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My husband and I are looking for out of state retirement property, and we are going on a scouting trip in about ten days. About three weeks ago, I e-mailed a Realtor in the area based on excellent Zillow reviews, and told her what we were looking for and gave her a list of about five properties that we would consider, and asked if she would like to be our buyers agent. She said she would, but to contact her closer to the time we would be leaving. Nothing was signed.
So I sent her another e-mail two days ago and left a phone message two hours ago, but she has not replied. As we are out of state, as I said, communication is very important to us. Now I realize that she might be busy, might have been sick, might have been out of town, etc., but is it too much to expect at least a one or two sentence reply acknowledging my e-mail and saying when she would get back to me?
If I don't hear from her by the end of today, I am thinking about telling her to never mind (and contacting another Realtor), but if we then use another Realtor, I am afraid of making an enemy, as we are talking about a small resort town in which "everyone knows everyone".
Any advice appreciated.
You can't afford to have someone who is not reliable when your 10 day scouting trip is so tight. Let her know that she may not be right for you because of this and she seems to busy and you have to look elsewhere. She's a business person. If she was not going to be able to answer your emails she should use one of those automated replies that she will be away or unavailable.
Being on this side of the equation, maybe I'm putting myself in the agent's shoes too much.
If it's a resort area, regardless of the market there in general, then they've started getting busy. Headed into this weekend? Super busy. It also depends on what the email from 2 days ago said - surely she's read it. If it expressed "wanted to hear from you" and you haven't, then that's on the agent. If you laid out a bunch of information that needs a detailed response, maybe some patience. I'd start by texting them - "just making sure you got my email from Tuesday, and wanted to touch base". I'm sure she'll react appropriately.
But today for example, I'm dealing with a new listing with 20+ showings and calls from 1/3 of those agents ... in addition to the other RIGHT NOW things like showings, market analyses, etc. Yours isn't an urgent need RIGHT NOW, so you probably wouldn't get a call now, maybe a text that I'd get back to you.
In theory, about 10 days from now when you're the RIGHT NOW client, you'd prefer she focus on you and not late July clients.
Yes, all that is VERY understandable and logical! (Thanks!) But I just don't know why she couldn't find the time in two days to make a quick call or send a quick two-line e-mail. And to answer the bold --
E-mail two days ago was just a specific and easy question about the usual amount needed for earnest money for the area and if a certified check was required. [In a previous out-of-state search in which we made an offer (and then the seller changed his mind about selling), this was an issue because an out-of-state check would not be accepted for earnest money, and it was a bit of a hassle to get cash turned into a certified check, as we were not customers of any local bank. In fact, our Realtor had to call HER bank to ask them to make a special exception for us, after we had tried one bank and been told, "Sorry".]
Phone call today was just to ask (politely!) if she got the above e-mail and to ask her to call me.
(Btw, I talked to another Realtor in the area today -- one of the busiest, according to Zillow -- and he didn't seem rushed at all. I even volunteered to just send the info about what we were looking for in an e-mail to save time, and he said words to the effect of "Oh, no, that's okay. I'd rather talk to you on the phone a bit", and he didn't seem rushed at all -- so I will probably sign him as our buyers agent.)
Last edited by katharsis; 05-24-2018 at 04:08 PM..
A relative had 3 days to buy a house in Florida. Too bad it was a holiday weekend. They submitted a full price contract on a house they liked.
All the agents were at the beach, no calls returned. Her agent was new to town, too. So they were ignored.
They got a house but it wasn't even the 4th choice.
Oh, that's terrible -- but I am just wondering why they settled for something they didn't want. Couldn't they have rented or even stayed at a "long term" motel? (Just curious.)
My husband and I are looking for out of state retirement property, and we are going on a scouting trip in about ten days. About three weeks ago, I e-mailed a Realtor in the area based on excellent Zillow reviews, and told her what we were looking for and gave her a list of about five properties that we would consider, and asked if she would like to be our buyers agent. She said she would, but to contact her closer to the time we would be leaving. Nothing was signed.
So I sent her another e-mail two days ago and left a phone message two hours ago, but she has not replied. As we are out of state, as I said, communication is very important to us. Now I realize that she might be busy, might have been sick, might have been out of town, etc., but is it too much to expect at least a one or two sentence reply acknowledging my e-mail and saying when she would get back to me?
If I don't hear from her by the end of today, I am thinking about telling her to never mind (and contacting another Realtor), but if we then use another Realtor, I am afraid of making an enemy, as we are talking about a small resort town in which "everyone knows everyone".
Any advice appreciated.
We have been working with our realtor for two months and he gets back to us within an hour or texts that he’s in a meeting and will respond shortly.
If she’s out of town her voicemail should reflect such.
Yeah, screw that agent and call up the listing agent on each of the properties you want to see..
Bad idea. That's a heck of a lot more work than when a good Buyers agent can line up a dozen or more homes a day for them to see very easily. Trying to schedule and coordinate with listing agents when your from out of town would be a nightmare especially if you're going to see a lot of homes in a short amount of time. A buyers agent can cut their showing time in half.
Bad idea. That's a heck of a lot more work than when a good Buyers agent can line up a dozen or more homes a day for them to see very easily. Trying to schedule and coordinate with listing agents when your from out of town would be a nightmare especially if you're going to see a lot of homes in a short amount of time. A buyers agent can cut their showing time in half.
I just went through selling my house where the buyer's agent was slow to respond to everything.....he "went away for the weekend," he was "busy," he was just silent. It got me very annoyed. When the time came where they needed to ask for an extension on getting the appraisal back and lifting the contingency, I almost said no just to teach that young agent a lesson. In the end, I decided not to make the young couple trying to buy the house pay for the agent's behavior and granted the extension. You run the risk, though, of problems in negotiations if your agent is not responsive. I would not want to have someone like that representing me.
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