Thread: A lousy realestate agent

Talk to the agent's "broker in charge" and ask for a new agent with the company. This will be easier than getting out of the contract.

I agree that you need a new agent. So get a new one, and after contacting the new agent, you should get in touch with the old one to find everything out.

Originally Posted by lostsoul62

I sign a 6 month contract with this real estate agent and it take him 2 weeks to get a sign up for sale in my yard.

I wouldn't be so quick to down this agent. I'm not saying that the OP's claim isn't legitimate, but there very well may be another side to this story. I'll provide a recent example:

Seller calls me and says she is ready to have me list her home. "It's ready for pictures and showing?" I ask. "Yes", she responds. Ok. So I print out my entire listing package paperwork, set up an appointment, call to confirm the appointment and she says she doesn't have much time. Ok. So I head out to her home and we get started with the paperwork right away. After spending an hour going over all of the documents, I made my way around the house to take measurements. Uh oh, no, her definition of "ready to show" is much, much, different than mine. It's a small home (1000 Sq ft) with 3 bedrooms. One bedroom is being used for storage and you can barely walk into it. The owner bedroom doesn't even have closet doors on it and the mess inside is exposed and ruining the look of the room. There's a front end of a truck in the back yard that she claims is a "play ground" for her son. Ok.... look...this home is not ready to show. I'm going to give you a list of things to do to improve its appeal, ok? She agrees and takes one month to do the work. She calls me back and I return to have her initial, date, and time the changes on the listing package.

I can bet that she was saying that it took me "one month" to put a for sale sign in the yard. Fact is, I can't put a for sale sign in the yard until I list it in the MLS. And I'm not going to list it in the MLS with "can't show it until seller cleans it up." That's just silly. We'll put the for sale sign in the yard and put it in the MLS when it's actually READY TO SHOW. I wonder what the agent has to say about this.

Having problems with the flyer.

Arghh...flyers! Agents still promise their sellers they'll do them? I don't. Why would I? Do you know where 90% of the flyers go? In the hands of nosy neighbors. Nosy neighbors aren't buying your home nor are they helping you sell it. Paper flyers are a waste of paper and are not "green." I offer something much better. I put a "for info, text #15 to 555-555-1234" they then get the flyer sent to them via text message. I then get their phone number so I can follow up. Makes much MUCH more sense than senselessly killing tree after tree for an outdated marketing method. And how many buyers are there in the world who don't have a cell phone and don't do text messaging? Even my grandmother is doing it.

Doesn't call back

How many times have you called him? How urgent was the call? Where your messages like this one: "Hey, I want to know when you're going to get some flyers out in the box on the sign. Let me know." Back when I used to do flyers (when I worked for a broker and she insisted on us doing them) flyers used to get ruined from moisture, thrown away by neighborhood kids, and the rest picked up by nosy neighbors. Such a waste of my time when I could have been doing something more important in selling their home. Now I've got this seller calling me incessantly about something totally unimportant. As a Broker, I require agents to NOT do flyers and to do digital ones instead. My last listing went under contract in just 5 days. It had rail road tracks adjacent to the backyard and a registered sx offender 5 houses down. I would say I'm doing a good job getting them sold.

can't reach him half the time.

If you mean you go to voicemail half the time then I'd say my clients can't reach me half the time either. I'm on the other line speaking with potential buyers and other agents about *your* home. But thanks for adding to my call back list concerning your flyers. And a double thank you for those who only say, "I have a question so could you give me a call back?" There's nothing more gratifying than not knowing what the quesiton was, then getting your voicemail when I call back, then having you call me back again to get my voicemail only to hear you say the same thing again, "I have a question, could you call me back?", all the while getting yourself worked up in a rage, followed by an internet post answered by a bunch of "yes men" agents with half the story who are here link building. If you had left the question on my voicemail on your first call, I could have looked into it, called you back and left the answer on your voicemail, all in one efficient call.

I think this guy in lazy. How do I get out of this contract?

Often times, it's behavioral issues that lead you to believe that way. I'd suggest you have a face to face unemotional talk with your agent *first*. He may tell you the same things I'm telling you. If your agent is in fact all of the things you say he is, then as a previous poster said, you could ask his broker to designate another agent to you.

Hope it all works out and you get your home sold quickly.

Regards.

The bottom line is that real estate is a service business and if your current agent is not meeting your expectations, there is no reason to continue in a relationship that's not working out. You should first give him the courtesy of speaking with him directly to explain your frustration and to hear what he has to say. Perhaps after this conversation, you can work things out. If not, see if he has the authority to release you from the contract. If not, you may need to speak to his broker, who may require you to work with another agent in that company. Good luck.

Just to clarify why you need to speak to this agent's broker about your contract: the contract is actually between you and the broker, not you and the agent. The listing "belongs" to the broker, and it is up to the broker to decide if he/she wants to release you from the listing contract or assign you to another agent. I would certainly have a heart to heart talk with the agent first and see if things improve.

I do agree with mr1 about flyers outside the home. Most of the time they are picked up by nosy neighbors or even kids who use them to color on. I do place flyers within my homes so that real buyers can take one with them and outside the house I have a 24 hour info line that drive bys can call to get information.

document all your calls and emails to the agent. ask him if he will let you out of the listing agreement... I as an agent would be happy to let a client go if they werent happy with my services.

if you dont get any resolve, contact the sales manager then broker.... if still nothing happens call the local association of realtors to intermediate.

Excellent advice mr1. I'm currently doing 5x7 fliers I designed and they're on card stock. I don't have the fancy system you got set up, but if it's a more efficient way of reaching people and it obviously works, I'll try it in the future. I like what you said about clients leaving a message too. 21st Century and people still don't get it. "Hi, uh, I've got a question, call me." Gee, that's helpful. No, I have nothing to do oh and thanks for getting angry with me because you're leaving asinine messages like that at.......3am. "He no get back to me! Uuuuunnnn guuuuuyyyyy! You give me nuuuumbaaaaaahhh!"

Playground for her kids...what a joke. "Yep, she's rrrrdy. Bring yr tape measure thing." I can hear the dueling banjos now. Never you mind that smell in the crockpot....that's just roast raccoon.



CM

Hi Chrisopher (Soprano's?):

I don't want to get off topic here, so I'll just address something you said real quick and you can PM me if you need any more details. I don't mind helping folks out.

1. Where exactly are you getting your 5X7 flyers? Any problem with doing 4X6 Printed on 14 point C2S Cardstock, 4/4 (Full Color Both Sides), and UV Coated? I just did a bunch (doing neighborhood farming) and I don't believe there are many people on the planet who shop for their purchases the way I do. Are they full color, both sides? How many did you buy?

2. The fancy system is not really a fancy system at all. I just arbitrarily assign two digit numbers to my listings. I have a group of sign toppers that have the numbers already on them. Example:

345 Smith Street gets sign topper with "Text the number 10 for info on this home"
4563 Ivy Drive gets sign topper with "Text the number 11 for info on this home"
and so on...

Passersby of 345 Smith Street would text the #10 to my cell phone (as they were instructed to do on the sign). On my cell phone are summaries that I put in there for each home along with their assigned two digit number. When I get a text that just says #10, I immediately send them the summary (what I'm calling a digital flyer) for 345 Smith Street. Now they have their information and I have their phone number. No need to check "do not call" -- they gave me their phone number. I'll be sure and follow up on this lead. You'd never get that lead if they had driven by and picked up a paper flyer. I just can't say enough bad things about those.

I don't mind the calls at 3am. I actually get quite a few calls from soldiers overseas and they can call me anytime that's convenient for them. I may not pick up at 3am, but they are welcome to call me at 3am. I also have never heard a stupid message from a soldier. They've always been polite and respectful, yes sir, this is so and so, I'm looking to move there on such and such date, I'm looking for such and such home, my number is blah blah blah. A rave for our soldiers.

mr1.

Was the sx offender 5 doors down included in the seller's disclosure? Just curious. Good job unloading it while saving a tree.