How can I crack the whip / get my realtor to move my property?

April 30, 2007 10:24 PM

My realtor has gone from a proactive go-getter to a neglectful, smarmy do nothing. I need to sell my condo (I know the market is bad) but it's a nice place in great condition and priced in line with others in the market. How can I get it to move quicker?

THE SITUATION:
She acted all proactive and excited when I interviewed her, she said she has 20 years in the selling homes, promised it'd be occasionally advertised in publications (Remax buys a page in the paper and rotates houses they have for sale). But ... In the past 5 months, 7 people have viewed it and it hasn't been advertised at all. Every time I talk to her I ask about the ad she always dances around it and says it's coming, saying things like "Ads don't sell your place" and I'm just like, " M.F. ok. Ads don't sell it, but you sure don't either!".

I know the market sucks, and sure, ads are the old way to sell places (everyone just goes online now and looks at MLS listings) but is there anything I can do to actually make her do her job better and get traffic through the condo?

I chose her over several others, and she edged out an independent Realtor recommended to me by a friend because I figured with Remax they'd have more clients/brand recognition coming through, but I'm really regretting it. (ADVICE TO ANYONE: To be honest, if I was going to do it again, I'd sell it myself, building a cool site with virtual tours, tons of photos, craigslisting it and paying $300 or so to an agency to list it in the MLS, with a juicy seller commission of 3.5 or 4 percent.)

I'm locked into a contract with her until the end of May. I'm not sure what to do until then (or even if I should bother looking for someone new when the contract ends). This is lame. I never want to buy a home again. I'm in Florida, by the way.

MY FINANCIAL SITUATION
My financial situation is pretty good. Right now it's not fun carrying a mortgage and rent, but I recently received a promotion and have also been doing a lot of freelance work every weekend and most nights, (and I also had about $10,000 saved to buffer me through this selling period, luckily I haven't had to touch that.). I live very frugally. So, 'in theory' I could continue to float like this for a while... It's not comfortable though. One car accident and I could be in trouble. (BTW: Moving out of the condo and renting closer to work actually saved me so much on Cable/Internet/Gas/Electricity/Wear and tear on my car/tolls/time that it's really only costing me about $120 more a month, compared to when I lived in the condo. I used to commute an hour a day each way and getting that time back is definitely worth $120 a month in extra expenses.)

$1000 KICKBACK?
One friend has suggested that I ask the Realtor to add a "$1000 cash bonus to the Realtor/individual that brings me the buyer." statement to the listing. I'm not sure if that's even legal or what. Part of me thinks the Realtor is not as uh, "motivated" as she was originally because the independent was only asking 4 percent (2/2 seller/buyer), so she had to lower her rate to be competitive. (The commission is 2.5/2.5 to seller/buyer on the condo). Anyone tried this? How much does half a percentage matter to a realtor?

RENTERS?
I know what your thinking, get some renters in there. Right now it's sitting empty (yes I know, I've considered renters, but it's in brand new condition, it was totally refurbished when I bought it and I left it in immaculate shape and upgraded it. I don't want to deal with renters possibly destroying it, and showing it while renters are in it and insuring it for renters and the condo association with renters... I need to make the sale the quicker the better (especially before hurricane season), so I can't really have them sign a contract then boot them.

SLASH THE PRICE?
I can't drop the price much more or I'm going to lose money (right now after all is said and done, I'll make about $5000-10000 depending on the final price/terms or maybe just break even--since so many sellers are expected to pay all the closing costs with the horrible market...)

DITCH HER AND DO IT MYSELF?
After the contract ends at the end of this month (May) should I just go 'For Sale By Owner' and sell it like I described above under "ADVICE FOR ANYONE"? Post it on EBay? Burn it down and collect the insurance? Any ideas/success stories would be great!

Any advice, links, etc. you can offer on how to sell and survive in this rough market, would be greatly appreciated!

posted by jkl345 to work & money (17 answers total)

Why don't you switch to your friend's realtor? It doesn't sound like this realtor has done much for you. I'm told that you're in a very rough market, but, unless we're missing part of the story, it doesn't sound like much is happening. Did she suggest a lower price or anything that would make your property more attractive?
posted by acoutu at 10:43 PM on April 30, 2007

Your realtor isn't doing her job. You should talk to her and/or fire her. All the questions you have listed above are things that your realtor should be addressing for you, unprompted.

The answers to all your questions are what you will find in a good realtor who will sell your house for you - part of his/her job is to make recommendations based on experience and local/current market knowledge.
posted by iamkimiam at 10:51 PM on April 30, 2007

For what it's worth, that "half a percent" is half a percent to you, but it's 33% to the realtor if she has to kick 1.5% back to the main office, and is getting 1% for herself instead of 1.5%. (Even if she just splits with the main office, it's a 17% difference to her.) Moreover, because the buyer's agent is also getting less, she has to work harder to make the sale.

Switch realtors. I'd complain to the Remax office if you've already made several complaints to your realtor: you're a young homeowner who plans to buy and sell several more homes in his or her lifetime, and Remax has seriously peeved you. They have to care about their brand name, and this may motivate them to put some extra effort in these last 30 days.

Renters may just make the problem worse unless you're planning not to sell.
posted by commander_cool at 11:00 PM on April 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

You need to talk to her. If she won't work to sell your house, then you need to tell her to get off her ass and do her job.

Does she work for / with someone else? If she doesn't shape up then you should talk to her boss / partner about her lack of performance.
posted by bshort at 11:02 PM on April 30, 2007

Switch Realtors when the time comes.
posted by crewshell at 2:05 AM on May 1, 2007

This happened to me. We did the $1000 seller's bonus, which went to the realtor who showed the home to the people who bought it. After almost 9 months of paying double mortgage, the house sold that month.

I hate (most) real estate agents. What a bunch of dicks.
posted by miss tea at 4:22 AM on May 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Is it on MLS or Realtor.com? Are there pictures? I hate to admit it, but when we were house-shopping MLS was the first place I looked, and the houses with lots of pictures were the ones I really noticed. The one we ended up buying was not one found for us by our realtor, in fact; it was one I found on the MLS website and bookmarked because I liked the pictures. (Okay, it wasn't quite that simplistic... the pictures showed that the house had a lot of the features we wanted that were not mentioned in the description, and gave us an idea of how much re-decorating/re-finishing we'd have to do when we moved in so we could determine if it was really in our price range.)

If you do have pictures, how do they look? Normal clutter tends to come off badly in photos; it might be worth bringing someone in to "stage" your condo (clean it up, rent some furniture to make it more show-worthy) and re-do the photos.

I know it sounds trivial, but in a market this competitive you need every advantage you can get. Hope this helps.
posted by AV at 4:44 AM on May 1, 2007

When my parents sold their house last summer, they apparently picked their realtor by throwing a dart. She was useless- didn't bring traffic, charged them for holding open houses, and just didn't work. I demanded they not renew her contract when it was up.

We went with the realtor a friend had bought their house with, and in 2 weeks there was an accepted offer.

Go with your friend's realtor.
posted by Steve3 at 5:48 AM on May 1, 2007

You are under no obligation to stay with a realtor that isn't selling the place. Find someone else.
posted by JJ86 at 5:52 AM on May 1, 2007

I can't drop the price much more or I'm going to lose money

Don't forget to compare your monthly carrying costs against the amount of your reduction in price. If this property continues unsold, you will lose money. It is possible that will you lose money a little bit at a time, month to month, or will you lose it all at once.
posted by Robert Angelo at 6:27 AM on May 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

When we sold our townhouse last year we brought in a stager who moved the furniture around to make the rooms look bigger and brought in a few accent pieces that dressed the place up and really highlighted the unit's best features like the fireplace, patio and sunroom. In just a few hours, she dramatically changed the look of the home. We sold our unit in 3 weeks and there were almost identical places in the development that had been on the market for many months. I know it was because of the staging. I think it cost us about $500 and it was money very well spent.

You said your place is empty but consider bringing in someone to stage the place for you. They wouldn't necessarily have to outfit the whole condo but they could make it look a lot more appealing to buyers.

Oh, and I agree that you should complain now to your agent's boss and switch agents at the end of the month. It doesn't sound like she's doing anything to earn her commission.
posted by Kangaroo at 6:31 AM on May 1, 2007

This came up in a recent real estate mailbag in the Washington Post (which I, someone completely uninterested in owning a home, am addicted to). One comment the writer made sticks out in my mind like a glowing beacon - according to him, more often than not if you're with a big chain (Remax, etc) your contract commits you to that agency, not that specific realtor.

So dig it up and look. You may be able to go to the office and say you're unhappy with the service and want someone else to handle your home.
posted by phearlez at 7:48 AM on May 1, 2007

I am a previously licensed agent... so take that for what it's worth. I'm not sure of the legal differences between Texas and Florida, but I can offer advice based on what I know...

In Texas you sign the same "contract" agreement to list your home... HOWEVER, most agents will and should let you out of the contract if you are that unhappy.

There is nothing illegal at all about offering a bonus to the selling agent. If anything at all it catches the agent's eye and will get put on the top of the stack of properties to show and that certainly can't hurt.

A few tips on if you do decide to go FSBO... whatever you do, and I don't care how you do it... put it in MLS. There are all sorts of ways to do this and it's definitely worth the extra $... like you said, everyone these days shops for houses online. Also, your idea about offering 4-4.5% and selling it yourself isn't bad. Your agent is apparently not motivated by 2.5, so why not offer a higher percentage to someone who is. And you would be just laying that on the table without having to commit to anyone.

It is tough right now in most places. Has she done any open houses for you? To me, that's the best 'old school' traffic generator out there. People love open houses. If the answer is no, definitely can her and do it yourself or go with your friend's agent.

Good Luck!!
posted by nataliecay at 9:10 AM on May 1, 2007

Thanks for all your advice everyone! I really appreciate all your help. AskMeFi is the freaking bomb!

I think I'm going to start talking to other realtors (probably after talking to her boss about my options within Remax for a more motivated seller). A lot of what you all said really cleared things up for me. She'd never held an open house, no ads, etc.--I feel like an idiot for waiting this long!

Even though I've really been soured on the whole realtor thing, I'm willing to give it another chance (and hopefully this one lazy realtor will be shown up by another go-getter).

What ratio/commission do you guys think will get the best results?
- A 1 percent to seller realtor and 3 percent to the buyer realtor? (the independent agent I was close to choosing offered something like this)

- Just the same 2%/2%?

- A 2% - 2% with a $1000 kickback for the person who brings me the buyer?

Or am I crazy giving realtors another chance, and should just go FSBO like I originally thought? (This would be rougher for me to show it though because I live and work an hour away.)
posted by jkl345 at 11:08 AM on May 1, 2007

Robert Angelo writes "Don't forget to compare your monthly carrying costs against the amount of your reduction in price. If this property continues unsold, you will lose money. It is possible that will you lose money a little bit at a time, month to month, or will you lose it all at once."

Also in a declining price market (if your area hasn't bottomed yet) you need to be ahead of the decline. An average price won't move your property. Better to take that break even or slight loss now than in 6 months.
posted by Mitheral at 12:58 PM on May 1, 2007

$1000 KICKBACK?
One friend has suggested that I ask the Realtor to add a "$1000 cash bonus to the Realtor/individual that brings me the buyer." statement to the listing. I'm not sure if that's even legal or what. Part of me thinks the Realtor is not as uh, "motivated" as she was originally because the independent was only asking 4 percent (2/2 seller/buyer), so she had to lower her rate to be competitive. (The commission is 2.5/2.5 to seller/buyer on the condo). Anyone tried this? How much does half a percentage matter to a realtor?

Yeah, and that lower percentage also affects other realtor's interest in seeing your property.

Ads aren't that big a deal to your condo. What matters is how interested you can get other agents actually bringing clients to see it. And yes, the bonus is legal.

One thing you need to ask yourself is how well are condos in general selling in your area? You may have a bad agent or just a rotten market.
posted by konolia at 1:31 PM on May 1, 2007

Go with another realtor! Fire the current one with a succinct "I'm sorry, this isn't working out for me" and be sure to tell that agent's agency about their poor performance and your dissatisfaction (my "good" realtor always bugs me to fill out an evaluation form even though he's a 25+ year pro). A realtor should be happy to work for you and not give you any excuses about why they didn't do things (like placing ads) or the ubiquitous "blame the market" blather. If they don't want to work hard for their money, screw them!

Listing a house yourself is not a good idea unless you have experience in real estate, or at a minimum have a good attorney whom you can trust to guide you through the details. So much can go so horribly wrong with real estate transactions.

Ask your potential new realtor if relisting is a good idea. It may give you a fresh start on making the sale.
posted by kuppajava at 6:25 PM on May 1, 2007