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The Case Of The Disappearing REALTOR®

Sounds like the title to a tantalizing new mystery book, doesn't it? A book like that might be chock full of suspense with the characters experiencing emotions ranging from confusion to frustration and a maybe even a dash of irritation.

Too bad that what I'm talking about here isn't fiction. For far too many home sellers, this mystery is all too real and common. Every day in our market sellers are wondering "What happened to my REALTOR®?"

Nancy and I handle a lot of sellers who have had their listings expire from the MLS for one reason or another. Sometimes it's price, and other times it's lack of attention from the listing agent. Here's a prime example:

Last summer we visited with a seller that had his home on the market for one year with another agency. His listing had expired and he was interviewing new agents. A really good move on his part - sellers should talk to as many potential agents as possible to find a good fit for both them and the agent. A few days after we talked, he called to tell us that he had chosen another agent but that it was a close call.

His house has now been on the market for over 560 days. When I pulled up the listing history in the MLS, I noticed that the listing had only been touched once over the past year - and that was to extend the listing agreement. In our MLS, agents input prospects to receive listings as they come on the market - the catch is that if your listing is there BEFORE the prospect is entered by the another agent, the prospect doesn't receive your listing. So for approximately 10 months, his listing has sat there unattended and has not been populated into the listing cart of ANY prospect after he was listed.

It's actually sad, isn't it?

The number one complaint I hear from sellers who have had their listing expire is "My REALTOR® stuck a sign in the yard and disappeared. I would have lowered my price if they had taken the time to do a market update every few months. I never heard any feedback from showings, and in the 100 degree summer my house was being marketed with a picture of it with snow on the ground. What gives?"

I believe that there are some agents out there that think the work stops when you get the listing agreement signed. That's just not the case.

The gentleman in my example above took all the right steps, he interviewed multiple agents and he didn't pick his agent based solely on price. So how can Edwardsville and Glen Carbon home sellers avoid becoming the main character in a bad mystery novel? Arm yourself with these 10 questions for any agent you interview.

1. How often will you communicate with me? How will you communciate with me? (If you prefer a call and your agent prefers e-mail, hash that out now. Communication is the foundation for a great team, and you and your agent are a team).

2. How long do you normally take to return a phone call?

3. How long do you normally take to respond to an e-mail?

4. Will you provide me with market updates that compare my house to ones that have closed as well as my active competition?

5. When the seasons change, will you update your marketing materials?

6. Will you set me up in the MLS to receive automatic e-mails when something new comes on the market that my home will be in competition with?

7. Can I deal with you personally when I have a problem, or do I have to go through your assistant?

8. Will you provide me with a monthly status update about where my home is being advertised?

9. Even if you can't reach the other agent for showing feedback, would you please still call me and at least let me know that?

10. Will you change MLS descriptions every few months to give my listing a fresh look?

If you receive an unsatisfactory answer to any of these questions, move on to the next agent. The seller-agent relationship is not like an employer-employee relationship... it truly is a team effort and you must find an agent that matches your style for your home sale to be a success.

Questions about selling your home? Stop by Sacred Grounds Cafe in Edwardsville every Tuesday from 12 - 1 to have them answered. We'll be there talking all things real estate - and we'll even buy the latte.

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About the Author: Kristina Pratt is a REALTOR® with the Just Ducky Homes team at Coldwell Banker Brown Realtors in Edwardsville, Illinois. She and Nancy Milton help their customers buy and sell homes and investment properties in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs of Madison and St. Clair counties with special emphasis on the communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Collinsville and Troy. For more information, visit their web site at http://www.JustDuckyHomes.com or e-mail Kristina@JustDuckyHomes.com

About the Author: Kristina Pratt is a REALTOR® with Goshen Realty Group at RE/MAX Preferred Partners in Edwardsville, Illinois. She and Nancy Milton help their customers buy and sell homes and investment properties in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs of Madison and St. Clair counties with special emphasis on the communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Collinsville and Troy. For more information, visit their web site at http://www.GoshenRealtyGroup.com or e-mail Kristina@GoshenRealtyGroup.com

Posted by Kristina Pratt, REALTOR® - GoshenRealtyGroup.com on 06/24/2009 04:14 PM

Comments (53)

10 Questions to Ask Any Agent in the Home Selling Channel

sellers, interviewing agents, communication

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53 Comments on The Case Of The Disappearing REALTOR®

JUN

I'm tellling you, if we had a legitimate, verifiable rating system for realtors, we wouldn't have this problem.

Agree agree! With comment above me and post :)

JUL

I think a good agent should always ask their client during the listing or buying presentation "How often would you like me to communicate with you and how? Email, phone, personal visit, etc." Never hurts to ask up front, right?

AUG

Don't you hate when the Missing Realtor is the one you're doing a cross sale with!! That's happened to me sooo many times. Don't think it doesn't cross my mind if I'm showing their property.. But I'm glad that there are good agents out there and hey, if anything, they make us look better :)

AUG

Great post, Kristina. And Ralph, there is an unbiased rating system for REALTORS^®out there. It is at www.realestateratingz.com . One of my clients turned me on to it last year. Now I ask clients to take a moment and rate me on this site after each sale. Some do, some don't, but it is anonymous so it encourages truthfulness. Check it out.

Frances Sanderson, Franklin, NH REALTOR®, Certified EcoBroker^®

This is a big reason Real Estate Marketing Tools, Inc. developed the Realtor selection service. We arm our customers with the best possible ammunition: Knowledge.

We help them find the perfect Realtor for them and so far, have a 100% success rate.

We're an active version of what Ralph is promoting. The problem with that is not every Realtor is right for every customer. Our customers very rarely select the top agent in town, but pick a great agent that's right for them as buyers or sellers.

Good Realtors love us, Realtors that pull disappearing acts hate us, because we weed them out before they can get near our customers!

Sorry...this reads like self-promotion and that really isn't the intent. My point is, we were passionate enough about this subject that we felt the need to design a system to prevent it from happening to our customers. It speaks volumes that not only did we feel it needed to be done, but that it's succesful!

Kristina--It should just never happen. When the contract is signed, we have a duty to our clients to be accountable and keep them informed of what is happening with their listed home.

Thank you so much for sharing! I always try to follow up and do the best I can for my clients. It is sad to see that some don't. thanks again!

Well said and unfortunately so true. I just got a listing from investors who were so unhappy with their agent for most of those reasons and were interviewing. They found me on the web and I had it sold in about a month. They are now using me to list all the homes they are flipping. They texted and I answered - they said it was night and day from their other agent. I can't imagine in this market that an agent can afford to neglect their clients - not to mention that if I take a listing, I take it seriously that this is important to my client to get it sold and they trust me to do the job.

Great stuff! In my lisitng presentation I tell the clients I will send them updated comps, Realtor.com graphs, etc every 2 weeks and call them every week. CSS emails them feedback after every showing. Love your idea of a list of questions for them to ask.

A good reminder to us all that the name of the game is "personal service & contact".

I was very surprised that a new client commented that he had talked with at least 5 agents in the past few months and I was the first to call him back and send him some MLS properties that fit his criteria. In this market, do they really not have the time to follow-up with a potential client?

It constantly amazes me when I see how lax some brokers are with their listings with misspellings, misinformation and old information that should have been changed. In this competitive environment I sometimes wonder what possessed the seller to entrust their most valuable possession to a lazy or incompetent broker. I like the 10 questions you have laid out. It would solve a lot of problems if sellers would ask them before signing an agreement. Great job.

Excellent advice for sellers. I sometimes run into the same frustrations as a stager. Sometimes Realtors bring me in and convince their sellers to spend the extra money for staging (which I am always grateful for) but then they do nothing else to market the home during our contract period and then the client is looking at me like the staging was ineffective. Well, it is if no one sees the home or the agent doesn't update the flyers and MLS with new images after staging!

I'm so happy that you wrote about this. We see this in our market too. Amazing that in this market, agents would be anything less than completely diligent!

Communication, communication is key!!!

Lets face it. Some of our fellow agents dont exhibit the professionalism they should which gives the rest of us a bad rep.... A good broker should provide the appropriate training and demand this level of professionalism and customer service but at the end of the day we're all accountable for our own actions. While we are considered salespeople by industry outsiders we are really customer service representatives whose primary responsibility and fiduciary duty should be to their client/customer/prospect...... I've personally spent the last three years and alot of money creating a virtual non-franchise real estate company which now conducts business in 17 states. My point here is that my executive team and I do not have the luxury to focus on just one office in one location suppporting just a few agents. We're spread across the nation and through our technology platform our web based training and broker responsibilities main priority is agent professionalism and accountability to the client. I'm not sure how the franchise model works but we hold weekly calls with each of our state brokers. We discuss agent behavior, production, etc and if they fall below certain criteria our brokers are responsible for working one on one with the agent.... So far, its been very effective....

We agree. Hopefully, the agent that sticks the sign in the yard and disappears is reading this post!

That is a great list of questions. I plan to save it for my clients--sometimes they call the stager before they have an agent. It's a well-thought out post. I've found that it's really difficult to get some agents to return my calls or emails when I'm working with them on a project. Some major issues arise just because the agent ignored the clients or my calls.

I live in Florida. What is this seasons change thing? Is that when we see that Sant Claus guy on the beach in his swimsuit?

Kristina, such excellent points. Some agents, mainly the minority are not professional and do not do what they need to do in the process with a listing. It is sad yet true for some. A home seller needs to stay on top of their agent too and ask questions. You have provided a great list.

There is a lot of puffing in all business. Realtors are no exception. Some are good at what they do, some aren't. Bad Realtors can make our industry look bad but they also help good Realtors rise to the top. Great blog!

Wonderful questions for a seller interviewing. No matter what industry there are standards and giving guidance to the consumer as this definitely shows your integrity and how you conduct your own business.

Very good post! It is amazing and as has been said before...it gives all of us a bad rap! I see bad customer service all the time with agents....and thier listings. And I am still amazed at how many agents don't have pictures up on listings that are old....or they have pictures...but with snow in them....hmmmm wonder how many times they ahve been out to even see the property??

Thanks for the good points!

I agree with all of them except number 10, in a few months it should be sold! Even in this market a home shouldn't languish more than 90 days. My personal goal is 90 days from listing date to when you actually move out.That gives you 45 days for each cycle, 45 days to get an offer and 45 days to get to closing. Very doable.

Contact is always important with your seller or buyer, it's part of our fiduciary to our client. What I want to mention is disappearing buyer's agents!!! I have a hard time explaining to my sellers, mostly banks since I do REO as a mainstay, why a buyer's agent won't respond or can't be found. Then when there's a huge per-diem attached on closing day or the deal gets cancelled and the buyer has just lost their EM and the approx. $1,000 they spent trying to get the house, no one understands why I can't convince the seller to make these things go away. Had the buyer's agent been participating they would have know sooner than the day AFTER closing was supposed to happen that there is a problem. Whether we are a buyer's agent or a seller's agent, we all need remember it's about more than getting the listing agreement signed or the contract.. it's about the job we do to make that agreement turn into a sale. I think a lot of agents forget it's an entire process and the signing of the listing/contract paperwork is just the beginning, not the end of the process. Hope no one minds my bringing the other side into this as far as disappearing goes.

Wow! What a great post! My guess is that the persons who can benefit most from this post don't even bother to become more informed than they are, at this point. As a Stager, I get to meet many Realtors. The ones who only care about getting the home listed definitely stand out from the others.

I know one who doesn't believe in Open Houses, doesn't bother with Broker's Open Houses and doesn't do anything to sell the house but they DO want the listing so they can get their percentage when other agents get the house sold for them. This one I'm thinking of doesn't even update the flyers, doesn't restock the flyers, has horrible MLS photos, will list a friend's house, even if it's REALLY far away from their home town and then never do anything for them, after that. They don't belong to the MLS for that area so they only send emails out, right after they get the listing and then they just wait for the phone to ring. They do, however, concentrate on their rental properties because they told me that's where the consistent income comes from.

Good article, though I would like to point out that not every licensee is a REALTOR®. In fact only 1.35 million of approximately 3.11 licensees are members subscribing to the REALTOR® code of ethics.

Corrina Westermann REALTOR® www.iknowhomes.com

Great post, not only is it location, location, location but communication, communication, communication!

Question #11 could be "How often will you fill up the flyer tube?" As a real estate virtual assistant, I drive through my Florida neighborhood, and I could make a decent living JUST being a flyer tube-filler! I cannot tell you how many times I see potential buyers stopping by to pick up a flyer and the tube is empty...and then it sits empty for weeks. That tells all the other homeowners in the neighborhood (potential sellers) that this agent never stops by to see the property.

Janine Gregor
Real Estate Virtual Assistant
www.YourVirtualWizard.com

www.YourVirtualWizardblog.com

When bad things go south, it seems to speak volume! I'm not sure if a rating system could help one agent fare better than another.

This is not the problem that the real estate business to consumer face. I guess to "test" a Realtor, we would just have to go through one at a time.

There are exceptions, but I think we need to be buy the house (if it is empty) once a week at least and keep our client updated once a week. A price change keeps the property in peoples radar.

As the marketing coordinator for a top producer, I often get calls from sellers wanting to list with us becuase of their agent's unresponsiveness. Communication is key. Especially in this market. Sellers want to hear from us, even if we have nothing new to report.

Yes, communication with the client is key with regards to their listing.

When we list homes, we need to stop and remember the fact that a seller who lists their home with is is in part, placing their trust in us, and engaging our fiduciary responsibility...which we are subject to at all times!

Sadly, too many agents, like many other folks these days, tend to be entirely addicted to irresponsibility!

Broker-Granny

www.ActiveSunshine.com

Kristina

Great Post; AMEN!!! Of course, the MIA Realtor probably does not participate in AR so they are missing out on the great comments.

Communication Communication Communication! and of course the basic principle of treating someone with the respect and care that you wish to have shown to you.

Continued business and life success to you

Pat McGuire

Great Article and good questions. In our current market I see FSBO's who don't like Realtors. Some of these questions would give a person a good idea that if you don't communicate with your client then don't take the listing.

Great post and I liked the questions you put together. Sadly, this does happen and it shouldn't.

My personal pet peeve is when listings are full of typos and horrible photos- What kind of service are you providing to your client by not even taking the time to proofread and get decent photos?

Great questions for prospective agents! Just by asking these questions, the seller lets the Realtor know they must be accountable.

Great post! I don't know how these agents get the listings in the first place!

My brokerage does have a ratings system in place and it's posted all over the internet for everyone to see. If I don't perform, it affects my overall pay - plain and simple!

I agree that the seller and listing agent are a team, and, that relationship and its parameters must be determined at the beggining in order to be successful, if either party is unhappy there could also be an option for unilaterally cancelling the listing agreement.

I agree with you wholeheartily. We have the same problem here. Additionally, the people that we have speoken to are one that are in pre-foreclosure and the prior agent has used up all of the home seller's time. We could just tell you stories that could make you cry.

Kristina, I love a good mystery. Just finished James Patterson's LIFEGUARD! Couldn't put it down. Glad there were no Realtor's in that mystery.

AUG

Great Post, When I run into these agents I always wonder just how they manage to stay in business. I would just add that along with sending them MLS updates of their competition that they also make sure they get a full copy of the listing the agent puts in for their own house and really look it over so they can see for themselves what kind of job their agent does and just what kind of attention to detail they have. Its not enough to just put the house in the MLS. Some of these listings are just so bad, missing or down right wrong information, awful or no photos, instructions to NOT call agent, etc. that I can't imagine the seller is getting a copy of it and if they are they can't be actually reading it.

Great questions to ask your realtor, and things that should be easy for us to answer.

Kristina - people like that shouldn't represent Realtors to start with...I wonder how they survive in the business...I guess by 'coning' new sellers every time...Right now I work with another Realtor who shouldn't be one...me and my friend, a Realtor also, do all the work for him and us to get this transaction closed.

With smiles,

Bo in Yukon

Wonderful points. I think that keeping a listing on the books where the agent is MIA for a year is just ridiculous. I'm not sure I really believe that the other agent didn't follow up for a year. It would be interesting to go back & interview that previous agent to find out she asked for a price reduction every week for a year and didn't get it. The seller actually didn't get it!

Hi Kristina; very good points. Sometimes it seems the agent gives up or gives in to the downward spiral market trend thesis. Instead of contributing to the problem we as agents should be proactive.

Kristina, this happened to some folks I know. They were manipulated into continually extending the listing agreement as you've described. Very informative post for sellers AND agents!

AUG

There must be reason that we realtors, as a profession, have a bad reputation. Communication or the lack thereof is one of the main reasons. How can this be? Isn't this a relationship business? I get so many complaints of buyers telling me that nobody ever calls them back ... I will, as often as they need me to :)

AUG

It just goes to show you that their are oder takers and their are sales pros. Listing agents are like order takers in that it's easy to get a listing and then just wait around to pick up a chunk of the commish. The listing is only where the work starts. The real challange is to market and actually peddle the property and for that you need the REAL PROS.

AUG

The worst part is that a Realtor who would have taken great care of this client and gotten the property sold, lost out to an agent who simply doesn't care about doing the job right.

AUG

Great points in your post. They could be turned around, and into statements about what we can, and will do during your listing and talked through on a listing appointment. I also thought it was a good reminder about the number of agents who are not realtors. I definitely agree that we need to ask each client abput frequency and type of contact. I also send a weekly report about the market activity in their zip code. People seem to have liked that as well as other updates.

OCT

Hi Kristina,

Great information for us newbies,
so we start off and stay on the right track.
Thanks for sharing.

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