Monday, November 9, 2015

Things that Bug Real Estate Agents

I saw a posting on another broker's web site over the weekend from one of their agents who apparently needed to vent about something that really bothers her under the caption "A Realtor's biggest frustration".

What is the BIGGEST frustration faced by this agent?  Booties!  That's right -- those little slip on booties provided at some homes for sale to protect floors and carpeting from whatever nastiness might be clinging to the bottom of the shoes of agents and prospective buyers. The alternative of removing your shoes is also deemed "offensive, undignified, inconvenient, ungracious, unnecessary and unsightly".

Her solution is for the listing agent to better educate their sellers (often referred to as "control your client").

Now I'm all for educating clients (sellers and buyers).  That's largely why they hire us to guide them through the process of selling or buying a home in all its aspects.  But any agent who pretends they can control their client is overreaching their responsibilities and doing that client a disservice.  It's always the client's decision -- it's their money.  Some clients may give you more latitude than others but that is also their decision.

I’d say the bigger frustration is agents who visit our listing and give gratuitous advice on how we should work with our seller who they’ve never met.  Now that’s a frustration!

New Listing Watch - Fewer New Listings

The number of new listings in the last two weeks (245) has dropped significantly from the previous two-week period (343) and also from a year ago (347).


The percentage of new condo listings to go into contract has also dropped compared to the previous period as well as compared to a year ago.