Why Can't All Real Estate Agents Just Do Their Job?

I get it.  We're in a down market after an unrealistically hot market.  So a lot of agents have mentally checked in and are just phoning in the servicing of their listings (sometimes literally).

I have a client - came to me because he was looking for a new home from a builder.  We found him one.  He asked me about selling his existing home. 

Its only about 20 minutes from me - but since the area is decidedly different from what I'm familiar with - I told him I didn't think I could provide much value.

So I did my research, asked around and then referred him to a high-volume agent in the area.  I called the agent up, told him what to expect and sent him a referral agreement.

When my client called the office looking for him - another agent snatched the call and got the listing.  I didn't find out until a few weeks later when I eventually caught back up with the client.  He thought this new agent was part of the other agents "team".   That was not to be the case.

So of course a month into I get an e-mail from my client: "I want to fire my listing agent?  What can I do?".

I gave him a call to find out what was up.  I hate interfering with other agent's listings - so I was hoping I could calm him down.

Turns out it was listed right away, but it took 3 weeks to get a picture up in the MLS and another week after that just to get a "For Sale" sign in the yard.  I told him to express his concerns with the agent and if need be escalate to the broker.

A month later he said things were ok - the one open house they had was lackluster - and he was really dejected about the lack of offers.

I did a quick market analysis for him, showing him the other listings on the market with prices and days on the market and activity of houses recently sold - etc.  And basically that he just needed to be patient.

He responded back that he was very grateful and he wondered why the other agent didn't do these sorts of things for him.

I wondered the same thing.

Since then he's moved to another agent who is recommending he price the house more aggressively - which is probably what should have been done months ago.