Listing Feedback - A Necessary Evil, Helpful Tool, or Waste of Time?

One of my to do's when listing a property is to ask for feed back on showings. That feedback can be used by the seller to either correct, change or reduce the price if the comments are consistent.

When I show properties, I return ALL requests for feedbacks. Time consuming? Yes! Courtesy and respect allows me to do over 150 trades a year!

You know who I don't get feed back from? Low producers!

Ty

Sometimes a seller just needs to hear it from the people who were thinking of buying their home ......it was probably the same info they heard from their realtor, but, you know sellers sometimes won't believe anything we told them. After someone with the money tells them they need to replace the orange shag carpet from the 70s....and other wonderful neglected items....it might sink in if they hear it two or three times from buyers instead of from that realtor they hired to sell their palace and the buyers can take it as is and replace and repair it . Well, I expect feed back and always give it , I take some notes to feed back to the other agent....and if you don't return my call, it just really makes me want to show another of your listings so bad....and really want to get into a transaction with you....no cooperation on your part isn't fun and the offer probably won't be either... 

I appreciate an e-mailed request, so I have time to look for the notes on my MLS listing, in case I've shown too many and can't remember the details when I'm interrupted in the middle of something else.   

I was recently frustrated when I called to show a house, was told it was available and vacant, and showed it to buyers who wanted to make an immediate offer.   I called the listing agent with a question and was told there was another offer coming in.   In a few minutes, I registered mine and he apologized -he should have told me earlier, he said, that they'd already ratified the other contract. 

The frosting on the cake was that for days, I got a daily request from the automated service asking how my client liked it.   They really did.   Ironically, it just came back on the market, but they've bought something else.

I think it you might be suffering from a case of over confidence.  In this market, clients many times feel that they know more than we do as their agent.  And, there may be instances where that is true.  So when we convey our "expert opinions", and the client doesn't take our advice...The only other thing that we have to support our advice, is the true "expert opinion" of the buyers.  Let's face it, we as REALTORS don't always have all of the answers.  So, we must rely on the ever changing market (buyers) to advise our clients. 

I must admit, I have not given feedback before.  But, I sure feel guilty about it the next time I am seeking it.

I personally really want your feedback.  I may tell the owner that the film on the basement wall will be a question in the prospective buyer's mind, but they may choose not to do anything about it til buyers tell him it makes them wonder if there has been a leak.  Or it could be a number of things.  Lots of times I get nothing useful from agents, but many times I do and I pass it along to my seller.  They always appreciate hearing it.

I appreciate when I get feedback on my listings from other agents, so I try to do the same thing when I show. Sometimes sellers need to hear what other agents and prospective buyers comment on. It is somewhat of a pain to remember all the properties that I have shown on a particular day, but it also makes me try harder to remember  features and pay attention to my buyers opinions and comments.  In the long run it helps me get a better feel for what my buyers are really looking for.

Showing feedback is very valuable! Not only can it help you reinforce your suggestions and ideas with your Seller clients, but it is an extra "20 sets of eyes" looking at the property and providing their opinions on how it stacks up to your competition, that they were just in, that day.  I always try to give truthful showing feedback, and I ask for it after every showing on all of my listings. 

If we haven't received an offer, I definitely solicity feedback to share with the seller.

Sellers just want to know...some feedback IS helpful, but mostly the reason given is a smokescreen anyway.

Its just not the right property for them.

As a buyers' agent, it can be frustrating to get  a call (or even worse a voice-mail) from an agent that goes something like this:

"I picked up your card at my listing on Central.    You must have shown it in the last month.    What did your clients think?"

This really isn't effective, because sometimes, a buyers agent might show up to 20 homes in a weekend, It's pretty hard to remember a property a few weeks later based just on hearing the address, especially if it's a common street name in several surrounding areas.

My sellers want to know how their showings have gone, and I think it's part of serving them fully to find out! So as soon as I know there was a showing, I send a quick e-mail with the basic listing info and a few pictures.   It's a brief 5 question survey and I get most of them back.

I always try to leave feedback and if I do it right away while I remember the house it works best. As we see houses I write notes on the listing printout.  We use an automated system from Central Showings so it is easy. But I hate the POP quiz type and I just ignore the questions and just do a comment at the end. It is a courtesy to the other agents and sellers like to hear something about what the buyers think, and yes, sometimes it does help to reinforce what I have already told them.  While my sellers do take my advice and trust what I tell them it is always good to have validation. And sometimes they point out something we didn't focus on.

If the listing agent calls me and we speak, they will get feedback.  And we usually have a nice conversation.

If I get 3 emails in 3 days, which are auto generated, then it transfers the responsibiliy and time commitment to my shoulders, which annoys me.

If the listing agent sends a personal email (or one which I don't think is automated), they will usually get a response.

I used to respond 100% of the time, but if I visited the same listing twice, and then started getting a whole new set of inquiries, well, then it turns out they didn't really want my opinion all that much.

If the agent cares and reaches out, even if they leave a voicemail, I try to respond.

#10!!

non member?

I wondered why a month later there were comments again. And someone who is not a member emailing about it.  Syndicated to somewhere else and people are clicking back to it here to comment?  

The topic must have hit a chord with Kate.  I don't think Kate really said  anything new or earth shattering. Nothing more than the other, 176 comments ...  I don't know what comment #177 "#10" means...

The only thing I see new in the fan mail is "You should really take your own advice: do your job!" Well and I guess the thing about unneccesary rudeness.

The listing agent being the ONLY one to give any feedback to the seller is like one spouse trying to give advice to the other.  Oh sure, it's "helpful", but how highly is it really looked upon?

There is nothing wrong with expecting, requesting, and receiving advice from not only potential buyers, but also other agents that view the home.

I have a listing where the sellers really like and trust me.  I have suggested a few times that they do xyz to the property.  It wasn't until they received feedback from numerous agents that xyz should be done that they said "if it's that important, then maybe we should do it".