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Realtor Communication with Sellers - What's too little or too much?

How detailed do you get in relation to your communication with sellers that you represent? Do you let them know every last detail of how you are promoting their property? For example:

"Hello John,

Today I went out to your property and took interior and exterior photos. I wrote up several variations of a detailed description on your home and then added your listing to the local area MLS. Additionally I used a website called Postlets to distribute your property data to about a dozen classified based sites like Trulia, Google Base and even Craigs List.

Tomorrow I'll be sending out an e-mail blast to my current list of potential buyers to make them aware of the propety and will also be sending out an e-mail internally to my office to make other Realtors in the office aware of the property as they may have a potential buyer in their own leads."

::: The Next Day :::

"Hello again John,

Today I sent out an e-mail to my list of potential buyers and let the Realtor's in my office know about your property. I've also gone ahead and scheduled an open house for January 17th from 9am to 3pm and have been promoting that through several online social networks specifically geared toards area locals.

Behind the scenes I've started preparing some of the documentation with basic information such as property details and of course ownership information. When we find a buyer interested in the next step I'll be that much more ready to quickly and easily finish the paperwork and proceed."

::: One Week Later :::

"Hello John,

To date I have had one direct inquiry about your property from my website, one from Trulia.com thanks to my promotion through Postlets.com and none through other Realtor's in my office. For the two leads I have recieved so far I've sent additional information via e-mail and through a printed PDF file via postal mail.

One of these interested buyers has said they will be at the open house on January 17th so I've scheduled a follow up call and e-mail for the 14th to remind them about the open house."

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Is there such a thing as too much information or not enough? What exactly do you disclose during the process of working with a seller in today's market when it can take months to sell a home now?

I ask this as a home owner because I work with clients every single day and some expect the absolute nitty gritty details about what I do and some simply don't care to know the details so long as what I do is working.

Posted by John Jones on 12/31/2008 07:34 AM

Comments (8)

Level of Communication With Sellers in the Home Selling Channel

realtor disclosure to sellers, seller question

8 Comments on Realtor Communication with Sellers - What's too little or too much?

DEC

Up front when I take a listing I tell the homeowner I usually call once a week but if they wish me to call on a different schedule let's get that ironed out on the front end. Of course if there is some noteworthy event then I will call more times in the week. I believe that the client should help set up the expectation of how they wish to be communicated. Best wishes for a great 2009!

To manage this issue, we offer a 24.7 web site - actually teh back end of ours, to the seller so that can see what's been done re marketing and advertising, who showed it, when and feedback. We are inputting the data, and deciding what does in to the visible site. It is a win-win. Then we have an office person call at a specific time once a week to assess everything and if need be, the agent them calls if additional explanation or hand-holding is needed.

Interesting too much info. usually sellers complain about not enough. But I can see the point Nice post and definitely something to think about

I rely on sending emails once a week. I find it easier than playing phone tag. I guess not everyone wants email but a live voice. This is something I get up front.

I ask my sellers how often they would like to be contacted. For most, once a week seems to work.

So what I'm getting so far from existing comments is that most Realtor's will ask the sellers input in relation to how closely they want to follow the progress of their properties marketing and exposure. Additionally it seems like a lot of the direct communication might be digital be it an e-mail or restricted access to a webpage on a website with updates.

I'll add on to this question in hopes that I'll get additional feedback from existing commenters and new commenters...

How does a Realtor manage seller expectations in relation to communication when they have 30 or so listings and individual expectations by each seller they represent? How do you manage a large volume like that without coming up with a set structure w/o seller input?

JAN

I don't have that problem, John. I'd love to have that many listings at once. A contact management system (e.g., Act!) might solve your problem.

JAN

It varies with each client. Since Internet marketing is what I sell and gets me most of my listings, I communicate via e-mail. It usually takes me a couple of days to get a listing posted on all the sites I promote and I send an e-mail with links so they can look at it and give feedback. Initially I send status reports about once a week depending on traffic and inquiries. When I get feedback, I forward it via e-mail. Some I may call depending on our relationship and their Internet savvy.

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