No Wonder Realtors Have a Poor Reputation
In surveys Realtors often come in at the bottom of the list. I feel that is unfair as many of us treat this as our profession and seriously try to do the right thing by our clients.
However, I am distressed with the unprofessional way some Realtors run their business. As they always say, it just takes a few bad apples to make the majority look bad.
In the past few weeks on some of my listings agents representing buyers have called to schedule showings. Anyone who has moved knows what a pain in the neck it is to keep your home in showing condtion. Those with kids must pick up toys, turn on all the lights, adjust the blinds, get the pets and the kids loaded in the car, and leave the home for an hour or two. Sometimes they need to do this a couple of times a day, and of course with homes being on the market longer, they may have to do this for an extended time.
Anyway three agents scheduled appointments and gave a timeframe for example showing between 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM. Of course the seller leaves as 12:30 PM in case the buyers get there early. And they may come back at 3:00 PM in case the buyers and the agent are running late. This is normal since when you are scheduling calls you do not know if the buyers will spend 5 minutes in a home, or they may spend an hour. Sometimes you can run ahead of schedule or run late. On these three showings the agents and their buyers never showed up. We do have times where a buyer as we are driving up the street will say I do not like this neighborhood or do not like the look of the house. Normally I and most agents, when this happens call the listing agent on the phone and say I am very sorry but we are not going to show the home today. I tell them I will call them back later to explain. This way the listing agent can call the seller and say you can go home. The buyers agent called me and said they are not showing the home and will call me later to let me know why.
However, with these three agents no phone call. One of them I called when I found out and asked what happened. They said the buyer did not like the neighborhood. I asked why she did not call so that I could let the seller return home. She said she had not thought about doing so. I found out it was a new agent so I understood this. The next one was an agent who when I called said his buyer was getting tired and did not want to look at any more homes. When I asked why he did not call, he told me where to go. He said that his job is to schedule calls, and that if his buyer decides their tired, he does not owe anyone a call. The third agent has never returned my call or e-mail, so I have no idea why she did not show the home. I just cannot understand how agents do not believe in common courtesy.
It makes us all look bad when our sellers leave their home, the home does not get shown, and nobody lets them know why, and the agent does not even have the courtesy or professionalism to call and say please tell your sellers we are sorry, but we will not be showing their home today. Please let them know they can go back home, and please apologize to them for the inconvenience.
I also had a fourth incident that was even more disturbing. I have some luxury home listings where I must attend all showings, even if the buyer is coming with their agent. Last week an agent called saying that she hates to ask but is there any chance of seeing a home in about 15 minutes. She explained that she had just shown a home and they were driving by my listing and the buyer wanted to see it. I said I normally have to meet her there, but could not be there at that time. I said let me see if the owner is home. If he is, he will be glad to show the home. I said I would call her right back. She said if you get my voicemail just leave me a message that it is okay or not. I called her back about a minute later and left her a voicemail saying just knock on the door and the seller will show them the home. About an hour later the seller calls me and says nobody ever showed up. Here she was supposedly right outside the door. I called and got her voicemail but this time it said her voicemail was full and would not accept any further messages. For the next several days I called and got the same message about the voicemail box being full. I finally reached her about a week later and she said they just decided to get a bite to eat instead.
If any agents or sellers are reading this please make a comment on whether this has happened to you. And if any agents are reading this and thinking this is about me, hopefully you will think about common courtesy and professionalism.