Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a few fellow agents. One of them was discussing how he ensured his sellers did not see the buyer's agents contact information when the home was shown. CSS, Centralized Showing Service, allows the Listing Agent to customize what the seller can see when feedback reports are sent to the seller. I know quite a bit of Realtors who intentionally adjust what the seller can see when feedback is given to the seller.
I see both sides of it. So let's discuss the why.
1. There are some home sellers who have a Realtor/listing agent who think it's acceptable to call each Realtor that shows their home. They either don't know that this breaks protocol, or they don't care. They think the best way to sell their home is if they are completely involved. Knowing this, your average agent will likely withhold the contact information of the buyers agent, but ensure their seller still gets all the feedback as it is submitted. Some agents actually do not submit feedback to their sellers at all. The fear is that some buyers agents enter in bogus or unhelpful feedback which will automatically trigger confusion and sometimes anger by the seller. To prevent the unnecessary headaches - all feedback is withheld, but typically summarized by the listing agent at a later time.
2. Some listing agents request that buyers agents "leave a business card when showing." I'm not one of them. Unfortunately there are Realtors who will leave their business card in places that they shouldn't. There are also some agents who will create and "leave behind" business cards that are custom tailored just for this opportunity. One time I found a bigger than average business card in of my listings that was actually a stand up business card that was left on my sellers night stand. My client was not impressed as she was in sales herself. The card promoted the Realtors "discounted services."
In any event, if a seller requests the names and phone numbers of agents who have shown their home, it should be provided, without hesitation. If I were selling my home I would probably want to know who was coming and going and I certainly wouldn't be pleased if my agent refused to give it to me. A listing agreement clearly identifies what the seller responsibilities are. One of them is to not attempt to sell the home themselves or to sign a listing agreement with another real estate brokerage while currently under a listing agreement.
In 11 years of practicing real estate I have never had anyone ask for a list, but I have been asked "who was the last agent in my house." Our Supra lock boxes are helpful as they can reveal when the key was removed and from whom. One more reason to avoid combination lock boxes if at all possible.
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