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Asking what your goals were sounds like something they should have done - but I don't want to get into that discussion.
Communication needs duly noted. Anything you would like to see to help reduce costs or save time? Anything stand out that could be better from your perspective?
My only conclusion is what I heard from more than one agent: "Buyers are liars".
As soon as a I read your listing I cam away with the conclusion " I want to see this house". It is a fascinating story, seems to be one of the few homes which is constructed/rehabbed with a bona fide architect and a quality builder. Never mind that I have no interest in BUYING your house, I feel compelled to come see it!
You ought to think about that in your listing......it isn't necessarily listed to sell; it is listed to 'tell the story' of your project.
As to the original question, 'why do realtors bring buyers around to homes which don't meet the buyers criteria'? I have three thoughts.
I make no bones about the fact that I think most realtors are incompetent business people. There are so many homes for sale, and so many buyers, that if they can insert themselves between the two and fire enough shots, eventually you will kill a duck. Having said that, the realtors generally don't have a specific hard list of criteria. And even if they do, the realtors too often jump into the 'I think this house would be great for you' syndrome. Who really gives a darn what the realtor thinks? And it only muddies the waters.
Secondly, there are probably some situations where the buyers can't enumerate their desires. They want 'cute' or modern or move in ready, and realtors are too naïve to sort through the details before they hit the road. The do their 'wish list' by the process of elimination. You see enough houses and eventually you narrow down the search.
And then there are the 'I saw this house' crowd and I really want to look at it. No matter that it has five bedrooms and the buyer only wants/can afford two. Once again, the realtor keeps showing houses until the buyer jumps at one. Not to put this blame entirely on the realtor, as I am sure there are many buyers who can't list their wishes either, and yes, it does happen, where someone buys a house 'because they really loved it' even though it didn't meat their original wish list.
Overall, I would say it is a lack of effort...reading listings (realtor and buyer), and preparing a 'view list' which is accurate between listing information and buyer desires. Maybe that is what it comes down to anyhow: the best laid plans fall by the wayside and people just start looking at 'everything' until the spirit moves them to utter: this is the one!
For the most part you aren't going to get useful feedback from buyers as long as "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," adage remains a part of our culture. It would be great if we could at least suspend it for all business transactions.
I think what would help that if real estate agents asked what the seller's goal is.
1. Make money?
2. Sell quickly?
3. What else?
Our agent didn't ask any of these questions. It wasn't until a week AFTER we were on the market that I said to her, what price do we need to be to sell the house quickly? (She did know our timeline for moving). She said $80,000 less than you are listed. Um...then why did you price us so high?!?
Communicate, communicate, communicate!
Our agent communicated in several different ways, email, text and phone. IMO, NEVER text or email. There were so many typos and emails that we almost lost a sale. She used email to negotiate.
It's obvious, this agent's motivation was to get herself sold to you. And it worked. Sorry you had to learn the hard way. Next time around, hire the agent who makes you feel like #1.
Everyone knows that you are probably going to need to compromise on something when buying a house. Often, you can't tell what you can compromise on until you see the house.
For instance, some insist on 4 bedrooms because they need a home office. What if there is a nook that would work for a home office in an otherwise perfect three bedroom.
I wanted a tub in the master. Some listings didn't mention a tub, but I am also willing to remodel. Some houses have the space to do that, others don't.
I wanted a certain number of bathrooms, but am willing to add one if the floor plan allows.
One thing that would help a ton is if the houses had floor plans and plot plans you could see online before showing up. Some had floorplans with their packets, but at that point the owner has already had to clean...
H why do brokers show them these houses then ?
...
Because buyers set their unrealistic list of criteria, then set a maximum price 20-30% below what the market gets for the house they are looking for. It's a choice, show them nothing, show them homes well above their limit that meet their criteria, or show them the closest options within their price range.
The last house we sold was the 3rd time I sold a house. This was the easiest transaction of all for two reasons:
1. email. I had everything in writing. Eliminated any verbal miscommunications. I would often talk with our (outstanding) realtor by telephone or in person, BUT eventually anything important was put in writing. The only problem WE ever had with this was the realtor who was the agent for the buyers. She avoided email, preferring to not commit to much of anything, including schedules for inspections, etc.
2. electronic signatures. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that system. I wish my CFP would install it.
Any apps that you can develop that would make those two things more functional would be beneficial to buyers AND sellers, IMHO.
Tks. for the info. Will have to look into the electronic sig. thing but assume that is likely beyond the scope of our capability. Interesting that you loved email communication and a previous posted hated it. Guess it goes to show that everyone has different likes and viewpoints.
Tks. for the info. Will have to look into the electronic sig. thing but assume that is likely beyond the scope of our capability. Interesting that you loved email communication and a previous posted hated it. Guess it goes to show that everyone has different likes and viewpoints.
Trust me, they'd love it when things get miscommunicated or lost in the shuffle.
In our current home, we were told verbally by the builder's agent that a certain structural upgrade was now included. Months later, after contracts were signed, we go to the pre-construction meeting and don't see it on the plans. The fact that our realtor had followed up in writing via email everything the agent had verbally told us and had confirmation emails is the only reason we didn't have to pay $10K for that upgrade.
Just one more example of why I always harp on "get it in writing" and "use a realtor".
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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For the OP. I think the app you are looking for is called the internet. There has got to be such a plethora of information these days, I doubt there is a single "app" that can do what you think it might do to help a seller.
Buyers on the other hand might benefit from something that narrows down (filters/parses) all the chaff.
Every real estate transaction is unique and wouldn't easily lend itself to a cookie cutter approach in my opinion.
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