I don’t mind calling before a showing if someone lives there, but when there is a vacant listings being told I need to call the listing agent before showing is a little annoying. (If I'm not getting any useful information while doing so) Is there a lockbox on the property? YES, then let me show it and if I have any questions, I will call you!
Yesterday was one of those calls I had to make before showing properties this afternoon. The listings said “Vacant, CALL LA”. OK, I’ll call the listing agent, maybe, just maybe she has some special instructions when it comes to the lockbox, its location or it is quirky. But, nope, not this agent!
This agent was the agent that I have always feared when calling. She wanted me to call so she could beg me, literally, beg me to sell her listing, bring her an offer, don’t care what it is for, just bring an offer. This was a very, very awkward phone call and I couldn’t wait to get off of it. She was telling me that she would pay me more in commission if I brought an offer tomorrow. I told her, “I don’t work that way, if my buyer likes it, we will put an offer, the commission is what it is and I’ll be happy if my client is happy.”
There was so much desperation in this agent’s voice! I felt like she was going to lose her house or maybe her license if she didn’t sell this house, this instant. There was such desperation in her voice that it actually almost got me to cancel the showing. She was throwing her seller under the bus, just to sell this property. She was telling me about how he could take a lower offer and they priced this way originally just to see if there would be some interest. Then they have been steadily lowering the price, but not to the point that it was keeping up with the market and there was a lot of wiggle room in what he could take.
HOW, HOW COULD AN AGENT do this? I wish I had recorded this phone call, because even listening to what I just recorded didn’t sound as desperate as this agent did on the phone. I was actually embarrassed for this agent and only wish I could have played this agents conversation with me to her seller, because what I was hearing would have horrified the seller, because, heck it was horrifying me!
If you are having problems with money, you have a duty to still do your job for your client and nothing should compromise that. If you are having money problems, get a second job until things pick up again, but sounding desperate and begging agents to bring an offer only degrades you and our business.
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