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Are You Representing Your Seller When You Tell Me Their House Is A Dump?

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Homes By Lainie Real Estate Group 0488429

Ok, so you didn't come out and say it - but did you really have to? When you list a home, put it in the MLS with little to know description and 4 crummy pictures of the exterior - what would you think that means?  I'll tell you what I think it means - the house was too shabby for you to even bother putting pictures on the MLS.  What if your shabby is not the next person's shabby?  You just let down your very own seller by not giving THEIR buyer the information they so desperately desired. 

     

Thanks for the shot of the window unit, btw!

Take good pictures!  if you're not good at it - hire someone to do this for you.  If you're not that good and don't want to hire it done, just try your best and for goodness sakes put the allowed 25 pictures in the MLS!  Show that little fixer upper off!!

Comments (6)

Alan Kirkpatrick
Austin Texas Homes - Round Rock, TX
Alan in Austin

Lainie:

AMEN! Great post. I think a lot of listing agents would be shocked to see how many of thier listings never even reach my clients because they have too little information and crumy pictures. 

Nov 08, 2011 07:54 AM
Lainie Ramsey
Homes By Lainie Real Estate Group - Pottsboro, TX
Lake Texoma Expert

Me too!  How can I send my client's their listing when I don't know if it will fit their needs? I need pictures!!

Nov 08, 2011 08:06 AM
Dick Greenberg
New Paradigm Partners LLC - Fort Collins, CO
Northern Colorado Residential Real Estate

Hi Lainie - That's the perfect formula for a "Next!" response as we go through the list of available properties to decide which to show our clients. Either it is a dump, or the agent is criminally lazy, which means you don't really want to do a deal with him. There are lots of homes out there to choose from - this approach will fail to serve the seller almost every time.

Nov 08, 2011 08:28 AM
Lainie Ramsey
Homes By Lainie Real Estate Group - Pottsboro, TX
Lake Texoma Expert

Dick - Exactly!  Agents should use the same approach we expect our clients to use.  I tell my seller's - buyers can come up with a million reasons not to buy your house - let's try to eliminate as many of those as possible!  And here you have the agent throwing up road blocks.  Yeah - tells you a whole lot about what it would be like to work with this agent.  Crazy thing is - I went on to the next house (also listed by the same agent) and there were only 2 pictures!!! AUGGGHHHH!!!

Nov 08, 2011 08:36 AM
Judith Sinnard
SMARTePLANS; Houston, Texas - Houston, TX
The SMARTePLAN Lady

Ah, I used to think like you until I recently got a different perspective. The home in San Antonio was an estate sale, only 4 exterior photos were done because a firm had been hired to come in and host an estate sale of the contents of the house. The interior was filled with tables of items for sale.  The interior could not be photographed until the estate sale was concluded and a cleaning crew had cleaned the home.  The house was under contract within 7 days, so they never got around to shooting the interiors at all -- they didn't have to.  It is highly likely in your case here the agent is just a plain doofus -- but then again there may be mitigating circumstances, too.  

Nov 09, 2011 10:35 AM
Lainie Ramsey
Homes By Lainie Real Estate Group - Pottsboro, TX
Lake Texoma Expert

Judith - you might be right - the house may very well just be a dog... I'm fairly certain though that, in this case, the agent is a doofus!!  :-)

Nov 11, 2011 02:40 AM