Bitting My Tongue

9 years ago

Two months ago hubby and his ex decided to list their co-owned home. They interviewed realtors, but she insisted on using HER friend. YIKES. I must say his ex lives in an independent care home and is almost blind. She could not SEE the listing. Since I am his second wife with no say in the matter, I didn't even look at the listing.

There were 13 blurry photos including 4 duplicates mostly of the outside views and one of the pool. One photo showed a side view of the kitchen bordering the dining area. Not one photo of the grand staircase, Master suite, Piano Room, Family room, bedrooms, baths or high end appliances. She wrote a very a brief description for a 1.6 million dollar listing. My husband questioned the realtor and she said she intended to hire a professional photographer.

He got immediate pending offers. People needed to sell their homes first, so the "friend" realtor opted not to fix the listing or hire a pro to photograph the home. They had pending offers, so why bother?

My curiosity got to me last week, and I looked up the listing. I was in shock. I sent the Trulia link to hubby's sister who is a licensed RE agent in another state, and she was petrified with shock. We both got on his case, and today the photos are being taken. My husband wrote up a paragraph describing the home in a much better light. The realtor has fixed the listing word wise, and new photos go in tomorrow.

One offer on the house was signed a week ago, but the people backed out this week just prior to escrow.

This "friend" realtor has kept a beautiful listing from being presented as it should, and now it's been on the market for two months.

So this morning, the couple that backed out want back in, but my husband has a clause in the contract that states his house will stay on the market and other offers might be accepted until theirs is in escrow.

My fingers are crossed that the new look of the listing will bring in new potential buyers, but since it's already been on the market for 2 months, I fear people will think something is wrong with it.

Anyone with this type of experience? Will the two month lag scare buyers off?

Sigh.

Comments (7)

musicgal
9 years ago
Oh my goodness, desertdance- how sad. We listed with a friend twice before gently extricating ourselves from that situation. She actually asked us to use someone else because she thought we were asking too much. She was shocked when we got nearly our asking price after we found another agent. All in all, our home was on the market for around two years. Again the difference was that Agent B sent a professional to take photos, and had a good reputation and networking relationship in our small town. We wanted to help our friend by using her, but she had no faith in our asking price- and it proved to be an awkward position.

The two month lag is unfortunate, but I don't think it will keep the house from selling. It makes things harder, I think, because people perceive the time lapse as a reason to make a lower offer- and we experienced just that situation, until we had a mini bidding war.

Hope everything works out well for your husband, and that they have more offers and leverage soon.
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
9 years ago
Well, you have made me feel a little better musicgal. I'm probably more frustrated than some would be because I was in sales and marketing my whole life, and every home I've sold, I have interviewed agents to let them sell me on themselves and their marketing methods.

Now I'm feeling helpless watching this beautiful home not receiving the marketing it deserved, but we shall see if anything changes after this weekend with the new photos.

Thanks for the encouragement!
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gyr_falcon
9 years ago
That is rough, but at least the situation has been corrected. People shouldn't be scared off of a listing for it being 60 days old. Those that viewed the listing with the old photos, but didn't go to see the house, may now have a different impression of the house and want to schedule a viewing. That happened to me while searching the listings when we were shopping; it took a few minutes for me to realize it wasn't just a listing that I'd overlooked.
lazy_gardens
9 years ago
Friends don't let friends drive drunk sell their house. Even if they are a realtor, you need someone you can FIRE if you have to.

That's horrible, but I hope it hits escrow with no glitches.
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
9 years ago
Lazygardens, this is why I bite my tongue. Realtor was HER friend....... I got no say. Just watch and shudder.

But you would think a RE professional would do an exceptional job marketing a friend's home. This one did not. Hubby's ex is so blind she will never be able to read the listing, so she won't know what her "friend" did.

Sad, but I bite my tongue.......

Sad.
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
9 years ago
So the photos got updated, house is in escrow, but now buyer has done an inspection and is back to her original low ball offer of 1.3 mil. Listing is 1.595 mil. They are OK with selling for anything between 1.525 and 1.50 mil.

This is the buyer from Hell, in my opinion, but I say nothing... She has "health" issues, and has stated over and over how much she LOVES the house, but worries about this and that. Who needs this drama? They had mold remediation a year ago and it's fine, but she won't accept that. YIKES!

My DH is leaning toward canceling the escrow. I'm behind him 100%!
Mmmbeeer
9 years ago
We had two buyers that gave us some red flags right at the beginning when it would have been easy(er) to back out. My husband is such an honest, decent person and thinks everyone else is so he wanted to press forward with both sales. One went through with it and the other backed out. We had other buyers in both scenarios that I wanted to go to, even if the offer was less. My husband now says that we should have cut our losses and gone with my gut feeling at the time. I think we both learned our lesson. Some people think every stage is a new opportunity to renegotiate the deal. It ain't worth the headache, IMO. I feel for you and would love to find out he cut her loose and got an even better offer!