I notice this happening more and more in Humboldt County, California. The listing agent doesn’t want to give too much information about their seller’s property, whether we’re talking about vacant land or a home, unless the buyer is “serious” and willing to put in an offer.
Why dig a little bit more to provide comprehensive info about the property if the buyer isn’t going to make an offer, right?
So here’s my question:
- As the listing agent...Are you really wasting your's and the seller’s time if you provide a packet of information about the property for any buyer or buyer’s agent who inquires about your listing? And is a buyer who's asking more detailed questions not "seriously" considering the property for themselves?
As listing agents we have a duty to provide/disclose information about our seller’s property. We need to ask the right questions from our sellers from the get go and provide information to buyers and their agents who ask.
Personally I think it’s a worse situation to have a buyer not ask enough questions, put in an offer, get it accepted, find out something they don’t like about the property during the inspection period and back out of the deal. That waste’s everybody’s time – the lenders, the buyer’s agent, the listing agent and definitely the seller’s time.
Put yourself in the buyer’s position:
- Don’t you want to know as much info about a property you are considering putting in an offer on just to make sure there is not anything obvious that would make you change your mind?
I know I would.
What I try to do is create an informational packet to give to buyer’s agents or a buyer who calls on my listing, especially if they have a bunch of questions. And believe me most do. And it's easy. You spend the first week compiling info and then you can create a digital file so it's easy to send to agents or buyers who start asking more detailed questions about your listing.
A great thing to do at the beginning of the listing is put together a property profile packet, especially if you are listing vacant land:
Things that are good to included:
- A basic property profile sheet - acreage, water info (rivers, creeks, wells), septic info, zoning, lot size etc.
- Zoning information
- Aerial/Satellite image of property w/ parcel line overlay
- Parcel map of property
- Title information – info on easements Features and Amenities
- Any other information – ex: bathroom not permitted and so on.
Although a buyer might still back out of a deal after discovering a structural problem with the home after inspections, at least you are increasing your chances overall to work with a well informed buyer who is “serious” about purchasing your seller’s home.
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Jessica~so many listing agents forget what they were hired to do--and that is to sell the property! Their first responsibility is get as much of the information out to the public and try to attract the largest pool of potential buyers, not that one perfect buyer