Selling a house on today’s market is no easy task. My husband and I just canceled a Seller’s listing agreement with our third Realtor in eight months. It would be an understatement to say I am frustrated with the way things are going.
We have a great house to sell and we have priced it very fairly and competitively. The problem is not on our end. It is the sluggish market that has made it a tough sell. Having sold two other homes, we are both experienced and educated on how the process works.
Our first Realtor was a savvy, aggressive young woman who owned a small firm. The problem was, she was a better Buyer’s Agent than a Seller’s Agent. She was so busy finding homes for her Buyers, we had a hard time catching up with her. Days (not hours) would go by before phone calls were returned. She also was extremely disorganized which led to a lot of wasted time. After a few weeks, we realized it wasn’t a good match and we parted as friends.
Second listing agent was a laid back type of fellow who had been a top notch seller in his company. At the time we signed on to work with him, we didn’t know that he was “top notch” because of one sale worth millions of dollars. He was likable, but moved like a turtle when it came to following through with things. He got very busy working with a couple who came to see our house. They didn’t buy our house but our Realtor convinced them to work with him. He spent the next 3 weeks exclusively searching for a house for them. He finally found them a house but lost us as clients along the away.
My husband chose the third Realtor based on his longevity in the business and the 200 rulers, magnets and calenders the guy had sent us in the 23 years since we first met him. Problem was, this Realtor had a short fuse and it went off anytime he didn’t like what we had to say. As far as he was concerned, home owners should be seen and not heard. When he started screaming at my husband about our second request to remove something from the MLS house description that didn’t exist (please don’t say private yard…we have no yard at all) it was over and done with. My husband is a tolerant person but he will not stand blatant disrespect.
We need a professional who is attuned to a Seller’s needs and is committed to making this a good experience for all involved.
A friend of mine, a successful Realtor in another state says, “The Seller has every right to expect top notch service from a Realtor. They will be paying a big commission for the services and deserve to be treated right. If a Realtor doesn’t live up to a Seller’s expectations, they should absolutely make a change.”
We are following her advice and signing on with another Realtor. She was highly recommended and we like everything about her. Hopefully, this will lead to a happy ending.
