Restricted showings have always been a part of real estate and many times can even be appropriate. For example, a client works all night and has to sleep during the day or there are dogs on the property that need to be removed. There can be lots of reasons, but when the market gets really strong for sellers, this practice goes way up.
Last week, a buyer asked me to see seven homes. I immediately started trying to make contact with the listing agents to make appointments to view the homes and I followed their rules. Six of the listings had instructions to call, text or email to make an appointment. Three were listed on a Monday with first showings limited to Fri., Sat, and/or Sun., with very limited times. I was able to get an appointment with the non-agent contact right away. I received no responses from any of the agents until a house would go pending. Interestingly, three of the homes went pending BEFORE the homes were even available for a showing. We were restricted from viewing five of the seven homes.
In another case, we were able to view a home. We even wrote an offer on it. I called, emailed and texted the agent several times and NOTHING! The listing agent never even acknowledged the offer. Was it a bad offer? It was a cleanly written offer and above asking price, but who knows? Really, though, how long does it take to text, "Yes, we received your offer." It is the right thing to do.
- Standard of Practice 3-8 REALTORS®shall not misrepresent the availability of access to show or inspect a listed property. (Amended 11/87)
- Standard of Practice 3-9 REALTORS®shall not provide access to listed property on terms other than those established by the owner or the listing broker. (Adopted 1/10)
- Standard of Practice 3-10 The duty to cooperate established in Article 3 relates to the obligation to share information on listed property, and to make property available to other brokers for showing to prospective purchasers/tenants when it is in the best interests of sellers/landlords. (Adopted 1/11)
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