Selling mom's condo becomes long-distance nightmare
After two failed attempts, daughter learns it's not the market, it's the agent
By Ilyce Glink, Tuesday, May 6, 2008.Q: I'm trying to sell a condo for my mother, who has moved to a retirement home. The first real estate agent did very little, so when the listing period expired I switched to a new one. (Both agents had been recommended.)
I told the new agent in advance I wanted frequent updates about various items. She has now had the listing for more than a month and has communicated little, despite my frequent phone calls and e-mails asking questions. If I leave a message, she does not call back.
Most recently I sent her an e-mail asking for the following information: (1) list of multiple listing services where this unit has been posted, along with dates posted; (2) copies of all ads that have been placed, whether fliers or in newspapers; (3) list of groups to whom mailings have been sent, and a copy of the letter or material; and (4) summary of sales of any units in the building or comparable units nearby since this listing began.
I asked her to provide this information by the following Friday, which has passed, but have had no response at all, not even an e-mail asking for more time.
When I signed the listing agreement, I changed it to make the time period shorter, but did not change the text provided. The document does not seem to obligate her to do anything. Did I have to add language stating the work I expected? Would that have been enforceable anyway? What are my options now? Is this nonperformance? Would it make sense to offer an extra incentive to try to get the place sold?
I realize the real estate market is not good, and I don't know if I could find anyone better, and I am 800 miles away. Thank you for your advice.
A: It's hard to be a long-distance seller, as you're finding out. I don't think your expectations are unreasonable, but it seems as though you've found two agents who aren't making you happy.
The good news is that's what managing brokers are for. The managing broker of a real estate office is in charge of making sure that the real estate agents are doing their job and to assist when problems arise with customers.
Please place a call to the managing broker who heads up the office that employs your agent. In this call you should let the managing broker know that you're unhappy with the service that is being provided to you by the agent. Explain that the agent doesn't provide you with updates, and doesn't communicate at the level you require.
Make sure you tell the managing broker that you are 800 miles away and need these updates to get information about the selling process. You are not at the house or even nearby and need these updates to stay informed. The market may be slow in your area but you would like to know exactly what your agent is doing to sell the home.
The agent may have only listed the home in the multiple listing services and has not sent out fliers or placed ads in newspapers for the home. She may not have held any open houses or brokers' open houses. But you are entitled to know what has or has not been done to sell the home.
You should list your requirements, and talk about the e-mail you sent, and then ask the managing broker to speak to your agent to see if she's up for the task. If your agent decides that she really isn't up to the task of working with an out-of-state buyer, then you should ask the managing broker to find someone else who would be familiar with the neighborhood and building and would be willing to give you weekly updates or other information to make you feel informed about the selling process. In some cases, the update information given to you could merely state that there were no showings at the property and the property is still listed on the multiple listing service in the area in which your home is located.
You should have this conversation in a nice, polite tone of voice, but please be very clear with the managing broker that you expect something to happen within the next day or two. You don't want to let this sit and fester.
If nothing happens, then it would be entirely appropriate to ask the managing broker to simply find someone else who is more willing to work with you in the office to take over the remainder of the listing. Or, the managing broker can simply cancel your listing agreement, and you can change brokerage companies.
When it comes to selling condos, I've found that often there are in general one or two agents who typically "work" a big condo development. If your mother's condo is in a large development where one or two agents typically control most of the sales, these agents typically represent many of the owners who decide to sell. If this is the case for your mother's condo, you'd be wise to find out who these agents are and perhaps have exploratory conversations with them, just in case it doesn't work out with your current agent.
To get even more valuable advice from Ilyce, visit her Personal Finance and Real Estate Center.
***
What's your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.
All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.
Bookmarking Sites
Add A Comment
You must login or register to post a comment.
Submitted by Cary Collier on May 6, 2008 - 6:48am.
It is sad many agents can really not afford to market a property beyond the MLS and a sign in the yard. Make sure you get a marketing agreement prior to signing the listing and if the agent does not perform simply fire them and move on. The vast majority of our leads come from the internet not the newspaper anymore. Look on-line to see who has the greatest web presence on major search engines to achieve your goal. If you want to sell then look on-line as if you were a buyer and see who is out there advertising on-line! Good luck!
Cary Collier
www.Collier-Associates.com
www.HomesByOwner.com Tampa to Naples
Submitted by Kenneth Belferman on May 6, 2008 - 2:03pm.
I'm a Realtor in the Pittsburgh, PA area. I don't know what listing contracts are like in other states but here they don't specify much more than how much the property will list for, time period of the listing, the commission rate, and some other legal, non-marketing items.
When I list a property, I offer my client the following, in writing:
A detailed, customized, 2-month marketing plan - the seller is free to suggest any services not listed in the plan.
A Guarantee of Service, specifying what services I will perform to market the property. If the seller has any complaints that cannot be addressed to his/her satisfaction, the seller has the option of cancelling the listing with 24-hour notice, regardless of the time period stated in the listing agreement.
My advice is to look for an agent who can provide at least this much for you.
Submitted by Barb Van Stensel on May 6, 2008 - 3:00pm.
A Realtor's job is to market and expose your mother's property. With your next Realtor selection have a list of questions to ask them:
How many homes have you sold in the last year?
Of those homes, what was your average marketing time?
How many contracts fell apart in the last year?
How many homes have you sold in my neighborhood in the last three years and in the past year?
What is your market plan to get this property sold?
Note the least the winnning Realtor should do is:
1. Staging and Pricing Strategies
2. For Sale Sign - with a direct phone number and property URL that is going/directed to your Realtor and not a floor agent who hasn't seen your home, who probably doesn't know your neighborhood and who is just looking for buyers.
3. Tube or Box with Color Flyers with the property URL on them (Ask the Realtor to show you sampkles of fliers of other properties they have marketed)
4. I have 3,000 flyers delivered to the people in the neighborhood versus mailing
5. Flyers in House/Home Book/Comment Cards
6. MLS, NLS and company MLS
7. Web Listings with Virtual Tour - do they post on LiveDeal, Condo.com, backpage.com, Citycribs, hotpads, Homescape, Probot, The Housing Pages, CLR Search, Worldwide-RealEstate-ForSale, Cyberhomes, House.com, Google Base, Zillow.com, Yahoo Real Esate, Ebay, Craigslist (and they can repost every 24 or 48 hours to keep your mother's property information at the top of the list), Oodle and Trulia .... there are more - but that'll get you noticed ont he internet.
Do they put your property on Realtor.com, Homes.com, for me I post also in ChicagoTribuneonline.com.
8. Open House Program. Open House signs must be out before 8:30 in the morning and if allowed 6 or more signs to catch traffic. Why so early? Well, think about how many people would show up for a wedding if they were notified 30 minutes before the wedding! Alot of agents don't realize this and it is sad. So the same holds true for open houses - get noticed and early on the day of the open house.
How does the Realtor notify the public besides the signs?
9. Email/Fax/Voice Broadcast - is a must
10. Our MLS shows us who has emailed their clients. This list should be used to reach out to these agents and keep them informed.
11. Target Marketing - who will that Realtor be reaching out to and why?
What is the Rate of Absorption for your home?
How do you want to be communicated with?
Do you prefer phone, text messaging, email, notes?
Just like every date that someone goes on, the friends want to know how the date went and if it was successful. You should hold your Realtor accountable for a response within 30 minutes to one hour after the showing unless you allow him/her to leave you a note about the showing. The same holds true for open houses. How many came, how many lookers, how many with their Realtors, how many had a Realtor that came alone, how many were looking in that price range and what did they think?
Your Realtor should analyze the market activity every week as well as (well for me, I look every couple days on a CMA of my listings) a CMA for any changes in the market place.
They should be at every showing as some buyer's agents are not "closers".
Google and Yahoo your Realtor's name to see how many times they are seen on the internet. Do they market local (your neighborhood)?
Have them give you references.
For me, I would want to qualify you to see if you were willing to do things to get the unit to be competitive. Condition is the issue in the marketplace. I'm not talking about new kitchen cabinets but clean carpeting or nice wood floors, freshly painted in neutral colors, etc.
If you are, then I would suggest you ask your Realtor why you should hire them. Give them your concerns and get it in writing. Create an easy exit listing agreement in case they fail.
Ask them to give you a break down of what it will cost them to expose your property to get you to escrow. Tell them that you want to see the advertising material every week. I actually change the fliers in my property boxes to keep the interest going as well as give the potential buyer/looker something of value to come and look at your home.
That's what marketing and prospecting is all about in the sale of a home.
Cary, did you know that as of 2006, more than four out of five homebuyers used the web to find their new home? In 2007, the percentage increased even further. What makes the property sticky on the internet is using a lot of high-quality photographs and as much richly detailed information to the property listing as possible, giving it a higher significant better chance of attracting homebuyers. To say "it is sad many agents can really not afford to market a property beyond the MLS and a sign in the yard" is purely for self-promotional on your own behalf. There are agents out there that are still using the "old methods" of marketing. They aren't poor. There are agents who haven't really been properly trained and that is sad. It is up to us as Realtors to educate the consumer with the list of questions that I gave this seller to help them understand how to qualify a Realtor. It doesn't matter what practice you are in, it boils down to if you apply yourself to do the best to your ability, to communicate and empower the sellers and buyers out there to make an informed decision.
It's about being a professional and caring.
Barb Van Stensel
www.BarbVan.com