How to Frustrate Buyers and Alienate Buyer’s Agents

You know I also see the flip side of this.  Homes that are listed as 3 bedrooms, but have 4.  Homes that are listed with 2 car garage but have 3.   This is because some Brokers just pull stuff straight from the tax records and do not even look or think.  I shop for homes like this for my client - it is like finding gold.  

Tni:

Saying a home has 4 bedrooms when it only has 3 is a lie, pure and simple.  Last time I looked at the code of ethics lying about a listing is a no-no.

This is why I review the tax records and google maps before I show a home. If there is supposed to be a pool, there had better be a blue blob in the back yard when I pull up google.

I see the extra bedroom pop up more often than I would ever have thought it would. That dishonesty/misleading is just not worth upsetting a potential buyer. Simply a waste of time.

I'm over here by Gene's reblog.  Great post.  Well written and concise, and so so true.  Agents are doing it in hopes of getting more people through and having someone fall in love with it - but if it doesn't have their criteria it is just going to be another home on their list of "no".  I love your point about the sellers getting frustrated about their home continually being shown with nobody wanting it.  How discouraging!  -Kasey

Tni, last Monday night I drove 15 miles to show a buyer a condo that advertised a garage. We get there and it's a flipping carport! I did tell the seller we wanted a garage and that the listing showed it had one. Maybe he'll get on his agent's case. I think the agents are more at fault than the sellers. It's the agent who enters the MLS data and description, not the seller.

Oh, how frustrating it is to pull up to a 3 bedroom that's really a two bedroom. And of course, it's priced like a 3 bedroom. I found that most agents are just lazy and don't actually look at the info pulled in from the Realist Tax. Or they have an assistant enter the info and they don't check behind them to verify it for accuracy.

It is amazing to see what some listing details seem to stretch as the truth. It does no one a favor, it makes the buyers upset and wastes the Seller's time. I try to preview as much as I can, but as you said, it's been a very busy market, so sometimes it's not possible.

Showed a so-called 3 bedroom home where the 3rd bedroom was in the basement in the furnace room - yep, furnace right next to a bed - no closet, big ole furnace/utility room.  Fortunately, our MLS has an anonymous complaint button and you best believe I used it!

Great post, we all have seen these misplaced descriptions on mls.  It is frustrating to say the least.

Gene R. has found the silver lining in this for his buyers, but Wrong is Wrong! I'm in the camp with Janine L. - but isn't it a shame we have to police our fellow agents to keep up the standards of our profession? We also have a complaint button on our MLS and I use it.

This happens far too much. Is there a way to report this to the local MLS so the listing is removed until corrected?

Hi Tni, my pet peeve is with the agents who do not properly classify mobile homes in the MLS so your autmated searches end up sending these out to buyers who clearly do not want them.

There have been lots of replies mentioning the waste of the buyers' time, but only a couple have mentioned the waste of the agent's time and gas, and his diminished competence in the eyes of his buyers. I have recently showed a 2-bdrm listed as 3, and previewed another listed as 1.75 baths that had a toilet in the basement furnace room and a utility sink in a nook off the hallway. I went round and round looking but not finding a tub or shower in the labyrinthine basement, and later called the agent and was told, "my husband has an explanation for that," but I didn't bother to get it. Another agent lists his fixers and teardowns with such hyperbole ("just needs paint") that I'm probably not going to waste any time on sorting his wheat from his chaff.

Unfortunately only we agents can get this cleaned up.  I hope that Agents are listening.  I effects us all and really makes potential buyers mad and they will immediately dis-qualify a home that is over hyped.  "What else will they try to hide" is the general comment.

There have been some issues around here with build-outs in basements that were not permitted and not in tax records, and they have come back to bite the buyers because either the appraiser when it was purchased or they themselves (along with their agent) did not properly evaluate the property.  How distressing - doubly so for someone who a few years later MUST resell and can't get the appraisal to come in (and therefore be mortgagable for the new buyers).  And, not to be outdone, the agents who list a double-wide or single-wide as a ranch so more folks will be included to look, and list the construction as frame/mod or mod, not manufactured.  Yet, the MLS has not enforced any listing rules, MFRs are still listed as SFR, sometimes as both and sometimes even as commercial, company-identifying information which is not supposed to be in photos is creeping in more and more, and public/tax record information is ignored in favor of creative writing.  Policing all this can be a full-time job, it seems.

That's why I typically review the aerial and birdseye maps (including flood plains and wetlands), public and tax records, and any prior listings that are still in the system before we go traipsing out to a property.  If there are extra bedrooms or a porch appears to be in the square footage or there are other issues, I am able to point them out to my buyers and describe the problems that could ensue in getting mortgages, getting building department approval after the fact or, if they are so inclined, purchasing as is and then years down the line trying to re-sell without correcting problems.

And while we're on a roll, what about the listing, taken well before a seller moved out and left it in disgusting - DISGUSTING - condition, that puts it in excellent condition?  Hasn't been lived in for several years now, clearly is no longer "excellent".  But the bank thinks it is, and it is a short sale now.  Has the listing agent ever gone in since it was vacated?

Ok, rant over on that part.  But one more thing:  What about the appraisers who miss a whole bedroom and tank a mortgage application - that was one of my absolute favorite fights.

Taking a deep breath now.

Hi Tni ,I couldn't agree with you more.I don't think lieing is the best thing to do.Eventually we will see through it .Thanks for this wondeful blog.Keep being the best Santa Maria Short Sale Agent.

Hi Tni,

What a fantastic post. Really well-written, and you made some excellent points. Thanks for sharing this. Keep up the good work as a top Santa Maria short sale agent,  you really know what you are about and I wish you more success!

Great points, but there's not any real black and white answer to this.  There's a very thin line between a listing agent's fiduciary duty to paint the house in the best possible light within the MLS description in attempt to get the best possible price in the shortest amount of time, and the requirement to provide a clear, and accurate picture of the property's condition.

I don't believe in fake staging unless it's disclosed, and I don't believe in saying there is a pool if there isn't one...I think those things are obvious.  If it has brown grass, you shouldn't be painting it green in photoshop, but I do believe you should crop the picture to remove as much grass from the photo as possible.

Its our job to draw attention to the positives, not lie about the negatives.  However, I'm certainly not going to advertise a FLAW in the house.  Does any agent say, "This home has a very small master bedroom, ugly wall paper in the master bath, and terrible neighbors." No, but the argument could be made that's a "clear and accurate representation of the property".