Professional Realtor or "Control Freak"?

George-  That's interesting.  In New Jersey we have to call the listing office in order to schedule the showing.  We never call the sellers direct unless they are listed with a MLS only type brokerage and the instructions are to call the seller direct.  Although some agents take that a step further and make all showings through them, which usually means more hoops to jump through and less of a chance you'll get your showing.  So, I do see what you mean.

George, in our area they go through Centralized Showing Service, a third party company, unless other instructions are on the MLS sheet. We don't need control freak Realtors.

This is very bad for the seller.  Too bad you aren't working for them.

We call the listing office here and seller's phone numbers are never listed anywhere.  Some agents  will only post their cell phone number on the yard sign and MLS listing and that is very frustrating when they cannot be reached and I need to show a property!  It is so unfortunate for the sellers, you are right George.

Here in Northern New Jersey it is a mixture of owners and lisitng agent phone numbers to call to make an appointment.  Depends on the seller's circumstnace is the way i always do it when listing a property.   

Our MLS has  spot where the sellers name should be listed and it is required by our MLS to list the name. I get a kick out of the agents who put "care of L/A" in this field.  Not sure what they are trying to prove. I can click on the tax information button and get the owners name! 

Some agents are so fearful that another agent is going to "steal" their clients!  Bull!  All we really want to do is show the property! 

George - We have similar problems here in NH and with the market glutted with listings the seller agents who block showings because it is not convenient or they are busy doing something else are just losing potential sales and frustrating buyers and their agents. The big thing in this type of market is for the sellers to allow all showings in order to get their homes sold. I don't believe that most sellers realize that their agents are doing this.

My MLS requires the seller's ohone number. And if the seller requires no phone number, our MLS requires the sellers to provide a handwritten a letter stating they understand the problems this can create, like your situation.

It really frustrates me when I want to show a property and I can't get in touch with the listing agent and there are no alternatives.  In this type of market I say make the property as easy to show as possible.

Hopefully they don't make the same mistake twice. Second impressions are hard to come by.