just plain out lazy. A good way to spot them is the type of description information they put within HAR/MLS and most of all they only put the minimum pictures request. I would think that with smart phones and tablets each Realtor's email should be readily accessible wherever they are.

[TGM]

Amen Beto! So there is a minimum amount of photos for MLS - guess that explains why some of the listings have the same exterior shot 5 times, LOL

[crone]

Maybe you need to check them out at an open house. Many work from their phones and their own e-mail. They may not check the company site daily.

The agents I am familiar would consider showing their own listing a conflict of interest. If you like the house you would expect the agent to work for you, but they are duty bound to the seller. One agent I know will get someone else to show her listing.

The 2 times I have been really screwed bad have been in Texas where the listing agent is also the selling agent. You'd be amazed at the unethical stuff that can happen. I thought since we had bought and sold 15 houses that i knew what i was doing. Could not have been more wrong if I tried.

There are several agents on this forum who work the northwest area. If you'd like an opinion, PM me.

[TGM]

Thanks Crone. Yes, it would turn out to be a problem for me if the listing agent I liked the best after viewing homes was also the one that had the house I wanted, LOL. But in that case I guess I could have my 2nd favorite represent me with that deal (or another agent in their office), and then hire them for the rest of the properties I want.

Thanks for your comment about your experience not helping when using the same agent - I had the same thought, that because I knew what I was doing and I had a successful experience in the past that saved me money, I would be open to doing that again in the future. Maybe not...

[marksmu]

I think the real reason is that listing agents generally don't believe that people who call trying to set up a viewing of the house are serious buyers because they are unrepresented by their own agent....The buyers agent typically weeds out the buyers from the casual lookers...the listing agents that wont show houses are generally lazy b/c all they have to do is let the buyers agent do the work.

It truly is the exception to have a listing agent want to show the house on a cold call from someone....There are several good listing agents (generally the higher dollar properties) that will show you their own listings, but they will pre-screen you to ensure that you can actually afford the property that you want to look at.

Im not defending the practice of listing agents not showing properties at all...just telling you what they believe. They do not believe they should show the house to cold calls b/c most of the time it does not produce a sale for them.

Your using this practice to weed out the lazy ones, may or may not really be the best way either...some agents are instructed by sellers not to deal with unrepresented people as well b/c they do not want the inconvenience of vacating the house for a looker. It may work for open houses, but individual showings are different...they actually have to call up the seller and get them to clean, and then leave, etc so that you can see the house.

Bottom line - I think you can judge the agent by his responsiveness to you, his ability to answer your questions, etc, but I would not judge them for not showing you the property before at least pre-screening you to see the house.

When I list properties I require that the potential buyer be able to show a pre-approval letter for list price...if they cant do that - they are not serious buyers. I don't want non-serious buyers strolling through my house...I also don't do open houses for that reason.

[TGM]

Marksmu, thanks for the reply - it makes a lot of sense. All the properties I have requested to see are vacant (several are foreclosures) so there would not be any inconvenience to the sellers in these cases, but you bring up some excellent points.

Because I will be flipping houses, it is important to me that anyone that cold calls gets a fast response and a showing scheduled in a short, but reasonable amount of time. I'm not even getting anyone wanting to pre-screen us, LOL

[crone]

Originally Posted by TGM

Thanks Crone. Yes, it would turn out to be a problem for me if the listing agent I liked the best after viewing homes was also the one that had the house I wanted, LOL. But in that case I guess I could have my 2nd favorite represent me with that deal (or another agent in their office), and then hire them for the rest of the properties I want.

Thanks for your comment about your experience not helping when using the same agent - I had the same thought, that because I knew what I was doing and I had a successful experience in the past that saved me money, I would be open to doing that again in the future. Maybe not...

I don't think that plan will work, unless you have a very ethical agent. The one who shows you the house is the one who is paid if you buy it. Most will want you to sign an agreement before they show you anything. They will also want to know that you can qualify for the property you are seeking. No one is going to bust their behinds showing property that the buyer can't afford. Or that the buyer will turn around and use another agent.

No decent agent in these busy times is going to go out of their way to get a buyer client. The ones I know are up to their elbows with work. It might slow down between now and Christmas, but not much.