dustbucket40 asked:
We have our house on the market, listed with a realtor. She has placed our house in several magazines, online and in the newspaper. She has only been here one time to show the house. The other times it has been the buyers realtor who has been here. Is my realtor supposed to be here when the house is shown? It seems like nothing is happening as far as our house selling. In 6 months its only been shown a total of 7 times. I live in Fl and our real estate market is crap right now so I’ve taken that into consideration. But what exactly is a realtor supposed to do?
We questioned if our house was over priced and she tells us no. We’re asking 189k and she said it would appraise out at 200k, but because our market is so bad right now it wouldn’t be a good idea to list it at that. It does make me question if she’s in it for the commission or because she believes its priced correctly. The owner of the real estate office she works in recommended we list it at the 189k.
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Usually the agreement with the buyers’ agents is that the seller’s agent doesn’t have to be there when its shown. He might not be advertising enough, probably because he might think you’re either, one, asking too much for it, or, two, he doesn’t think it’ll sell soon.
There are two types of realtors (usually) when doing real estate. A buyer’s side realtor and a seller’s side realtor. Once you receive an offer from a buyer, it’ll go through your realtor who will help you negotiate and eventually close on the deal.
Your listing agent (your Realtor) should not be at your home during showings. That is why the perspective buyers have an agent with them. Your Realtor should be marketing your home in magazines, on-line and newspapers. There is not much a listing agent can do in a bad market. She/He can’t create buyers for your home. Is your home overpriced? Maybe you should discuss lowering the price with your agent.
It is unfortunate but true that in MOST cases once they get the listing they really are not very active in trying to sell it. Yes, they put the listing in the MLS, a magazine, and MAYBE one open house in the six month listing period, but that is it. The listing agent hopes someone will drive in front of your house and the curb appeal will get them to call the number on the sign or that another Realtor will bring a buyer.
The whole Realtor game is listing driven. Why? because they can not control the buyer. The buyer can go to any Realtor or any seller he desires and is not bound by an exclusive contract like the homeowner is. So they can only control the selling side of the transaction.
Many experienced buyers bypass the Realtor and buy FSBO (for sale by owner). They can negotiate directly with the seller and save the cost of commissions sometimes as high as 7% or 8%.
You should insist on your Realtor having open house at least every other weekend, have her mail 5,000 post cards to your zip code showing YOUR house is for sale and listing its features, insist placing at least 8 or 10 directional signs to YOUR house, insist on kicking up the advertising on your house specifically, insist they hire people to hand out flyers at the mall close to your house, have your Realtor fax and e-mail all the mortgage brokers in your area. It is all about getting the word out.
It is extremely important that all the advertising focuses specifically on your house, NOT general advertising for the Realtor.
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