How About I Just Knock on Your Seller Client's Door to Get an Appointment

In Maryland a few years ago, showing agents contacted sellers directly and I found it very efficient.  There was much less delay in scheduling, no necessity to wait forever for one broker to call back before we could schedule other properties.   Sellers also could simply say "2:30 is better than 2:00" and we could go from there, rather than plaing phone tag back and forth on some time change.  

Most brokers here in northeast Tennessee have warm, friendly and efficient office staff who do this expeditiously, but the other extreme is offices that don't have anyone available.  

While we're griping, may I complain about listings of vacant houses that say they're occupied.   Granted we have to tell the broker we're showing, but it's much simpler to schedule our route if we know which ones don't have us making a seller leave home maybe longer than necessary on the change we're running a little late.  

Related - there's reluctance to have two showings at the same time, which I don't understand - as seller's agent, I'd like to create the sense of urgency of having two buyers looking at the same time.  

It sucks when you have to try to explain it to your interested buyers too.  I just don't understand....

I would not knock on the door.  I would be very polite about it and explain I had not been able to reach their agent.  Ask if they have another number for him.

Boy do I hear you, Charita!  That is a big pet peeve of mine and I agree with you that if the agent doesn't work weekends great, but for many people that is when they can look so they need to figure out another way.

PS  I don't agree with Betty Jean, sellers might wait but buyers may be in from out of town just for a short while and I've found they aren't all that patient!

I may be off, but I still answer the phone or return calls for showings of my listings.

But, your buyers are under no obligation to the Realtor Code of Ethics...just sayin...!

Hi Charita, I thought that only happened in Florida.  I have always said I just need to open Weekend Ralty Inc. and only work 2 days per week and clean up!

Exactly! It's so frustrating when you have to hound, hunt and diligently pursue a listing agent to see a property. It's ok to take a day off, but do have a plan for agents to show your listings if needed. I just spent 3 days tracking down an agent for some answers after a showing that went pretty well. It's hard to believe when you have a potential offer, you would wait to get back to people.

We have the "showing time" feature in our area.  I call it the easy button.  It is free with our MLS subscription and it includes feedback.  I am amazed at the number of agents who don't set it up.  It is especially good for vacant properties.  It eliminates the time-wasting run around.  I don't like some of the centralized showing services used in my area, especially when you have to go to a website and sign in with a password.

Taking care of you seller includes setting up appointments for showings.  If you don't want to do it, ask your seller to have their number placed in MLS so they can do it themselves.  As stated above, sellers will find out if you are not taking your phone calls because buyers and their agents will contact them directly.

these are the kinds of agents that we all want out of our business ... I am on the local and state board of directors and al kinds of committees and this comes up all the time .... nothing will change until people bring up ethics complaints against these agents .... 

now imagine when you get this kind of no response from agents that have short sales and you are trying to call them to get an appointment for an interior bpo .... really ... you don't care about your client and or your commission?   ... and than they wonder why they can not get a short sale approval ... 

anyway .... good luck to ... and we all share your pain

Being in this business we are pretty much on call 24/7. OK maybe not 24/7, but most of us are online everyday, so returning an email should not be a problem. Good Luck.

It's very frustrating when you cannot reach the listing agent to ask questions or schedule an appointment. I remember contacting an agent who provided me with the access information only for me and my client to arrived at the property, but could not get into the screen door.  It took days before the agent called me back, but my client was willing to wait and actually put a contract on the house.

It just ratchets up the frustration when you can't even get in the door to see a listing, especially when you or your client are already excited about it. Maybe this agent's broker will set him straight. Good luck!