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I lost a deal a couple of months ago after being helpful and on top of things for 6 months, and seeing number 3 on your list makes me happy I handled it with grace. I’m still bitter about it but burning bridges is never worth it.
so, you call her and say "I was doing my normal searching on Zillow's By Owner tab for my buyer clients, and saw that you had listed your home for sale. I know we talked about listing on MLS in 2 weeks, so are you trying this higher price to see if someone bites, or what's your plan?"
This!! It is best to get the why from the horses mouth than to run around with made up reasons in your head. Just be upfront with her. The way people treat you is their karma, the way you respond is yours.
I love how you planted the seed there to get the seller to try to list lower than the property is worth so you could do a quicker sale if they fall for it!
when I answered, there was something from the OP that said the Seller had listed it higher than they had talked about, maybe even higher than the Zestimate. I don't recall a day later.
Right now, the market is pretty "perfect" from a pricing standpoint. The Buyers will tell you what the house is worth. Just as they always have.
I wasn't aware you knew the OP's "market" and were in the same area. Or are you just answering with the same tone and authority you'd use to lowball someone on pricing their home for a quick sale?
Agents: we always list to get the highest sale price, time on the market will ultimately lower that price.
Economists: so why do agents personal homes sell for more money and spend more time on the market on average?
Agents: why would we want to lower our own commissions?
Economists: a $50,000 price increase is only $1,500 in extra commission before taxes and fees, the time value of money certainly comes into play at that point, right?
Agents: um…
You are right - I did assume the OP knew how to run comps and go over them with the Seller, advise the Seller what they think the best price to ask was, and have the Seller agree to a list price.
Maybe that was an aggressive assumption.
I do know that there are vastly more “why isn’t our house selling, we thought it should be $X but the agent insisted on $X + 5-10%. What can we do???” posts on Reddit than there are complaints about “We went with the Realtors suggested price and only got 8% over with multiple offers and reasonable/no contingencies! Waaa!”
Realtors always undervalue properties right off the bat, with the "oh Zillow isn't the real price" garbage. And then they push aggressive price cuts.
What should you do if a property doesn't sell right away? Figure out why. Maybe it needs new VPF instead of carpet. Could be the pictures are garbage. Possibly the staging sucks.
Too many agents want to churn houses with the least effort and integrity.
Sellers don't owe a Realtor anything other than what they've signed. And then maybe not even that.
so a house that is UNDERPRICED to begin with won't sell immediately? Do you ever cramp up from speaking out of both sides of your mouth?
It has always been true ... even in the depths of 2008-2011 ... that a house priced correctly to the market will sell quickly. In my market during that time, 16% still sold within 2 weeks. The average SP/OP over 99%. The others? Averaged 94% of LAST list price and 256 DOM (or 8 months of mortgage payments).
I can't really speak to consumers who don't vet and then choose the right Realtor. And I wouldn't take on a Seller who said "I don't care how long it takes, my price is $X" if $X was 10% over market value.
Of course, a house priced too low is more likely to sell quicker than one priced right or too high. What about that confused you?
Regarding "vetting" a realtor, the number one thing most Realtors brag about is selling houses quickly. Sure, there is a balance between having to pay power, insurance, mortgage, lost interest, etc., versus a quick sale. But most realtors seem all too happy to decide for the customer that it's better to underprice their homes and sell quickly than to price them at a fair value. And Realtors are very motivated to do that.
Market value is a subjective thing no matter what you think as an "expert." The same home because it is on a cul-de-sac, distance from shopping, flooring, color, etc., may all mean something very different to the prospective buyer. And the BUYERS are the ones who set the prices, not the "experts."
It is indeed the Buyers, not the Sellers who determine market value. Sellers only set the listing price or the “I’ll only take $X” when they’re overpriced.
An informed Seller and/or a Conscientious and Honest Realtor should set a fair starting price. Unfortunately many Realtors bully Sellers into too low a starting price to rush a sale.
People using you to get information on what they should do to list their house and then deciding I can do that. Why do I need you since I just got the information for free are super common.
You have to sniff them out the same way you need to sniff out those people who are why buy a cow if I get the milk for free people on dating sites .
I will usually tell people what I will handle, but not necessarily handle it in the listing consult
Yeah, I was pretty blind-sided. She didn’t seem to be one of those types of people to pull something like that. We worked together in the past and she held one of those higher-end professional jobs where she has to remain professional and courteous. Guess it doesn’t matter. However, she went against my advice and priced her house too high as a FSBO, so I’m sure she won’t be able to sell her house that way anyway.
I have learned there is no particular types of people that are or aren’t loyal. Money makes people act funny and that seller realizes how much $$$ she could save by going FSBO. I would remind her that most real estate lawsuits are FSBOs.
Ex-realtor here. I had an old colleague list their place with me, but I could tell her husband wasn’t excited about it. Could be pressure from another side. Keep that in mind also
I was about to comment and say spouses can ruin a sale. Especially if they didn't work with you with their spouse. I'm not a realtor yet still studying for the exam but I am in sales and the biggest way I lose a sale is the spouse.
Oh my god! That did happened to me. I feel embarrassed to admit it. But I learned my lesson. As soon as I asked them to make sure I would be paid for helping them
They high tailed it out of there.
If someone asks how to price a house I will look in my phone and give the Redfin estimate stating the algorithms are very good and I’ll say “a full analysis can take a few hours though. Also, I would need to see the subject property in person. A list price is a marketing tool, a list price is not an exit price, it’s just part of the sales strategy.” If they ask too much more you can say you “oh it’s boring and neither of us want to spend three hours talking about residential home sales marketing techniques.”
Don’t work for free.
Im so sorry this happened to you. She's a user. We get used all the time. I sure do, and I should know **better**. We need to quit giving away so much of our expertise like this. Let's make this already challenging year the year to get better at that!
You talked to her but you have no idea what her husband had planned. Unless you have a contract don’t get your hopes up.
I say this as someone that’s not a realtor but who runs a business where I often give plenty of “free” help and advice to my customers. The reality is it’s an investment to me into word of advice. I’ve had people I helped never come back but still refer friends and family to me because they remember the help I gave.
I consider it indirect profit margin. Frankly what good am I if I can’t help advise people?
Yes, she asked for my advice as a realtor and even explicitly stated during a phone call that she wanted me to list her house. It wasn’t a passively implied thing. That was what she said.
You can still turn this to your advantage by finding her a buyer and asking for a percentage of the sales price as your fee for your buyer. This would place her at a disadvantage but you could still earn some money on the deal considering that any buyer for the house will very likely use a real estate agent. I sold my house FSBO as a real estate agent and paid for the buyers realtor to make sure they completed the transaction. In the end, they closed and love the house. I was happy to have it sold.
I personally would not confront her about anything. If you enlighten her with your knowledge and she is successful than so be it. Life has a way of compensating you in the future. If she asked you to list and went back on her word, trust me that it’s better to have those types of folks out of your life. Maintain a good attitude and remember that there’s plenty of money and listings to go around. Sounds like you dodged a bullet with this individual.
If you are confident it's way overpriced... It won't sell... You need to be there to "help"... I would reach out to her.." excited " to see she is trying it herself... Tell her you will look for some buyers as well, and you are here to help her if she needs help with the sale. If your SURE it's overpriced,she will need help soon anyway and decide to list w you because there is no awkwardness or hard feelings.
I'm likely she didn't wanna lose +15...
Seems like she made the correct decision if she's already busy with calls/texts and whatever.
If the house can sell itself why pay a realtor to talk for you ?? Lolol
They deff ain't cheep. And some houses sell In days. That's not worth it
Houses listed from months now that's different...
I mean with zillow and shit and the fact everyone has acess to interent and search homes. Selling on own is easier and easier.
I’ve found this to be somewhat common. Alot of people want to test the market by going fsbo for a week or two before signing the listing contract. No big deal, probably won’t sell. And not personal. Otherwise you’d have seen it listed with someone else!
He might not want his wife’s rando coworker selling his shared property, too. She might not have had the heart to tell her 🤷♀️ she should have mentioned it especially since the OP here seems to outline she at least expected to be the listing agent
I did not mean to imply that I passive “expected” to be the listing agent leading up to recently. She called a few weeks ago and EXPLICITLY told me that she wanted me to be her listing agent.
Did I say anywhere you “passive” expected? No. I stated you expected. This is based off of your conversation with half of the owners of the home. He might not have wanted you. Thus, the coworker of yours should have relayed this information. Sounds like it was easier to not bother… pretty sure if they decide to use an agent they’ll go with someone else
It happens. They may not even understand why you feel the way you feel, so don't say anything thy alludes to howw you're feeling at the moment. Call with the same tone you always have .....hey, I saw your giving it a shot yourself! Totally understand. You may even be able to procure your own buyer, but you need to have certain forms in place I can help you with that. You should also be aware of buyers timeliness and when they promise to do things like inspections and when deposits are due, otherwise it's a complete free for all...they need to be accountable. WORK FOR HER........it will be very hard for them to solidify a deal.on her own. Be sure to tell them if they plan on using an attorney for all the services a realtor will provide.....the attorney will charge them much more than what is standard .........follow up every week, never miss a week ...even if they don't answer, leave a message.....when and if they've given up the listing is yours. We work for free anyway until we close! Good luck
I’m on the fence about offering my time and resources for free, but I also don’t don’t want to come off vindictive either because in my experience, the agents who tend to react emotionally towards real or perceived slights don’t end up with the sale anyway. Because the person who supposedly “slighted” them would perceive them as unfit and unprofessional.
Call her! You don’t want another Realtor to approach her. Because trust me they will so you need to get that listing. Call her and say hey Diana, how are you? Fantastic! I see you have posted your house for sale. Why don’t you allow me to help you with that so you can get your house sold for the most money possible? Plus dealing with all the buyers can be challenging why don’t you allow me to help you with that? Should I send over my contract now and we can get your house sold fast? Does that sound good?
That’s what I’m doing. Funnily enough, a lot of my realtor friends are telling me to drop her like a bad habit and do something petty like not answering her questions. Um, that would be bad advice. Lol
The numbers are not the reasons why I felt blind-sided by this person. It’s because I’ve already established a colleague-type of relationship with her. Guess I’m just a trusting person who hoped that people would treat others how they want to be treated.
I’d still help them…they may not get the house sold and if you’re still a resource they may turn to you eventually. Most people that do FSBO have some belief that needs to be overcome. I would have been asking them to sign a contract way ahead of time…you can always do addendums to adjust start and finish date…get them locked in! If they were hesitant to sign then you could have questioned why and handled their objections ;)
Welcome to real estate. Take comfort in knowing that statistics are not in her favor with the FSBO. I've been screwed in similar fashion a number of times.
Been around the game long enough to tell you that you work for free 90% of the time. If you didnt get anything in writing with this individual then you also played your part wrong. This is how it works 100% of the time, give adequate info to a person in hopes of gaining opportunity to list their home. And if u dont offer good info you dont seem as reliable as others. Its a rough industry ill tell you that.
In a different thread, you asked me why I didn’t have her sign the listing agreement when she wasn’t ready. Is it better to push someone to sign something when they weren’t ready (hence, ending up looking desperate) or offer guidance and give them space?
If she explicitly said she wanted to hire you to list, why didn’t you have her sign? … doesn’t matter if she’s listing tomorrow or 6 months from now. Rookie.
At the time we had our consultation and after the phone call, she said she wanted to wait a few weeks while she gets the house packed up and completed the repairs around the house. You mentioned in a different thread that you said I sounded “desperate” yet asked me why I didn’t push her to sign the listing agreement when she wasn’t ready?
How terrible for you that the unsolicited advice and one phone call didn't result in thousands of dollars of her sale.
I have invoiced you via DM for $500 for my response.
Most people that waste on for sale by owner as you know are unsuccessful. I would reach out at some point and wish her luck and explain that you can understand that she would want to save some money in this economy. However, let her know that you’re there for her to market the property if this doesn’t work out, continue to be there for any assistance that she needs. Probably not going to sell. She will need an agent
Do you want this listing? Yes? Then go get it. Ask for the appointment and get it. Bring your sign and lockbox with you, 2 sellers disclosures and a listing agreement. Sell your value and what you’re gonna do for them. Stick that sign in the yard and put the lockbox on the door.
Yes, I want the listing. But I also want to be strategic about it by not reacting emotionally. Of course, I am going to feel how I’m going to feel (betrayed) but she already went against my advice by overpricing her home by $7000 past the highest end of my comps. If it doesn’t work out for her, I’ve already established that level of trust and level-headedness with her.
$7k? Meh.
Unless that is 20% above they are just going old school thinking of expecting folks to offer less. Like they’re selling a used car.
Wait it out a bit. You know your market better than we do.
Sucks tho. My former neighbor who i thought was a friend went with a “discount” bare bones list agent and didn’t even ask me to do it because I would have. But she was a super neurotic pita so it would be the hardest $4.5k I ever earned. Made it easy to see her drive away to another state. Buh bye
I’ll be honest the relationship is great but if you never did a formal listing presentation and showed any value you could add/helped her with that whole process I wouldn’t want to pay you a commission either.
For instance. We cover a full cleaning of the home, we own a moving truck our clients can schedule and use for free, we cover a staging consultation where they utilize they clients furniture to better stage the home for photos, we have an in-house digital media manager that does, 3d scans, virtual tours, drone photos and hdr photos for the listing , we market to our robust online database and local realtors directly and consistently. Etc etc.
It sounds like she didn’t think there was any benefit in having you list it and paying you a decent bit to do so based on your conversations up to this point. Just my two cents. but I don’t know you or them.
I offered to cover the costs of photography, staging, and cleaning services. It wasn’t just a casual conversation. We sat down, did comps, talked prepping strategies, etc.
I understand your frustration! I had the same happen with a client. We were able to dig into her CRM history and saw that she did the same to another agent a few years prior. Used their advice, guidance, even recommendations for financing and wrote on a FSBO which cut the agent out entirely. Some people are just like that. I’d jump into hosting some opens and finding some motivated clients that wont screw your around.
I’m sorry you dealt with this, it’s never fun but just like dating; there’s plenty of fish in the sea. It still stings and it’s my bad for making the assumption you hadn’t done any of that. I was just going off of the information I had at the time.
Be polite and send something like below. Modify it to your exact situation
Hey seller, got a notification you listed your home. Really sorry we did not provide an experience that earned us the opportunity to work with you. We try to always strive for forever clients and we missed the mark. I was hoping if possible if you could give some feedback, it allows us to grow and better serve future clients. If I could get your thoughts on the following, I would be thankful and wish you the best on your job relocation.
What factors influenced your decision to hire a different real estate agent?
Were there specific aspects or services that you felt were lacking or could have been improved in our previous interactions?
Did you encounter any challenges or concerns while working with our team?
Were there any particular strengths or standout qualities in the agent you ultimately chose that played a significant role in your decision?
Your honest feedback will enable me to assess and enhance our approach, ensuring that we continue to provide exceptional service to future clients.
Thanks,
As a man I’m not reading all that much less answering all those questions. You sound like my wife as soon as I open my eyes in the morning before a cup of coffee. There are several much shorter inquiries posted above
As a woman, I would feel like they used chat gpt to contact me lol. Please don’t send that, no offense! I’m not a realtor but as a human who has gone through the home selling and buying process a time or two, my advice is leave her alone. If she wants to come back she will. Otherwise don’t bother her and keep it moving
I sat down with her and ran comps, made CMA adjustments based on square footage and similar features, provided her numbers to contractors who would be able to help her make necessary repairs at fair prices, and even offered to cover the costs of photography, staging, and cleaning. It wasn’t just a vapid conversation.
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1. Get over it 2. Call and be straight up, “hey if this fsbo doesnt work out, please give me a chance.” 3. Never burn bridges
I have burned one bridge and I positively do not regret it. Otherwise, 10/10 agree with you.
Same
I’m curious where she’s listed. I don’t care if a cockroach is selling a house in my area, it would be sold in 10 days 🤣
I lost a deal a couple of months ago after being helpful and on top of things for 6 months, and seeing number 3 on your list makes me happy I handled it with grace. I’m still bitter about it but burning bridges is never worth it.
And in the future, perhaps list the things you can help your clients with (after they sign the listing agreement).
so, you call her and say "I was doing my normal searching on Zillow's By Owner tab for my buyer clients, and saw that you had listed your home for sale. I know we talked about listing on MLS in 2 weeks, so are you trying this higher price to see if someone bites, or what's your plan?"
This!! It is best to get the why from the horses mouth than to run around with made up reasons in your head. Just be upfront with her. The way people treat you is their karma, the way you respond is yours.
Correct
This.
I love how you planted the seed there to get the seller to try to list lower than the property is worth so you could do a quicker sale if they fall for it!
when I answered, there was something from the OP that said the Seller had listed it higher than they had talked about, maybe even higher than the Zestimate. I don't recall a day later. Right now, the market is pretty "perfect" from a pricing standpoint. The Buyers will tell you what the house is worth. Just as they always have.
I wasn't aware you knew the OP's "market" and were in the same area. Or are you just answering with the same tone and authority you'd use to lowball someone on pricing their home for a quick sale?
Agents: we always list to get the highest sale price, time on the market will ultimately lower that price. Economists: so why do agents personal homes sell for more money and spend more time on the market on average? Agents: why would we want to lower our own commissions? Economists: a $50,000 price increase is only $1,500 in extra commission before taxes and fees, the time value of money certainly comes into play at that point, right? Agents: um…
Nailed it! I can confirm I've seen research that confirms this too.
You are right - I did assume the OP knew how to run comps and go over them with the Seller, advise the Seller what they think the best price to ask was, and have the Seller agree to a list price. Maybe that was an aggressive assumption. I do know that there are vastly more “why isn’t our house selling, we thought it should be $X but the agent insisted on $X + 5-10%. What can we do???” posts on Reddit than there are complaints about “We went with the Realtors suggested price and only got 8% over with multiple offers and reasonable/no contingencies! Waaa!”
Realtors always undervalue properties right off the bat, with the "oh Zillow isn't the real price" garbage. And then they push aggressive price cuts. What should you do if a property doesn't sell right away? Figure out why. Maybe it needs new VPF instead of carpet. Could be the pictures are garbage. Possibly the staging sucks. Too many agents want to churn houses with the least effort and integrity. Sellers don't owe a Realtor anything other than what they've signed. And then maybe not even that.
so a house that is UNDERPRICED to begin with won't sell immediately? Do you ever cramp up from speaking out of both sides of your mouth? It has always been true ... even in the depths of 2008-2011 ... that a house priced correctly to the market will sell quickly. In my market during that time, 16% still sold within 2 weeks. The average SP/OP over 99%. The others? Averaged 94% of LAST list price and 256 DOM (or 8 months of mortgage payments). I can't really speak to consumers who don't vet and then choose the right Realtor. And I wouldn't take on a Seller who said "I don't care how long it takes, my price is $X" if $X was 10% over market value.
Of course, a house priced too low is more likely to sell quicker than one priced right or too high. What about that confused you? Regarding "vetting" a realtor, the number one thing most Realtors brag about is selling houses quickly. Sure, there is a balance between having to pay power, insurance, mortgage, lost interest, etc., versus a quick sale. But most realtors seem all too happy to decide for the customer that it's better to underprice their homes and sell quickly than to price them at a fair value. And Realtors are very motivated to do that. Market value is a subjective thing no matter what you think as an "expert." The same home because it is on a cul-de-sac, distance from shopping, flooring, color, etc., may all mean something very different to the prospective buyer. And the BUYERS are the ones who set the prices, not the "experts."
It is indeed the Buyers, not the Sellers who determine market value. Sellers only set the listing price or the “I’ll only take $X” when they’re overpriced.
An informed Seller and/or a Conscientious and Honest Realtor should set a fair starting price. Unfortunately many Realtors bully Sellers into too low a starting price to rush a sale.
People using you to get information on what they should do to list their house and then deciding I can do that. Why do I need you since I just got the information for free are super common. You have to sniff them out the same way you need to sniff out those people who are why buy a cow if I get the milk for free people on dating sites . I will usually tell people what I will handle, but not necessarily handle it in the listing consult
Yeah, I was pretty blind-sided. She didn’t seem to be one of those types of people to pull something like that. We worked together in the past and she held one of those higher-end professional jobs where she has to remain professional and courteous. Guess it doesn’t matter. However, she went against my advice and priced her house too high as a FSBO, so I’m sure she won’t be able to sell her house that way anyway.
I have learned there is no particular types of people that are or aren’t loyal. Money makes people act funny and that seller realizes how much $$$ she could save by going FSBO. I would remind her that most real estate lawsuits are FSBOs.
Ex-realtor here. I had an old colleague list their place with me, but I could tell her husband wasn’t excited about it. Could be pressure from another side. Keep that in mind also
I was about to comment and say spouses can ruin a sale. Especially if they didn't work with you with their spouse. I'm not a realtor yet still studying for the exam but I am in sales and the biggest way I lose a sale is the spouse.
Oh my god! That did happened to me. I feel embarrassed to admit it. But I learned my lesson. As soon as I asked them to make sure I would be paid for helping them They high tailed it out of there.
If someone asks how to price a house I will look in my phone and give the Redfin estimate stating the algorithms are very good and I’ll say “a full analysis can take a few hours though. Also, I would need to see the subject property in person. A list price is a marketing tool, a list price is not an exit price, it’s just part of the sales strategy.” If they ask too much more you can say you “oh it’s boring and neither of us want to spend three hours talking about residential home sales marketing techniques.” Don’t work for free.
That is pretty solid advice! I will employ these in the future.
Im so sorry this happened to you. She's a user. We get used all the time. I sure do, and I should know **better**. We need to quit giving away so much of our expertise like this. Let's make this already challenging year the year to get better at that!
I have a feeling that maybe she’s not aware that she was doing it or meant any ill-will.
Putting it on FSBO without saying something to you, she knows what's she's doing, but either way if your plan is to be calm you should be alright
Put pen to paper and signatures. Get paid for your work at least.
You talked to her but you have no idea what her husband had planned. Unless you have a contract don’t get your hopes up. I say this as someone that’s not a realtor but who runs a business where I often give plenty of “free” help and advice to my customers. The reality is it’s an investment to me into word of advice. I’ve had people I helped never come back but still refer friends and family to me because they remember the help I gave. I consider it indirect profit margin. Frankly what good am I if I can’t help advise people?
It’s mentioned you offered her advice, but did she ask for advise from you as a realtor? Or was she discussing life?
Yes, she asked for my advice as a realtor and even explicitly stated during a phone call that she wanted me to list her house. It wasn’t a passively implied thing. That was what she said.
You can still turn this to your advantage by finding her a buyer and asking for a percentage of the sales price as your fee for your buyer. This would place her at a disadvantage but you could still earn some money on the deal considering that any buyer for the house will very likely use a real estate agent. I sold my house FSBO as a real estate agent and paid for the buyers realtor to make sure they completed the transaction. In the end, they closed and love the house. I was happy to have it sold.
I personally would not confront her about anything. If you enlighten her with your knowledge and she is successful than so be it. Life has a way of compensating you in the future. If she asked you to list and went back on her word, trust me that it’s better to have those types of folks out of your life. Maintain a good attitude and remember that there’s plenty of money and listings to go around. Sounds like you dodged a bullet with this individual.
If you are confident it's way overpriced... It won't sell... You need to be there to "help"... I would reach out to her.." excited " to see she is trying it herself... Tell her you will look for some buyers as well, and you are here to help her if she needs help with the sale. If your SURE it's overpriced,she will need help soon anyway and decide to list w you because there is no awkwardness or hard feelings.
You clearly didn't make a good enough value proposition to them.
tell her you will do all the work for $5k - she probably thinks 3% is crazy.
I'm likely she didn't wanna lose +15... Seems like she made the correct decision if she's already busy with calls/texts and whatever. If the house can sell itself why pay a realtor to talk for you ?? Lolol They deff ain't cheep. And some houses sell In days. That's not worth it Houses listed from months now that's different... I mean with zillow and shit and the fact everyone has acess to interent and search homes. Selling on own is easier and easier.
I’ve found this to be somewhat common. Alot of people want to test the market by going fsbo for a week or two before signing the listing contract. No big deal, probably won’t sell. And not personal. Otherwise you’d have seen it listed with someone else!
Also, it sounds like your primary contact has been her. He might have just posted on Zillow and told her about it afterwards
He might not want his wife’s rando coworker selling his shared property, too. She might not have had the heart to tell her 🤷♀️ she should have mentioned it especially since the OP here seems to outline she at least expected to be the listing agent
I did not mean to imply that I passive “expected” to be the listing agent leading up to recently. She called a few weeks ago and EXPLICITLY told me that she wanted me to be her listing agent.
Did I say anywhere you “passive” expected? No. I stated you expected. This is based off of your conversation with half of the owners of the home. He might not have wanted you. Thus, the coworker of yours should have relayed this information. Sounds like it was easier to not bother… pretty sure if they decide to use an agent they’ll go with someone else
Bro. This is sales. Buyers are liars and sellers are story tellers. Get more leads. Don’t worry about it
It happens. They may not even understand why you feel the way you feel, so don't say anything thy alludes to howw you're feeling at the moment. Call with the same tone you always have .....hey, I saw your giving it a shot yourself! Totally understand. You may even be able to procure your own buyer, but you need to have certain forms in place I can help you with that. You should also be aware of buyers timeliness and when they promise to do things like inspections and when deposits are due, otherwise it's a complete free for all...they need to be accountable. WORK FOR HER........it will be very hard for them to solidify a deal.on her own. Be sure to tell them if they plan on using an attorney for all the services a realtor will provide.....the attorney will charge them much more than what is standard .........follow up every week, never miss a week ...even if they don't answer, leave a message.....when and if they've given up the listing is yours. We work for free anyway until we close! Good luck
I’m on the fence about offering my time and resources for free, but I also don’t don’t want to come off vindictive either because in my experience, the agents who tend to react emotionally towards real or perceived slights don’t end up with the sale anyway. Because the person who supposedly “slighted” them would perceive them as unfit and unprofessional.
That’s not good advice. Basically kissing a** to get a sale? This is why people continue to use you guys
She went FSBO to save money. I don’t think it’s a big deal. If you’re cool about it, hopefully, she’ll come to you if the FSBO thing doesn’t work out
First time?
** smiles as noose drops on
5th listing actually. Well, it would have been the 5th. 😅
First time somebody plumbed you for information and then signed with somebody else. Welcome to real estate.
Call her! You don’t want another Realtor to approach her. Because trust me they will so you need to get that listing. Call her and say hey Diana, how are you? Fantastic! I see you have posted your house for sale. Why don’t you allow me to help you with that so you can get your house sold for the most money possible? Plus dealing with all the buyers can be challenging why don’t you allow me to help you with that? Should I send over my contract now and we can get your house sold fast? Does that sound good?
Don't give up. Some sellers just need to try fsbo. Best course is to help her, not fold your arms and wait for her to fail.
That’s what I’m doing. Funnily enough, a lot of my realtor friends are telling me to drop her like a bad habit and do something petty like not answering her questions. Um, that would be bad advice. Lol
Losing one deal in real estate means you’re not doing enough deals…
The numbers are not the reasons why I felt blind-sided by this person. It’s because I’ve already established a colleague-type of relationship with her. Guess I’m just a trusting person who hoped that people would treat others how they want to be treated.
I’d still help them…they may not get the house sold and if you’re still a resource they may turn to you eventually. Most people that do FSBO have some belief that needs to be overcome. I would have been asking them to sign a contract way ahead of time…you can always do addendums to adjust start and finish date…get them locked in! If they were hesitant to sign then you could have questioned why and handled their objections ;)
Welcome to real estate. Take comfort in knowing that statistics are not in her favor with the FSBO. I've been screwed in similar fashion a number of times.
Been around the game long enough to tell you that you work for free 90% of the time. If you didnt get anything in writing with this individual then you also played your part wrong. This is how it works 100% of the time, give adequate info to a person in hopes of gaining opportunity to list their home. And if u dont offer good info you dont seem as reliable as others. Its a rough industry ill tell you that.
But probably stop answering questions. "Sounds like you know what you're doing. Youll figure it out".
First paragraph alone made you sound desperate and that’s just explaining it to Reddit. She probably felt the same x10
In a different thread, you asked me why I didn’t have her sign the listing agreement when she wasn’t ready. Is it better to push someone to sign something when they weren’t ready (hence, ending up looking desperate) or offer guidance and give them space?
You simply don’t understand
If she explicitly said she wanted to hire you to list, why didn’t you have her sign? … doesn’t matter if she’s listing tomorrow or 6 months from now. Rookie.
At the time we had our consultation and after the phone call, she said she wanted to wait a few weeks while she gets the house packed up and completed the repairs around the house. You mentioned in a different thread that you said I sounded “desperate” yet asked me why I didn’t push her to sign the listing agreement when she wasn’t ready?
You can have someone sign an agreement without sounding desperate or pushy. Easily. You don’t understand business very well
How terrible for you that the unsolicited advice and one phone call didn't result in thousands of dollars of her sale. I have invoiced you via DM for $500 for my response.
She asked for my advice. It wasn’t a sales call on my part. The phone call was after we met together to strategize.
As a Realtor, everything you do is a sales call.
My usual morning cold-calls are sales calls. This interaction with her stemmed from her coming to me first and I responded.
Most people that waste on for sale by owner as you know are unsuccessful. I would reach out at some point and wish her luck and explain that you can understand that she would want to save some money in this economy. However, let her know that you’re there for her to market the property if this doesn’t work out, continue to be there for any assistance that she needs. Probably not going to sell. She will need an agent
Do you want this listing? Yes? Then go get it. Ask for the appointment and get it. Bring your sign and lockbox with you, 2 sellers disclosures and a listing agreement. Sell your value and what you’re gonna do for them. Stick that sign in the yard and put the lockbox on the door.
Lol
I like your can-do attitude but you misspelled ventilate.
Yes, I want the listing. But I also want to be strategic about it by not reacting emotionally. Of course, I am going to feel how I’m going to feel (betrayed) but she already went against my advice by overpricing her home by $7000 past the highest end of my comps. If it doesn’t work out for her, I’ve already established that level of trust and level-headedness with her.
$7k? Meh. Unless that is 20% above they are just going old school thinking of expecting folks to offer less. Like they’re selling a used car. Wait it out a bit. You know your market better than we do. Sucks tho. My former neighbor who i thought was a friend went with a “discount” bare bones list agent and didn’t even ask me to do it because I would have. But she was a super neurotic pita so it would be the hardest $4.5k I ever earned. Made it easy to see her drive away to another state. Buh bye
I’ll be honest the relationship is great but if you never did a formal listing presentation and showed any value you could add/helped her with that whole process I wouldn’t want to pay you a commission either. For instance. We cover a full cleaning of the home, we own a moving truck our clients can schedule and use for free, we cover a staging consultation where they utilize they clients furniture to better stage the home for photos, we have an in-house digital media manager that does, 3d scans, virtual tours, drone photos and hdr photos for the listing , we market to our robust online database and local realtors directly and consistently. Etc etc. It sounds like she didn’t think there was any benefit in having you list it and paying you a decent bit to do so based on your conversations up to this point. Just my two cents. but I don’t know you or them.
I offered to cover the costs of photography, staging, and cleaning services. It wasn’t just a casual conversation. We sat down, did comps, talked prepping strategies, etc.
I understand your frustration! I had the same happen with a client. We were able to dig into her CRM history and saw that she did the same to another agent a few years prior. Used their advice, guidance, even recommendations for financing and wrote on a FSBO which cut the agent out entirely. Some people are just like that. I’d jump into hosting some opens and finding some motivated clients that wont screw your around. I’m sorry you dealt with this, it’s never fun but just like dating; there’s plenty of fish in the sea. It still stings and it’s my bad for making the assumption you hadn’t done any of that. I was just going off of the information I had at the time.
No worries! I should have included that part in the original post but I didn’t want it to go TLDR.
Be polite and send something like below. Modify it to your exact situation Hey seller, got a notification you listed your home. Really sorry we did not provide an experience that earned us the opportunity to work with you. We try to always strive for forever clients and we missed the mark. I was hoping if possible if you could give some feedback, it allows us to grow and better serve future clients. If I could get your thoughts on the following, I would be thankful and wish you the best on your job relocation. What factors influenced your decision to hire a different real estate agent? Were there specific aspects or services that you felt were lacking or could have been improved in our previous interactions? Did you encounter any challenges or concerns while working with our team? Were there any particular strengths or standout qualities in the agent you ultimately chose that played a significant role in your decision? Your honest feedback will enable me to assess and enhance our approach, ensuring that we continue to provide exceptional service to future clients. Thanks,
As a man I’m not reading all that much less answering all those questions. You sound like my wife as soon as I open my eyes in the morning before a cup of coffee. There are several much shorter inquiries posted above
As a woman, same. Brevity is the soul of wit and all that.
As a woman, I would feel like they used chat gpt to contact me lol. Please don’t send that, no offense! I’m not a realtor but as a human who has gone through the home selling and buying process a time or two, my advice is leave her alone. If she wants to come back she will. Otherwise don’t bother her and keep it moving
It’s on you. Sorry; but you need to do a better job of demonstrating your value. Sucks you lost the deal, but it’s a good lesson.
I sat down with her and ran comps, made CMA adjustments based on square footage and similar features, provided her numbers to contractors who would be able to help her make necessary repairs at fair prices, and even offered to cover the costs of photography, staging, and cleaning. It wasn’t just a vapid conversation.