Often real estate listing agents fail to undertake their due diligence. In real estate, due diligence is often synonymous with sales obstacles.
For clarity, a sales obstacle is an external factor (think a dam) that keeps the sale from happening unless addressed. The goal for any salesperson AKA as listing agent is to remove as many sales obstacles or dams as possible.
With the removal of as many external factors from preventing the sale, the listing agent and just as important the buyer’s agent must focus on the internal sales objections by the buyer such as “need to talk to the wife,” “unsure if I like water haul,” etc. The result of this failure to undertake due diligence is that potential offers fail to materialize. Let me explain.
Earlier this week I had a potential client interested in vacant land here in Kingman, AZ. This 40-acre parcel was north of Kingman even though the map showed the listing in a different area. The listing agent was from another county to the south and only put in a map from Google earth on the MLS listing.
I called the listing agent and asked about road access. The listing agent said there was a road. I asked if he drove on that road and the listing agent responded “No, I have never visited the property.” Beyond the mapping of this property on the MLS from southern AZ was in error, I knew this property had no road access and why real estate agents should stay in their lane.
Had this information been known from the beginning a lot of time could have been saved. The good news I earned this potential client as a client and the now client asked if he could send me some sales referrals.
Another current client inquired about a rural property. The photos showed an off grid property with solar panels, but no photos of the batteries or the solar inverter. I contacted the listing agent who explained why there were no photos of the batteries.
Again, I asked if there was access to the outbuilding housing the batteries. Beyond the listing agent indicating it was probably a good idea to have access to that building, he said he would call the seller to learn how to gain access. Hmm, no photos of the solar batteries as well as solar inverter potentially turned off potential buyers.
As part of my due diligence, I attempted to secure permits for this same property from the county (not Mohave County) and without success. I asked the listing agent for any permits, and he informed me there were no permits. Wouldn’t that have been nice if the listing agent placed that information in the private agents’ remarks, especially as the property was on septic?
My third example was this same client inquired about another property in the same area. I called a different real estate listing agent again asking about permits since my due diligence research with the same county showed no permits. This listing agent did not have the permits. However, the agent made a phone call, secured the permits and emailed those permits to me. Having these permits on the MLS would have saved everyone time.
Competent listing agents will undertake their due diligence from securing permits, researching the property to having well estimates, HOA or POA information etc. Additionally, these same real estate agents will read the permits as well as all other received documentation. Sometimes there are surprises in the permits. These surprises could be additional sales obstacles.
To believe due diligence is only for real estate buyers is ridiculous (in my humble opinion with my years of sales experience) especially if the goal is to sell the property.
Graphic Courtesy of Pixabay.com
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