I Fired My Agent Because He Told Us 2 "Drive By The Listings First Before Viewing."

If you have a good relationship with your buyer and they decide to toss in a home in an area they had no desire of living in and it's higher than their price range, they yes, I have asked them to drive by. She did and was OK with the area so we met at the house the next day. 

She loved the home, ddin't want to believe the house could sell for so much - because of the neighborhood- and then decided not to write an underpriced offer when there were 4 other offers being written- A good choice no doubt. 

When she finally realized rates are low and that's where the "good deal" is, then she'll be ready to buy a home. Right now, she's still trying to breakd down everyone's price....

I am happy to drive Buyers to any home they want to buy. That said with gas at $4 per gallon I ask tenants to do a drive by first and if they find one they like then we go see it together. Since you make so little on a lease I don't see the value/payback on showing every lease home in person.

Very tiimely post and from the comments...I think many agents agree that often suggesting the 'drive by' is a necesssary step, espcially with the soaring gas prices.  If I have a buyer with a list of 20 or 30 homes, especially when first starting to work with them, I get it narrowed down very quickly and/or ask them to do the drive bys.  It's easier to have this type of conversation now as the higher gas prices affect everyone.

I agree with Lyn #20.  However, if I have a qualified ready to gobuyer, then we will drive away.  In a winter Haven like Az, we also get a LOT of lookey Loos and to them I suggest they drive the areas I suggest and if they are interested then we will go look inside.  Many don't want to spend the time to come to my office and meet and get the BB agreement going and to get all their personal information.  To those, I give a list and all the contact information is for me.  Yes I will probably lose some but  at least half aren't really buyers anyway.  If they are serious, so am I.

Sorry, but I do sometimes ask buyers to drive by first! I live in an area where there are remote locations ie: 10 miles from the highway, but 60 minute drive-ove a single lane wooden bridge that gets shut down every year for repairs, etc....I send them out there to make the drive first, to see if they are willing to do that drive every day. If they are then I will happily go out and show them the homes they want to see! In 12 years, I have only had 2 clients take me up on it! The other scenario is for "investors" and I use the term with quotations meaning people who think they want to be investors and buy the cheapest home out there and the farthest away! Sure, I will show the home, but only after they make the investment of seeing if it is something they would consider first! Other times, there is no question: pre-approval letter and we are out looking at homes. It all depends on the situation, in this business there is no one size fits all.

I totally agree with you. Suggesting a drive by isn't out of the norm for me and a lot of my serious buyers do it on their own because they want to see the neighborhood for themselves before even looking at homes.

As with most things in life, it always depends on unique situations. I have suggested that a buyer drive by, if the home is not available to show right away, or near their office, or they have other concerns. But not in exchange for working.

I have clients that will drive by or see homes and call me because of interest.  Although I did not send them out on drive bys it's a good perk for me when showing in my area.  Not many buyers of this type out there however.

Hi Greg, I ask buyers all the time to do drive bys.  Marion County is larger than Rhode Island (although not Texas lol).  With average prices at $75k, we attract a lot of people looking to retire where it is cheap.  However, where these homes are they will not live.  Better they see the neighborhood and spend their $4/gallon than mine.

I guess I'm one of the guilty ones that get fired.................NOT!. Truth be known I often suggest that a buyer/shopper take a drive through the neighborhood by themselves without an agent yapping in their ear the whole time just to get a feel for the neighboorhood. I don't ever remember getting fired, In fact they've usually ended up thanking me for giving them some space and I ended up with a deal.

Agents should be honest with clients when it comes to showings, territory and the properties.  Anything but is bad business!

I've always encouraged driving the neighborhood and the surrounding area because it's L3 and there are many instances where homes were purchased in very undesirable neighborhoods. 

I have clients who do drive by on there own and then call me.  But I like to go with them and show them.  Don't want to loose control of the situation.

I work in 3 areas (DC, MD, VA) that range from sleepy suburbs to gritty urban areas.  Most local buyers come to me with a few areas in mind and have done their own reconnaissance, including driving by different homes and through different neighborhoods, visiting open houses, etc.  Most are happy to drive or ride theior bikes past a home that I suggest might be one they'd like.

When I have out-of-towners moving in, however, I will do neighborhood tours that sometimes don't involve looking at the insides of homes at all until we have narrowed down to a few neighborhoods they like and can afford. 

There is usually a lot of sticker shock when people move here from lower cost areas and the home that looked great on the Internet might be next to power lines, the train tracks, or other things they find undesirable.  Anything research I can get them to do on their own, however, keeps me out of discussions that could result in a violation of fair housing laws.  I'd rather pay for gas than a fair housing violation anytime!

We do the "drive-by" in our office on our huge-screen monitor  We are able to weed out about 70% of the properties that were found by the buyer that did not come up in our searches because we knew they were not appropriate.  Saves time, gas and aggravation.  But, if the buyer is adamant about seeing one we don't think will work, you better believe we go with him.  Otherwise we lose him.

I've bought 8 homes and I've thankfully never been told to drive buy something before they'd take the trouble to show it to me. I would fire a real estate agent for that unless there were extenuating circumstances (like they knew it was on my way home from where we were).

I've had clients that drove by every home before they called me to view it.  Even though I didn't specifically instruct them to do it I loved it because they weeded out a lot of homes we didn't have to go to. -Kasey

I realize this is an old post but I have no problem asking buyers to drive by first. It weeds out properties in areas that they have no desire to live in. Not only that, it's prevents the scenario in which I make an appointment, the seller goes out of their way to get the house ready, then I show up with my buyer and they don't even want to get out of the car because they don't like the location. Sometimes it's as simple as pulling up the property on the aerial map and then asking the buyer, "Do you realize that house backs up to the railroad tracks?"