|
| I'm discovering that's is possible to tell a lot about an agent from going to open houses. Here are some things that make me cross an agent of my list--and some that made me add them to it. Feel free to add your own.
Bad agents:
Me: (shaking head incredulously) How did she (the listing agent) come up with the price?
If you're not making the effort to present the house well for someone else, you probably won't for me either. 2. Doesn't make sure the house looks good for open house. Yes, I realize it's technically the owner's responsibility, but you need to be a better coach. I've seen vacant houses with weeds in the beds, cobwebs on the windows and trim, and without heat or air turned on sufficiently in advance to make the house comfortable for showing. If you ignore this stuff, you either don't have the attention to detail that will market my house in the best light, or you're lazy. 3. Leave before the open house is over. Yes, I've showed up at open houses 15 minutes before the end and sign is gone, door is locked. Someone who comes late and leaves early...not who I want working for me. 4. Watch TV, talk on the phone, or text while people are walking through. No, you should be selling. OK, I'll balance this out with good ones.
2. Have lots of info about the house to answer questions. One agent I saw had a map of the land showing proximity to neighboring houses. Our agents had before and after photos of our house to show buyers who said "this was built in 1994?" so they could talk up all the upgrades. 3. Stay late. Our agents had an appointment across town right after our open house, but stayed another 15 minutes because a buyer was lingering and asking questions. Any other insights or experience to add? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| I think agents are "people" oriented, and they get lonely and dispirited on slow open houses. But I do not go to open houses to meet people. About a third of the agents I meet blabber at me while I am trying to think about the house. If I ask how old is the X, then the answer is either a year or lack thereof, but it's not meant to be a conversation starter. I also hate agents that are all about appearances and don't know or care about things like easements or drainage. I hate the ones who say "I'm pretty sure you could have horses here." I'd have to be really stupid to rely on that, and it just makes everything else they said suspect. I wish I could say I had an agent that found me a great deal or helped me word the contract to my advantage, but not yet. |
|
| First of all, a good agent will HAVE an open house for you. A bad one will put you off. We had 2 different agents in the past year and a half. One refused to have ANY open houses. The other had an open house within 2 weeks of our signing the listing agreement and a second OH 4 weeks after that. A good agent knows the internet and knows how and where to promote your home; a bad agent just puts the MLS listing up and figures he's done his part. One of ours had our house on MLS, on Craig's list, had targetted ads on Facebook aimed toward the kind of people who were most likely to be interested in our home and neighborhood. A good agent gives you help knowing what things will appeal to buyers--a bad agent will come in and tell you how nice your house is. Guess which of our 2 agents sold our house? in 6 weeks? a direct result of the second open house he held for us. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Buying and Selling Homes Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.