I would have new photos professionally taken. I would email her the photos CCing her broker. The content of the email would state you expect these up replacing all old photos within 48 hours, or you will be looking to terminate your agreement with her as she obviously is unable/unwilling to market your home in a manner that will lead to a sale. Make sure you send with an email receipt.

Now you are clear what you expect, her broker is on her butt, and your (good) photos will be up. Remember no one wants to sell your home as badly as you want to sell it, so be vocal, proactive and get it done.

BTW, how long did you sign with this agent? And, what is your market like? If you are very slow, the pictures really will not be helping.

At this point I think I'd take a paper copy of your emails and pictures before and after and make an appt with the Broker manager. Show him the difference in pictures and tell him or her in person you want out of your contract.
That you realize there is a lot of inventory and agents have a lot of listings to keep track of but you respectfully have to look out for yourself.
Meanwhile I'd be looking for one of those hot realtors people here talk about. Unfortunately I still haven't figured out how they find them. Call every agency and ask who has the highest numbers? Did she give you a discounted commission? Really new at the job? Take on too many listings? Whatever - time to cut your losses.

Can you link to the MSL?

Thanks for the fast replies. :)

I would rather not post the listing right now - but will do my best to answer a few of the questions above. :)

I foolishly signed on with her for 6 months (I have used her before, my last house sold in three days, not because of her, but we were lucky) - I expected better from her since I have dealt with her in the past. I would however expect to be able to get out of the contract based on what's been going on though. We will see.

She is not swamped with too many listings to handle, maybe 4 or so. She is also not a new realtor, she's been at it for quite some time, though usully she has lower end listings than mine.

I think buyers everywhere right now are more cautious to buy, I realize it's a tough time. I wouldn't say we are in a slow area though. Maybe taking a bit more time than last year with the media reporting on the "crash", but prices seem fairly steady.

I'm just very frustrated right now as you can imagine. If the pics were perfect from the get go, and no one came...then I would think about lowering it just a *bit* - however how would I know when all I have had up is a crummy listing for a month that doesn't represent my property well, kwim?

I'm just taking it all in, and then will decide what to do. I really appreciate the opinions from you all. :)

Thanks again :)

I had one of those hot realtors & I experienced more realtor errors than anyone I have ever shared experiences with. I finally decided to just let the listing expire, but the lucky guy did find a buyer 5 months & 2 weeks into the 6 month contract. He had a dual agency situation & got a $30,000 commission. But I'd never recommend him to anyone.

About the pictures, my realtor had a few pictures. When my cousins visited they took some digital photos & photo shopped them to enhance a rather shabby house. I sent these to the realtor, which he used. I don't think that the photos made any difference in the eventual sale. The property was unique & potential buyers needed to view the property based on their needs.
Good luck
Susan

Apparently she has some issues going on...whether they are at the office or at home it doesn't matter it's affecting your bottom line.

I'd fire her for not properly representing the property which you have up for sale. That's just plain laziness using old photos.

From another realtor: Ask for an unconditional withdrawl. Using pictures from your house when it was listed previously is unacceptable. Look around at other agent websites, see what agents are making great presentations on their listings and call one of them!

Thanks for your replies.. :) It definitely confirms the way I feel about things!

Linda117 - Thank you. I wouldn't have known what term to use, that helps a lot. Can you please tell me, how should I go about this? When I call the office, who should I ask to talk to? I have no clue who is in charge, who to contact etc.

I have saved the emails and listing, and will print them out. The proof is right there! I'm not looking forward to this..but it has to be done.

Thanks again all. :)

Timetosell, you actually have a contract with the broker, not the agent. Read your contract and detail why you want out. Sometimes the broker will allow you to break the contract; sometimes they assign you a new agent.

I would like to offer some advice on your NEXT contract - do not sign for more than 90 days. If you have (heaven forbid) another bad situation, you aren't tied to the realtor/broker forever.

If you're in the states, and will be looking for a new agent, check into remax. You also may want an enhanced realtor.com listing.

Roselvr:If you're in the states, and will be looking for a new agent, check into remax.

Even if you're not in the states, RE/MAX is in 67 countries.

Timetosell, Talk to the broker. Show him your emails, let him know you have been trying unsuccessfully for over a month to rectify this situation. (If he realizes you have been patient and you're not just someone who likes to complain about nothing, he will be more open to letting you out of your contract". He may want to give you to another agent. If thats the case, interview that agent, find out what her stats are, (How many houses a year does he/she sell, how long have they been in business, are they part time or full time, have they been in business long enough to know what to do in a slower market/buyers market, etc.)Then find one of that agents signs and ask that homeowner if they are happy with him/her. Do they return your calls, are they attentive to your needs and requests. Not all top producers are good at the customer service end of things. Sometimes they are just good at marketing the property. If you want a balance, you need to do your homework.

Thanks again for the replies. :)

I will be calling the broker today. Not looking forward to it naturally - I hate conflict. :( But it has to be done.

I want out of the whole thing - I don't want to try another realtor with their agency. This agency also hasn't done a good job of advertising my property, so I feel no reason to stay on with them. All they did was print two tiny ads in the back of the paper..no picture or mail outs anything. I'd be happy to pay for the cost of the (useless) ads.

New pics I wasted my own time taking, are still not up yet. I will let you all know what happens after I call!

Who should I ask to talk to - the broker in charge?

Thanks :)

Out of curiousity may I ask why you are recommending REMAX? Sell me your pitch, inquiring minds want to know.

:)

Remax has their own site with listings, photos and details. And it's a good site. A lot of people actually go to it instead of or in addition to realtor.com to search for properties.

Every major Real Estate company has a website with pictures and details. Lots of them have mapping features and other extras. Here are a few.

Century 21

Coldwell Banker

Windermere

Keller Williams

ERA

Prudential

I personally in my area have found one remax agent's site to be the best. She mentioned that all the agents there had the enhanced realtor.com listings. I also love the search feature on their site.

I can only just echo what others have said, but I feel for you! That must be very frustrating. I don't understand why taking good pictures is not something that realtors should be expected to do. To me it's part of marketing a house, to have good pictures of it. If the realtor can't take nice pictures (it's not that difficult; I've learned to do a decent job and I'm no photographer... if I were a realtor, you can bet I would make it a huge priority to learn to be VERY good at it) they should hire a professional but I think it should be part of the realtor's expense. After all, you are paying them to market your house - why should you have to take your own pictures? That's YOU marketing your house, not your agent marketing your house.

Not that I disagree with how you handled it at all. I would have done the same thing in the same situation -- took new pics myself and asked that they be posted. The fact that even this hasn't been done is more than enough to warrant a switch. Good luck to you!

Thank you akkw :)

I called the broker, but she wasn't in, so I left a short message telling her I have some concerns. When she calls back, I plan on having her look at my listing, and all email correspondance I have had with my agent over the past month.

Did I forget to mention this agent had a month prior to listing to get things ready? I like to be well prepared, so I contacted her early. So frustrating! :(

Nothing wrong with being prepared as I did the same. The lady I picked was the one I was going to use to buy another house. I liked the way she emailed me just as I was ready to email her, maybe 2 weeks, instead of being up my butt or not at all.

You'll have to tell us how it went. Good luck

Time, I don't know Roselvr's reasons for recommending RE/MAX but Im happy that she did and I suspect that she was happy with her agent. I am a RE/MAX agent. There are quite a few differences, I will give you a couple.

All the websites of the companies are not the same. RE/MAX actually has a search that competes with Realtor.com. This is fairly new, (within the last 6 months) and is already blowing realtor.com out of the water in some areas. Its like an MLS, it shows all listings from all companies, however, RE/MAX listings get shown first :) A few companies have since tried to do something similar but Im not sure how successful they have been. I know RE/MAX spent 30 million dollars to launch this program.

The differences with RE/MAX agents are:, for the most part, they are all experienced agents. New agents typically don't do the RE/MAX system because you pay an upfront desk fee rather than loosing half your commission to your broker. A REMAX agent pays that monthly fee, but retains 95% of their commissions so it pays to be productive and successful. How that helps you is, they have a real vested interest in getting your property sold. In traditional real estate, it doesnt cost the agent anything if you don't sell because they don't have to put any money out of pocket. When your house sells, they get paid. They haven't spent money on advertising, their broker has. This is the reason its hard to get an agent to do what you want them to do. Their broker has to approve it, and most likely you are on a rotating schedule for ads. A REMAX agent doesnt have to answer to the broker, they do their own advertising, negotiate their own commission, have their own market base and run their business as their own. In essence, its like running a business within a business. You will never hear, "my broker won't allow me". It is the agents business and as long as they arent doing anything illegal, they are free to be as creative as they want.

Im not saying that traditional real estate offices are bad, just that RE/MAX agents have a track record and would not be a RE/MAX agent if they are dabblers or part timers in the business.

I hope I haven't offended any of the other agents, I just think this system is the best for buyers/sellers and agents. There is no dead weight in a RE/MAX office. Agents dont' want to spend $$$$ in fees every month to "hope" to make a sale here and there. It keeps them productive.

Thanks for explaining Remax Linda117, that was very informative and interesting. :) I am impressed with that information.

The broker hasn't called me back yet. And it's 5 pm here...so who knows what's going on. I just wish she would call so I could get this all over with!

I will definitely follow up on here and let you all know what happened. :)

I think I'd drive down if it's not too far. You don't want to stress about this all weekend.

Linda, thanks for your post! You gave me a lot of info also.

Where I'm at, I've found the web site the best, the other big name companies web sites don't seem to touch this one. I also like the national remax site. Years ago I wouldn't recommend remax, I never would have thought to use them now and wouldn't have, had I not been looking for a house also.

Time to get back to painting...

Well I have an update - but not a good one!!

The broker sent me an email which was patronzing and vague - she did not address the problems whatsoever. It was totally absurd!!

I think I have been too kind with my words. Which lead her to believe I could be patronized..but that isn't the case..I can only be nice for so long! So I send a reply which was very firm and spelled everything out clearly. I told her I want an unconditional withdrawl.

I also emailed the realtor to let her know what is going on...so she doesn't call me to try and work it out, she had chance enough!!

I also got advice from another forum that I frequent, and someone told me to contact the county board of realtors, so I will be doing that Monday.

I took down the sign. Haven't received another reply from the broker....so hopefully the board of realtors will help me out here.

Wish me luck that this is over soon...I need to sell this house so I can get a new start on life. We are looking to move out of state and that is stressful enough in itself!!

Thanks again for all the posts, and I will update again when all is said and done.

:)

I think that in addition to an email I would fax and / or certified mail a signed copy that you want out. This will give you more of a leg to stand on if you need it since you signed it

Good luck!

Well, no one can force you to sell your home. One other avenue is to check your contract to see how long you have to wait to list again (either FSBO or with another agency) if you decide to withdraw your house from the market.

Another alternative, if all else fails, would be to have a good real estate attorney send a letter pointing out where there were in breech of contract with you (if indeed they were) in order to terminate.

Good luck :-)

One other avenue is to check your contract to see how long you have to wait to list again (either FSBO or with another agency) if you decide to withdraw your house from the market. .

Unconditional means, Unconditional.

What I meant Linda117, is if the broker will not allow timetosell out of his contract unconditionally, he can take it off the market. No one can force him to sell. If that is the way he must play this does he have to wait until the current contract's expiration date to relist with someone else or go FSBO? Or, can he relist immediately after taking his house off the market for one day whether or not the broker releases him unconditionally?

We've had a number of people on this website that the broker will not release. Most have just ridden it out frustrated and unsold.

does he have to wait until the current contract's expiration date to relist with someone else or go FSBO Or, can he relist immediately after taking his house off the market for one day whether or not the broker releases him unconditionally?

If the broker doesnt give him/her an unconditional withdrawl, he has to wait until the listing expires to list with someone else. He/she can do a FSBO, but would still owe the commission to the broker if she/he sold.

Time, you should go into the office and speak with the broker. By doing it with an email, it makes it too easy for the broker to say no to you. You have a lot of documentation that this agent was not doing his/her job. You have given ample time for them to get it together. Chances are in your favor that the broker will let you out of the contract. I would recommend that you do not get loud or nasty, they will keep you in the contract just on principal. Just make a clear and convincing argument that you have tried and tried unsuccessfully to get the agent to respond to you. Also, don't go to the board of realtors before speaking to the broker. If you do this or threaten them, they will not let you out. You signed a contract, they can hold you to it.

I often browse remax's site because it works better than realtor.com and has more information.

They also have that nifty hot air balloon.
I really like balloons so that alone would make me choose remax.

This makes me think about real estate contracts a bit. Shouldn't a contract have statements in it about what service is provided? And if not provided that you can break the contract? Are the ones written by RE companies and given to you to sign all one sided? Maybe consumer's should start asking to pen in condiitions - "respond to problems with property advertisements within 4 days"
etc. etc.
Its crazy that your just stuck! Another example of how RE is a monolith that just doesn't seem to care about what the customer wants. They know what you want. They give you want they think you need.

They know what you want. They give you want they think you need.

Some agents and/or companies offer guarantees. In all fairness, they give you what you need because they have the experience to get the house sold. If you think you know what needs to be done better than your agent, you should do FSBO.

good for you for firing them!

I think sometimes finding a competent, on the ball Realtor is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The realtor I worked with on a rental house was often staggeringly drunk-trying to just get a rental agreement signed was a nightmare, so I feel your pain!

I hope you find a better realtor, maybe look at the listings and pick one that has great photos and an energizing comment section about the houses?

Just for others who may be in a similar circumstance, I think Timetosell made a mistake by leaving the message for the broker. She should have handled all of this in person from the beginning. Leaving the message gave the broker time to discuss it with the agent and come up with excuses and "fixes" to the problem and, perhaps, even put some of the blame on the homeowner. Had she confronted the broker and caught the broker offguard, the broker would have probably been embarrassed and upset with the performance of the agent when presented with all of the evidence and been unable to answer for her behavior immediately. I also think that taking the sign down is a bad idea. The broker will use this to say that Timetosell is the one that is making it difficult to market the house. I would leave the sign up until this matter is settled with the broker, because technically they are still marketing your house since they have not agreed to the withdrawal yet.

Any update?

linda - thanks for that description about REmax. I knew that agents kept their commission, but have a desk fee to be a REmax Agent. What I didn't know was that the broker controls and pays for advertising in other agencies. I always thought those expenses came out of the Agent's pocket no matter for whom they worked.

How educational! I know of many people who weren't using Remax were told by their agent that they fork over the money for advertising. There are many realtors on this board and elsewhere that complain it costs them alot of money to have a listing because of all the advertising expenses, etc. From your description, it appears they don't.

Come to think of it, I've been lucky because I bought and sold my first home using Remax, not knowing the things you pointed out. When we sold during our divorce, the RE was our neighbour and gave us a break on his side of the commission, explaining clearly that the buyer's agent would get their own percentage share. Fair enough. He gave us a sliding scale based on how long it took to sell the home.

We didn't use Remax in Flagstaff b/c we found an awesome realtor there who helped us find a place to rent before we bought. She was the one we called when we did buy and then when we sold. She was the ONLY one who would help us find a place to live before we bought. She was a wise woman because the others didn't see a buying commission out of helping us find a place to rent temporarily. All she really did was refer us to some rental companies. That was enough for us to see she was helpful. The other agents who didnt' see us as a commission from them lost any chance of commission completely when we bought a few months later and sold 6 months after that.

The agent we'll be using to sell this home is Remax. It makes me feel a bit better about the whole process knowing that he will have a higher degree of freedom than an agent from other broker offices.

What I didn't know was that the broker controls and pays for advertising in other agencies. I always thought those expenses came out of the Agent's pocket no matter for whom they worked.

This really varies from office to office. I work for an agent. At our office the broker does pay for open house ads and puts all the listings in a rotation. When the office has lots of listings (like right now in this slow market) an individual house may only be advertised once a month or so. If an agent wants their listings advertised more often they pay for it. The agents also pay for any extra advertising, like Realtor.com, those free real estate books at the grocery stores, etc.

How educational! I know of many people who weren't using Remax were told by their agent that they fork over the money for advertising. There are many realtors on this board and elsewhere that complain it costs them alot of money to have a listing because of all the advertising expenses, etc. From your description, it appears they don't.

Sparkels, perhaps my description wasnt fair to all agents. I was speaking in general. It doesnt mean that "all agents" who arent RE/MAX don't pay for their advertising. There are some that supplement what their broker does, because it simply isnt enough and they want to do a better job for their clients. Terriks is correct, each office varies on what they offer to their agents, and it even varies from agent to agent. In a RE/MAX office, the broker pays NOTHING to advertise agent listings, this is all done by the agent because of the structure of the RE/MAX system. I hope this is clear, I certainly don't want to minimize what any other agent does. Its a tough business and an expensive one even without advertising listings.

Thanks for clarifying, linda.

Terriks - what do you mean by putting the OH listings in rotation? Does that mean that some OH's are not advertised if the agent had an OH the week before, for example?

In regards ro the REmax website, I tend to prefer other websites to look at homes because the REmax website requires registration with a phone # and email before you can view room pictures and virtual tours. Many other websites from other agencies do not require this.

Nancum, In this part of the country, (*East Coast), people do not have to register for the RE/MAX site. I know I was searching in the NC area and was shocked to see I had to register to search their site because one of the things we advertise is that "you do not need to register". The agent called me, I told her I was just curious about prices in the area and was not searching to buy, and she never called me again.

Terriks - what do you mean by putting the OH listings in rotation? Does that mean that some OH's are not advertised if the agent had an OH the week before, for example?

What I meant is that the broker runs all of the OH ads AND puts each listing in a rotation for non-OH ads. So if a seller doesn't want an open house their ad will probably only run about once a month if the agent doesn't pay for additional advertising. We have several agents in our office that regularly place quarter or half page ads which can run hundreds of dollars each.

I have never been to the site because there is no local REmax office where I own or am looking

Couple of buzzwords for the OP, Breach of contract, default. Gave the agent notice a month ago. Ample oppotunity to cure

Send it registered as a real letter not as an email. Put the sign back up otherwise you are in breach

Saphire, where are you. There are RE/MAX offices everywhere. Are you just talking in your town?

"...I complained again, she adds.....pictures from the OLD listing - before I bought it."
That's against the copyright laws in my MLS.