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We've been debating whether or not to fire our realtor so I figured I would ask for opinions on this forum.
Here's the background story (I apologize in advance, this is a long one but I could use some advice):
1) We signed papers on the afternoon of 4/15 to list our house. We were told we would be "up and running" by lunchtime the next day. I go online the next and check, nope, no listing. I ask agent and she says it's in the system but will not show up until suppertime. I blame for myself for not asking specifically what "up and running" meant. I ASSumed it meant the listing would be online. So we finally see the listing show up that night and it has several typos, missing information, and incorrect information (such as some rooms were not listed, it was listed as 2 baths instead of 3.5, stated no fireplace even though we have one, etc.) So we inform agent of changes that need to be made. It takes her 3, yes 3!!! days to get the listing fully corrected.
2) The pictures were terrible! It didn't even look like our house. The angles were off, the lighting was off, and it looked like she took pics of our furniture instead of the rooms. So she finally sends a professional photographer out last week (so listing is already over a week old) . The new pictures are still not fully loaded online. After checking realtor.com and not seeing the new photos I asked her Monday night why they're not online. She replies "they are. They've been out there for days". They appear on her website but not other realtor sites including realtor.com. So, once again, I question her TODAY and she's getting really snippy and blaming the tech group at realtor.com.
3) We also let her know after seeing the online listing for the first time that the floor plan she shows is not accurate. It shows a closet where a shower is, a door where a window is, etc. These changes have STILL not been corrected.
4) In her sales pitch she told us she would do all this marketing as soon as the house was listed. Postcards throughout the neighborhood, list it in the newspapers, etc. She has not done any of that. I had emailed her early last week questioning it and she still has not responded.
Am I wrong in asking her to do her job? And do it competently?
So here we are going into week 3 of the listing and we have not had one single showing or inquiry. I instantly think it's because of the photos, because they can't get even get anyone to inquire about the property. And then, of course, now I'm thinking we may need to lower the price.
What do we do? Do we wait to see if there are any showings this weekend, and if not, fire her? If we do fire her and take our house off the market for a week while shopping around for another realtor will that have a substantial negative impact? When we do re-list it will the people in our price range automatically skip over ours because they've already seen the horrendous photos and decided to cross it off their list? Help!
If you've read this whole post, I appreciate it! Thank you!
Your listing is with the broker, not the agent. Call the Managing Broker ( party who signed your listing agremeent) and explain the situation and ask them to reassign you to another agent, who will make it right, now.
The way Realtor.com works is that it pulls the images initially from the MLS. If you have an enhanced listing package with Realtor.com, you can upload images directly into it. If your agent doesn't have an enhanced listing package, then she has no control over the images.
IDX feeds (the method of how listings get to other internet sites) are required to be updated at least once a week. Many update daily, but it just depends on the company and the feed. It is possible that she uploaded the new images into the MLS and they just haven't made it to the rest of the internet. It just depends. Realtor.com updates daily, I think. If the new images aren't on your actual MLS listing, then they won't get out to the internet world.
As for the other things...postcards typically take a week or so to get out. Out here our newspaper deadline is Wednesday for the weekend sections.
Whether or not you can cancel your contract depends on what it says. Some bind you for a long time. No offense, but didn't you actually LOOK at any of her marketing materials before you hired her? I never understand why people agree to pay someone so much money without actually seeing the QUALITY of what they do vs. the slick listing presentation that those agents were taught.
Anyway...your listing agreement is with the brokerage firm and NOT the real estate agent. You can call the principal broker and ask that another agent be assigned if you want, or you can ask to be released from the contract, or you can continue to try and work with this agent.
Your listing is with the broker, not the agent. Call the Managing Broker ( party who signed your listing agremeent) and explain the situation and ask them to reassign you to another agent, who will make it right, now.
The way Realtor.com works is that it pulls the images initially from the MLS. If you have an enhanced listing package with Realtor.com, you can upload images directly into it. If your agent doesn't have an enhanced listing package, then she has no control over the images.
IDX feeds (the method of how listings get to other internet sites) are required to be updated at least once a week. Many update daily, but it just depends on the company and the feed. It is possible that she uploaded the new images into the MLS and they just haven't made it to the rest of the internet. It just depends. Realtor.com updates daily, I think. If the new images aren't on your actual MLS listing, then they won't get out to the internet world.
As for the other things...postcards typically take a week or so to get out. Out here our newspaper deadline is Wednesday for the weekend sections.
Whether or not you can cancel your contract depends on what it says. Some bind you for a long time. No offense, but didn't you actually LOOK at any of her marketing materials before you hired her? I never understand why people agree to pay someone so much money without actually seeing the QUALITY of what they do vs. the slick listing presentation that those agents were taught.
Anyway...your listing agreement is with the brokerage firm and NOT the real estate agent. You can call the principal broker and ask that another agent be assigned if you want, or you can ask to be released from the contract, or you can continue to try and work with this agent.
She told us it is the enhanced listing on realtor.com but also said she has no control over which photos get shown.
Of course we looked at all her marketing materials before we signed. She has not done anything that she showed us! Basically, bait and switch.
Before we signed with her she said if for any reason we are not happy with her work we can cancel the contract with no problem.
The worst part - she's an acquaintance of ours.
Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.
I agree with silverfall. It seems you do a lot of looking on line jpq. Does that agents other listings have good photos? If it is possible to get out of your contract I would suggest finding an agent first since you seem very concerned with the lag time that things are done. Silverfall is also correct on the IDX thing -- it takes time, and unless we have additional packages with all the websites, we have little to no control over how long upadates take to go into effect. As far as price no one here can answer that unless they know your market and house. I often get in a position when I am suddenly swamped and things get a little behind -- my to do list often goes in order of my clients that have helped me help them (keeping home clean, listing near CMA, providing docs. timely and just simply being enjoyable) I will and do always get thru my list, but if my clients want to be on the top of the list -- well you get the picture. I do think 3 weeks to get the ball rolling is a bit slow. Decent pictures have come to be my #1 marketing tool ahead of the almighty for sale sign - gone are the days of most calls coming in with people saying "I was just driving by and wanted to know".
Best of luck, and remember things can take more time than you may realize.
She told us it is the enhanced listing on realtor.com but also said she has no control over which photos get shown.
Of course we looked at all her marketing materials before we signed. She has not done anything that she showed us! Basically, bait and switch.
Before we signed with her she said if for any reason we are not happy with her work we can cancel the contract with no problem.
The worst part - she's an acquaintance of ours.
Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.
Okay...on Realtor.com you can most definitely set which photos are shown for the enhanced listing package, AND in what order. If she can't do that, she doesn't know what she is doing.
If she is the broker and she said she would release you, then get released. I know this sounds bizarre, but I talked with a FSBO not too long ago and they elected to go with another firm because I said the house HAD to be staged to sell. They felt staging was intrusive and didn't want to do it, so they chose the other gal. That was three weeks ago.
The seller called me back and asked if I would list their house in Sept when the listing expires because she is locked into the contract and is so sure that it won't sell with this agent. 3 weeks into the contract...
Don't do that to yourself. If you aren't happy. Find another agent and move on. If she is willing to release you and you don't feel that she is doing what you agreed move on. I don't know where you are located but in many areas, we are heading into selling season as families try and move over the summer.
Look at marketing materials online, today, right now...not the ones in the listing presentation. Look at similar priced homes and see whose marketing consistently looks good online, right now. A luxury home will look better than a $200,000 home so compare apples to apples as much as possible. Go to Zillow and Trulia and see which agents post listings on there. Look at Realtor.com. Make a list of listings that have good online photos. That will give you a starting point to find a new agent.
Then interview the ones that consistently do good work. Choose from that pool.
I am sorry. How many showings have you had? What's the feedback?
None.
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