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Are you kidding me????

By Kim Darling

Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Westland Realty BRE# 01864461 BRE#01322859

November 18, 2009 04:40 AM

Well, I'm going to vent!!! I just got off the phone with an agent in a completely different area who has listings in our local area. Not the first time to see this through the years, but now they have the nerve to list properties in our market and NOT include them in our local MLS where we can access them. I had a client insist there was a home on the market she wanted to see. I checked everywhere, except driving across town for 30 minutes to drive by the house. According to the tax records it went to Auction so I knew it was going to be bank owned soon. I figured it was in the pre-listing stage. I have been checking our MLS daily for it to come up and it never did. I was just talking to another agent friend of mine and telling her about how I just couldn't find this house. That's when she told me that this has happened to her. So I got on Realtor.com, and found the house. After calling the out of area brokerage 8 times, I finally got a receptionship who gave me the agents name and number. I got through to her to find out she had multiple offers and that I couldn't view it or submit anything.

I proceeded to tell her how she needed to join our board and at least put listings she takes into our MLS so that we, as Realtors, can assist our clients. I, we, look bad when our clients find a property and we aren't able to assist them in getting the proper information to them.

Maybe it's my fault, I don't think of Realtor.com as a reliable source of information for searching for a home as an agent. I don't spend time searching for new listings there, I pay my dues and I assume our MLS has the most up to date and current information.

The agent had the audacity to tell me that her seller doesn't mind, really? The banks don't mind you not marketing the home correctly???? They don't want the most money possible for the home they are taking a huge hit on??? This home was severely underpriced and from what I can tell from Realtor.com, was on the market for quite a while. I think this is ridiculous. Local agents should be given these listings and I think the banks need to spread the wealth. They need to stop giving all their business to just a few. They can't handle it, they don't do it well, and we all end up frustrated and looking bad in the public's eye.

Well, I guess the good thing is that I learned something today, and next time I will know to keep digging, because maybe there are homes out there I don't know about. Wow.

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Deborah Bremner

John Aaroe Group - Los Angeles, CA

Hi Kim;

Ultimately, real estate is a business of relationships; broker to broker, agent to agent, bank to agent, etc. The reality of a 2.0 world is that buyers are accessing information from all resources, including Realtor.com, Trulia, Realty Trac, Foreclosure Radar, Zillow, etc. It is our job as Realtors, and as exceptional Buyer Agents, to subscribe to every resource necessary to obtain all information available to service our client. If we are unwilling or unable to do so, we need to step aside, because someone else is right behind us who is willing to go that extra mile.

Would it be nice if other agents made it simple for us? Of course. But their duty is to their seller, the bank, and not to us. It's time for us to stop complaining about what we don't like, and realize that if a buyer is willing to dig to find the right home, and we have been hired to assist him, we must be willing to work at least as hard as he is. That's why we are paid as well as we are.

Ultimately, the only option you have is to educate where you can, and be the kind of agent you wish ohers would be. Take the energy you are putting in to venting at this other agent, and move your business forward instead.

Good luck!

Nov 18, 2009 04:59 AM

Bob & Carolin Benjamin

Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ

East Phoenix Arizona Homes

This happens too much-- as well as out of area agents listing homes with amenities that do not even exist -- such as community pool when there is none, or that there are horse facilities when there are none for miles and miles. Obvious the agent has never even been to the home in cases like this.

Nov 18, 2009 05:16 AM

Kim Darling

Keller Williams Westland Realty BRE# 01864461 - Fresno, CA

CRS,GRI, "Your Home Team" Fresno/Clovis Homes

Deborah-

I have no problem working hard or going the extra mile for my clients. It has been my experience that much of the information on those sites that you mentioned is outdated and inaccurate. I rely on our MLS and use that because, first of all, we have rules, regulations and ethics we must follow, which benefits us as agents and our clients. We cannot leave a home Active for two years after it has sold!!! Unlike some of the sites you mentioned. Technology should be making our jobs easier, not more difficult. I do put all my listings on these sites and they are valuable to the general public, but I don't think it is the only place a listing should be. I don't think the sellers know that agents are short cutting and not subscribing to the local area agents MLS so that all those agents who are working with qualified buyers have access to these listings. I think the agents who are "shortcutting" and not subscribing to the MLS are the ones who need to step aside!!!

Bob and Carolin-I couldn't agree more!!! We are the local experts and know particular neighborhoods and how to market the homes to reach the most potential buyers and get the most money for those sellers, whether they be traditional sellers or banks, we have a fidiciuary duty to market their home to as many potential buyers as possible!!!

Nov 18, 2009 06:10 AM

Gary Woltal

Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX

Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Kim, your story of the other agent reinforces how some agents treat their sellers so unprofessionally in not "fully" representing them with adequate exposure. Oftentimes the seller does not even know they are not getting the level of support another good agent could give them.

Nov 18, 2009 11:24 AM

Chris Ann Cleland

Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA

Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

Kim: I have a hard time relating to this one because our MLS area is HUGE. But in an area with more MLS systems, I can imagine that there could be mega frustrations.

Nov 18, 2009 11:56 AM

Gary-I can't imagine the bank knows that they withheld it from our local MLS, the one its in is in the bay area which is not anywhere close to where local people here would search for a home. I'm amazed how the banks decide who to list these properties with. Wish I had a way to let them know about the marketing of this home and lack of exposure it had.

Chris Ann-Our MLS has over 3,000 agents and covers a wide area, but where they listed it was so completely out of the area, that's why it's shocking to me. So it never occured to me. Property doesn't even have a sign up. Our tax records still show the previous owners, so it never occured to me, it was listed 200+ miles away in the Bay area, when we are in Central California. This is definitely not a standard practice around here. California is working on a Statewide MLS system, but it's been experiencing a lot of bumps along the way. We are probably 12-24 months away, at the least. A lot of politics involved!!!

Nov 18, 2009 12:09 PM

Are you kidding me????

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