Should Seller's Video Record Property Showings For Spin Free Feedback?

Video Recorded Property Showings = Priceless or Shameless?

“All truth passes through three stages:

First it is ridiculed.

Second, it is violently opposed.

Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Schopenhauer

Your favorite retail stores do it.  Video cameras surveil and monitor shopper your behavior, interaction and experience.  Schools, hospitals, restaurants, bars, casinos, friends and corporations use it too – video.

Imagine the quality of feedback the listing agent and their seller would receive if showing appointments were monitored by video equipment?  You could see and hear how prospective buyers react – live, unbiased and unspun.  No more begging the listing agent for fuzzy feedback, no more spin, no conflicts of interest, no BS, simple straight facts.

I know.  You might be thinking I’ve lost my mind.  At worst it’s a violation of privacy, at a minimum it’s rude and icky.  I get that.  Let me ask you this, while showing property, do you ever allow your clients to video tape or photograph the interior of the property during the showing? Is this a violation of the owners privacy?  If you do or have, you have one foot in door.  Did you ask for the seller’s permission?  Should you?  Why or why not?

Guess what?  Virtually every retailer in America has cameras rolling.  Why?  To minimize theft?  Of course.  And, do you think that savvy retailers don’t analyze their video data for more than theft.  Do you think they might monitor traffic patterns, shopper behavior, employee performance, consumer comments and more? Of course they do.

Do you think that there are sellers across the country who have installed video equipment to record agents showing, with or without the knowledge of their listing agent? I do, how about you?

Showing Agent Feedback Is Next To Worthless

I wrote about property preview/broker open house a while back. Many jumped to the conclusion that I was an idiot.  Maybe so, maybe not. Let’s move on, suspend your judgement just a few paragraphs more.  Please.

Asking, begging and pleading for showing agents to share their impressions of their buyer’s impressions, and their professional opinions about your listings yields next to worthless insight. Whoa!  Hear me out.

I understand the seller wants it and you try to provide it.  I understand all the motivations and expectations.  I think Showing Agents Feedback is next to worthless because it’s shared third hand.  I imagine you’re familiar with the joke where a story is whispered into one persons ear, then that person whispers the story in another persons ear and on and on.  When the last person in line tells the story out-loud, it’s not anywhere near the same story. Most of the time, showing feedback is like that.

What If..