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As a seller right now, I would be very upset if a buyer came through my house alone. Call the listing agent to meet with you at the property, or ask the owners to stay. The two of you should just go seperatly and if one of you sees a property that you really like then try to go back together or alone, but I think it is really wrong.
I respect your opinion on this, but again to clarify I was talking about vacant properties, if that matters. We just have to work around it, because there's not that much out there we want to see, so when we find something meeting our criteria it makes sense to both go and be ready to act fast if it "fits". Going separately then going back again... well I'm just a bit gun shy from having lost a house in less than 24 hours that was perfect. (we had a verbal agreement only with seller, and had accepted their counter offer but were just getting signatures when another buyer bought it out from under us) . Know what I mean?
I respect your opinion on this, but again to clarify I was talking about vacant properties, if that matters. We just have to work around it, because there's not that much out there we want to see, so when we find something meeting our criteria it makes sense to both go and be ready to act fast if it "fits". Going separately then going back again... well I'm just a bit gun shy from having lost a house in less than 24 hours that was perfect. (we had a verbal agreement only with seller, and had accepted their counter offer but were just getting signatures when another buyer bought it out from under us) . Know what I mean?
I don't think it matters if it was occupied or vacant (other than less to steal). It's still my house (for example).
Anyway, about you losing the house. Was that legal? Here in AZ, if the seller had sent a counter offer, they cannot agree to sell to anyone until he hears back about the counter.
If you have to ask so many questions, it doesn't sound like you have a good agent. That person should be providing all of these answers. They need to educate you on everything.
I agree with the last poster. Do you both need to go? Usually one spouse (the wife) goes and narrows down the possibilities and then find a time to all go and see just a few. Usually men don't care for house shopping. All mine cared about was having a 3 car garage. That's it!
It's illegal for licensed agents to give out their codes or lockbox keys to anyone. If the agent can't be available to show the house when the buyer needs to see it, they should ask the listing agent if he/she could open the house and show it to the buyer or get another agent from his/her office to show the home. There is a lot of liability in showing houses to make sure that nothing is broken, stolen, no doors left unlocked, etc...Buyers shouldn't feel pressed for time when looking at houses - that's our job as realtors to make sure the buyer learns all they need to about a house to see if it's the right one. On the other hand, if you walk in a house and see right away that it's not right, don't bother taking time to walk through the whole place and see the rest. Go on to the ones that will work for your family.
I agree with the last poster. Do you both need to go? Usually one spouse (the wife) goes and narrows down the possibilities and then find a time to all go and see just a few. Usually men don't care for house shopping. All mine cared about was having a 3 car garage. That's it!
It's illegal for licensed agents to give out their codes or lockbox keys to anyone. If the agent can't be available to show the house when the buyer needs to see it, they should ask the listing agent if he/she could open the house and show it to the buyer or get another agent from his/her office to show the home. There is a lot of liability in showing houses to make sure that nothing is broken, stolen, no doors left unlocked, etc...Buyers shouldn't feel pressed for time when looking at houses - that's our job as realtors to make sure the buyer learns all they need to about a house to see if it's the right one. On the other hand, if you walk in a house and see right away that it's not right, don't bother taking time to walk through the whole place and see the rest. Go on to the ones that will work for your family.
Well I think that my thing is, because I'm pretty limited in price, I am looking at homes that have some 'issues' and so what I want is to do a "mini inspection" of sorts.
I will walk in and get caught up in the features and forget to look for water damage, 220 wiring, whether or not there were gas jets present or foundation cracks or whatever. I'll leave and then remember stuff I wished I'd looked at, stuff that is not on the listing agents reports or disclosure. That's why I want more time... for example, I went through a place last week and was focusing on the size and the structural quality and totally forgot to note where the washer/dryer connections were (they were mentioned on the info sheet). Went back to look for them and they were IN a bedroom hidden behind a wall panel!
As a seller, I'd be very upset if my property was toured without an agent present. The agent has responsibility to me for locking doors, operating systems, theft & damage, turning t-stats back down .... some unknown "buyer" does not.
Just because the property is "vacant", doesn't mean that I, as a seller, haven't gone to some efforts to prepare it for the showing. When it's being toured, I want a professional "showing" of the good features I have for sale. A realtor who thinks a "showing" is to just open the door and allow people to roam around freely isn't very professional at selling, IMO.
This is just one of the reasons why I've not used realtors much in my most recent transactions. I can't justify the waste of my time and efforts on some idiot with their hand out for 6% of my sales price.
So, IMO, if you're working with a realtor as a buyer who doesn't know what features (or drawbacks of) the property is that they're about to show you ... or can't show you directly the features that could/might/should appeal to your requirements .... you're working with a "slug", not a professional sales rep. Find somebody who's a pro and not just looking for "found money" in the RE business.
Oh, and YES, it's against the rules for a lockbox key holder or password owner to allow others to use their access without them present.
My mom is a realtor and no, they can NOT give their codes or keys to anyone else. If it is on one of the newer electronic lockboxes it stores the info on whose passkey was used to enter and time.
As for the agent going thru the house w/ you and pointing stuff out......... I don't want ANYONE not the seller or my agent even if it is my mother showing me around. I'm pretty observant and if I'm w/ my husband and we are looking at a home for US to purchase we will be wanting to discuss it between ourselves. I don't need the seller/owner their agent or mine to tag along or interject their own comments. They can go thru the house themselves and then once we are out they have seen the same things we have and we can discuss it with them then. The sellers giving a guided tour hardly ever works and can make potential buyers uneasy. If the buyers are able to discuss things openly about the house while they are going thru it they will mostly be talking about their stuff fitting in a certain room, what they like and dislike and such. If the seller is present this is not going to happen. I have looked at homes when the seller was present and they excused themselves and went out to the backyard and I've had my own house shown before when we were home. What did we do.......... left and went out into the backyard or for a walk. I want the potential buyers to feel they have all the time in the world to spend in the house. I've looked at one house that the seller wanted to give my husband and I along w/ our realtor (my mom) a guided tour........ it did not go over very well as he kept making snide comments and talking VERY LOUD.
I believe that in the NAR code of ethics and standards one of the things we must do as REALTORS is protect the seller's property. Letting a buyer enter into a house without the agent is a big NO NO. In my board I would be fined for that. Those passcodes, keys, etc. are for the use of the agents, not a buyer that is having scheduling difficulties.
When we sold our last house (I was not an agent at the time) an agent let some buyers into our house and left for about 20 minutes. We knew this because they had called at the very last minute for an 8:00 pm showing. My husband was in the middle of meeting a work deadline and could not/would not leave. Thank goodness he didn't! The agent was prepared to let these 5people wander through our home unattended while she went off who know's where. We were furious! Vacant or not, the seller has the right to expect that all buyers will be accompanied by an agent.
I would NEVER allow anybody to use my mls key and passcode. And I would be offended if they asked me. I pay a lot of money for these services. Plus, I am responsible for anything that may go wrong. If the buyer wants this, they can go to RE school, pass the test, and pay the big fees to get it.
Maybe we're just stricter here in AZ? I heard of somebody that loaned their lockbox key to somebody (and I think it was even an agent that was from out of the area) and they got in BIG trouble. Here in Prescott we will be suspended from our association if they find that we've loaned our key and passcode to anybody, including another agent.
My personal opinion on the original poster's comment is that looking at houses isn't just a nice pasttime - they need to tell their agent exactly what they want in a house and that agent needs to do some serious searching on the MLS and maybe even preview some properties. Then when she's got 4 to 5 real possibilities, she needs set up a time that's convenient for everybody to look at them. I don't want to offend anybody here, but it sounds to me like either the buyer's aren't really serious or ready to buy, or the agent isn't willing to do her homework for her clients.
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Dear Ms. Picky
Whoa!
