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Think About The Perspective of a Real Estate Buyer!

Scenario: Listing agent obtains a listing from a bank...the sign is up...and has been up for almost a week...buyer saw the property already with their agent....but it's not in the mls..buyer wants to write an offer based on comps but the listing agent...says no..what else..the wait game...waiting on a completed BPO..waiting to price the property as per aka "the bank"

Think About The Perspective of a Real Estate Buyer!

Buyers perspective: "I don't understand there is a sign out front...I want to write an offer...now...who cares if its not in the mls. There is a sign out front. Don't they want to sell it? More than likely they already have a buyer. I'm frustrated"

What do you think is happening to the home buying experience of this home-buyer? Remember..when things are go well..sometimes someone might spread the word...but when things are not pleasant..they tell two friends and so on and so on...

Bottom Line...They are not just looking at their agent for performance...they look at all parties involved..and if this buyer finds dissatisfaction with any party...they will not forget it!...I guarantee you...they won't hesitate to share it.....this home-buying experience belongs to the buyer...the good...the bad or the ugly.

While I admit..As a listing agent I have done this before..maybe the house was not show ready or sellers requested to wait on showings...one thing we all should think about...all parties involved have a direct impact on someones home buying experience whether they buy your listing or not.

Home buyers will march into several homes and more than likely form an opinion based on how they are treated..right...wrong or indifferent. A homebuyer will form an opinion with a loan officer and their staff, the title company and theirs...all parties involved will have a direct impact on someones home-buying experience.

The homebuying experience belongs to the buyer..the good...the bad...the ugly!

Remember the key words: Home Buying! Think about it.

About The Author: Midori Miller is a Real Estate Trainer and writes and trains Real Estate Training and assists sellers in short sale situations. Midori is a Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker , License # BK645709 and a member of the Daytona Area Association of REALTORS. Contact midorimiller@yahoo.com or (386)453-3236.

Posted by Florida Real Estate Trainer | Daytona Beach After School Training | Midori on 07/08/2009 07:45 PM

Comments (38)

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Originally posted at: Daytona Real Estate Training: Think About The Perspective of a Real Estate Buyer!

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38 Comments on Think About The Perspective of a Real Estate Buyer!

JUL

This violates our rules. There are some agents who believe that the rules are just for everyone else.

Midori, you're absolutely right! I';ve heard so many stories from buyers who were unhappy! Think how many friends and relatives they told!

Midori - What you said could not be any more true, "all parties involved have a direct impact on someones home buying experience." I recently had a buyer, and we were one day out from docs being delivered, and they decided to cancel to contract. Why, because they were unhappy with the process - The lender, as well as the listing agent (the bank). They just got fed up with everything right at the end, lost their earnest money and everything, but they were so upset that they did not want the lender to earn any money off of them. This was not a lender I knew about ahead of time, and they cost me the deal. It just goes to show you that we all need to work together as a team to close transactions - lenders, buyers agents, listing agents, etc.

Lenn-you aren't kidding..it got me upset. The buyer is a very good friend! :)

Linda-yes..I hear it too...word of mouth.

Troy-Yes..its a total team effort..I call it the buyer support team!

Midori - well with the banks everything seems to go out the window. They don't know how to sell real estate so little that they do seems to fit either with the rules or standard protocol. I suppose the agents could educate them...and perhaps they try, in some cases. Unfortunately it reflects on the agent which relfects on our profession and our reputation.

Jeff

Midori this is so true. The telling two friends concept I am sure would apply here. It seems silly to put a for sale sign out on a home that you don't even have a price for yet.

This violates our RMLS membership rules, unless the seller has signed an agreement stating the home is NOT to be marketed in the RMLS.

We see this in this market in Arizona also -- it's not right --but it happens.

It's very sad that sometimes the bad experiences the buyers have are sometimes misplaced towards the agent.

Some of my REO vendors require a sign to go up with the initial assignment as soon as the property is vacant. At that point there is no listing agreement and cannot be put into the MLS.

This same thing happened a few years ago when agents failed to input their listings as they wanted to sell it themselves.

I agree we all have an input into the buyers experience and I personally do my best to make it a good one even when it's not my buyer.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. Happy people might tell their friends, unhappy tell everyone who will listen! Ugh.

To make matters worse, once you do submit an offer, better prepare your buyer that it could be weeks, if not months (yes, here in Ohio it takes at least 3 months) till the foreclosure deed gets recorded. Only then can the bank transfer title to your buyer ...

Hey Midori, This happened to me just tonight...I was out showing homes to a buyer and while in one neighborhood we spotted another vacant home to go in. I called the agent asking for the list price and lock box code and she said "oh you can go in it but we're waiting on the bank to give us a price"...I just don't see the point of putting the sign out without a list price.

Have a great night,

Anne Rains

Midori-The agent should not have set the sign until the property was ready to list on the MLS. I don't know what your regulations call for, but ours is "must be listed on the MLS within 48 hours of the sign being placed in the yard". Sounds like a violation, if you ask me.

Gives all of us a bad name. I don't like the 'coming soon' signs either. Don't put your sign up until you put it in MLS. It is probably a MLS rule where you are. It is here.

Sarah in Nashville

Well, here's my take on this. First of all, as a REO agent myself, the listing is not granted until teh BPO is turned in, so any sign out front is premature and was done so prior to the listing being assigned, which is technically against the rules.

The listing agent's behavior is what is causing all this distress unnecessarily. It's a real shame.

Yes, I think most all MLS have rules that you must put it on within a timeframe of putting out the sign.

Hi Midori -- A team concept is something that is lost sometimes, as you so appropriately pointed out. Real estate, after all, is about the consumer, not us.

Midori, it never even occured to me that someone wouldn't see the home-buyer's perspective.

But, that is kind of silly on my part, especially after dealing with a customer service rep yesterday who failed to grasp the concept that I might not want to buy their product any more. And, yes, I do tell other people about the bad experiences, and the good ones, too!

What about holding up on the offers that are submitted... regardless of when they expire, in order to try to get into a multiple offer situation... I think there ought to be an ethics violation in there.

JUL

This happens frequently in our market.

Most often, it is already SOLD before the sign goes on it.

Coming soon signs are the norm in my market. You do get a lot of calls and pick up some good buyers off of the signs. Coming soon is a form of advertising. No different than post cards or flyers or shopping cart signs, bus benches etc. etc.

For those agents that I see on A.R. complaining about coming soon signs, is it really because you didn't get the listing? There's no other logical reason. (that I can think of)

Midori- This is what happens when the horse comes after the cart.

Midori,

Just got an REO listing but given the bank's steps, it will be a couple weeks before I can put it in the MLS. Need to set the price, clean up, get utilities connected, etc.

I would dearly love to stick a sign out right now. That, however, would be a total violation of our MLS rules. (Even with "delayed showings" by written seller request, it still must go into the MLS before the sign goes up.) Won't even post a Real Estate Shows video until it is in the MLS.

We all should be playing by the rules!

WOW good morning...and a gold star...thank you..

To me its odd..you let the buyer in with their agent...you won't accept offers...but you let them in the property...its not in the mls...but you let them in the property...no price but you let them in the property.

I understand marketing and the concept but the point is...have you really thought about the impact on a buyer and what they think of you....listing agent extraordinare??? While you might not care...and think its marketing...when in the long run...it could hurt your business.

Trust me...after this buyer explained what happened..I can assure you they will not forget..will bring it up..and there is a good chance they might tell two friends and so on and so on.

The point of the post is that we should look at things through our customers eyes..because it is their homebuying experience..we are just fortunate the business came to us...and they asked us..to be part of this special event in their lives.

p.s. anytime I ever did this...it was in the mls..but maybe not ready to be shown...I play by the rules...do you?

Not surprised, all kinds of rules are broken in the MLS Rules.

Obviously they are not thinking about the buyers,but themselves or they jumped the gun and put the sign in.

I don't know the current statistics....a good experience...people tell 2 people...a bad is 20 or some such thing....you can't buy/erase/easily repair a reputation...guard it with your license !

Seems to me that putting a sign up before the property is actually for sale is akin to a dog marking his territory.

It serves only the ego of the dog listing agent. I doubt they've given even the slightest thought to how this action is perceived by the buyers.

As for "coming soon"...well, that's very nice, but if I'm taking folks out to view properties, it's because they're "buying now".

I hope you find something spectacular for your friends very soon!

Nice blog to know the things related to Real estate.
<a href="http://www.randygridley.com"> Boise Real Estate</a>

home buying . . . you said it. they are shopping and can easily walk away or tell others when the experience or performance of one or all parties is poor. locals - agents, lenders, etc - tend to provide the best service since their reputation is involved and they are familiar with the area. irresponsible to have a sign up before property is available.

Thank you Midori for this. I like all the feedback you got. I am torn because I know the listing agent and would really like to think that they aren't a bad person. I know my agent is doing what he can but my other half is so disgusted with this whole situation he no longer cares about or wants the house which we both fell in love with.

Glad this got a feature!

I'm am so glad you wrote about this! I am working with a buyer right now on a Fannie Mae listing and it has been extremely frustrating. I got a great chuckle out of a portion of their required addendum that says, "The seller has strict timelines which must be followed." This from a seller that took almost 2 weeks to get back with a counter. Only when I told them the buyer was ready to move on to their second choice did they reply.

The sign in the yard indicates they want to sell, but their actions say otherwise.

I recently had clients interested in a house with this same scenario. The house was bank-owned, there was a sign in the yard, but not in the mls and the listing office couldn't tell me anything about price or even WHEN we would be able to look at it. My clients were REALLY hung up on this house and, although they had another house they were considering writing on, didn't want to make a move until they got into the bank-owned house. We waited three weeks and FINALLY it showed up on the mls - $30k out of my clients' range! In the meantime, the other house they liked got an accepted offer. We lost a house they loved and nearly a month of shopping time waiting for the listing agent to actually LIST the house with their sign in the yard! Frustrating!!!

Home-Buying experience is indeed each buyer's expression of their satisfication or dissatisfication. Most our buyers are very high-maintenance and we strive to please them as much as we can, sometimes it is about striking the balance between making customer/client happy and not bending over backwards too much! THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST!

In Oklahoma City we have a 48 hour rule on signs to show and market. I have no problem filing a complaint with the local Board and the State Real Estate Commission. No wonder so many FISBO's come on the market for the reason of lack of respect for our professionalism.

"Thank you Midori for this. I like all the feedback you got. I am torn because I know the listing agent and would really like to think that they aren't a bad person. I know my agent is doing what he can but my other half is so disgusted with this whole situation he no longer cares about or wants the house which we both fell in love with. Glad this got a feature!"

Some asset managers will accept an offer even prior to a BPO... But, if it has a sign out front our MLS says it has to be in the MLS!

JUL

What was it that Marc Antony said at Caesar's funeral: the evil that men do lives after them, the good is interred with their bones. If we aren't careful in what we say and do when we are engaging with buyers, it can indeed come back to bite us in the tush. The thing that most of us don't think about, whjich you pointed out so eloquently, is that the buyr's perception is not just focused on one actor in the entire process, but on every actor in the process, and one misstep by any factor can be detrimental for all involved.