Ok, so I met with her Thursday. Before we started to talk about everything I wanted to take a tour of the home. It was a very nice home. I would say about 90% had been completely remodeled and upgraded including the kitchen, bathrooms, living and dining rooms. The only room that hadn't been touched was the master bedroom. It only needed some paint and holes patched from some old photos that were now in a box.

So now we are sitting down at the dining room table. I start asking her some basic questions before even pulling out any paperwork or notes. My first question to her is: "Why do you think your home hasn't sold in nine months?" I know when asking this question, that I will usually hear one of three things: First "I don't know" which can sometimes be an honest answer. The second is "Insert either Excuse, Blame, or both here". The third is to blame the agent for everything, which can sometimes be a valid reason.

I wasn't shocked to learn that she was blaming her agent, however I wanted to know all of the details. This is where I found out, I would be totally shocked.

When she originally listed her home with her old agent, she told him several things. First was that she wanted it priced at what he thought he could sell it for. If it didn't sell in a few months, she would consider dropping the price. Second, she had no problem paying a 6% commission if he would market the property, do open house(s), etc. Third, and finally she asked for a lockbox to be installed so anyone could see the home anytime she wasn't available to be there.

I was shocked that she actually told her agent this. I came to find out her best friend had just sold a home and she recommended these things to her. That isn't what shocked me the most. Here is what her agent told her.

He priced it correct (probably the only thing he did correctly) at the time. He was more than happy to take the 6% commission and promised to market the home in a local homes for sale magazine and newspaper, and hold at least one open house a month (which he never did, and I know this because she had the paper and magazine that he said he was going to advertise her house in and it was never there). Third, he told her that he didn't have a lockbox and that they were too expensive (he said about $250, when the most expensive is less than $100). However, he said "I will be available to show it at a moments notice. All I put on the MLS is that, if possible, they give an hour notice".

So now I pull out the MLS sheet that I had printed out and highlighted on. She was shocked to discover that there was almost no description, the commission was wrong (2.0% for the selling agent, not 3%), and he wanted 4 hours notice to show the home, and only put 2 photographs on the MLS. Needless to say she was furious.

So after I calm her down a bit, I start telling her what I am going to do to get her home sold. I do advertise in the local magazine (I showed her my page), and I do sometimes run advertisements in the newspaper (also showed her copies).

After my whole spiel she signed the listing agreement. The sad part is, I see this all the time. Are some agents really this lazy?