I have a house that has been on the market for eight months that I just can’t sell. There are many reasons why, most of which have to do with the local market and a few of which have to do with the house.
My realtor is a very nice woman who is one of the more popular realtors in the area. She was our agent when we bought the house, and she was very helpful back then (about three years ago).
However, I feel like her popularity has left her very busy. We have moved six hours away, and I made it clear to her that we would probably need her help keeping an eye on the house, finding people to take care of maintenance issues, etc. Being so far away, and being so busy ourselves, we don’t have time to be aggressive about it, and I expected her to be, but it’s clear that she hasn’t been.
At what point should one consider going with another realtor? I don’t blame her for the house not selling, really; I just think I might feel better with someone who would be more on top of it, even if they don’t have the raw knowledge and skill that my current realtor has. I’m also unsure of how to approach it; raising the possibility with my current realtor before I’ve decided to go elsewhere might be a kick in the pants, but it might leave a bad taste in her mouth.
Would I have to reimburse her and her company for anything they’ve done thus far?
(Note: my listing with them has actually expired, and I’m supposed to renew it this week, which is why I’m thinking about it now.)
Comments from my Realtor wife:
That’s the big problem with the “popular” agents – it’s very difficult for them to devote the time to your listing that it may need.
If your listing is expiring, you can sign with anyone you wish, and you owe your current agent nothing. It’s the gamble that realtors take – if they work hard and sell the place, they get paid. If not, they get nothing.
You may be better off going with an agent who can devote more time to your listing. One thing to keep in mind, however – if you go with a different agent who works for the same company as your current agent, he is going to have to split his commission with your current agent. Since this may put a damper on this new agent’s motivation, you may be better off going with a completely different company.
Also realize, however, that it may not be the agent at all. It could be the price, it could be the house, the area, etc. If the house isn’t being shown, it’s the price. If it’s being shown but not sold, it could be the house or the price. The question here is whether or not the agent is doing her part – marketing it properly, running open houses, etc.
Good luck!
If I were you, I would make a checklist of what you expect in a realtor, and see if she’s meeting your criteria. If she isn’t, say buh-bye. This is a business transaction, not a friendship.
So, is she six hours away from you, too, in the area where the house is? Do you have any idea what she’s actively doing to sell your house? Is she making a heroic effort and it just isn’t that hot a market right now? If she’s doing all she can, and she meets all your criteria, I’d say keep her on, but it sounds like you are having serious doubts about her holding up her end of the bargain.
The house has been shown. There are some issues with the house that need to be addressed, but feedback has generally been positive. Price doesn’t appear to be an issue. The problem is that the market is extremely slow right now, and everyone looking at my house is looking at fifteen in the same range, many of which are brand-new houses from big builders who can offer all kinds of incentives and extras.
The biggest problem I have is that I don’t have anyone to look after the house. Most of my friends from down there either moved when I did or they work 80 hours a week, so I can’t ask them to do anything. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a realtor to pop in once a week or so to make sure the house is still presentable, and to let me know about any problems before they start showing up in comments from showings.
What usually happens is that she’ll see someone make a comment about something, and she’ll go check it out and call me. She’ll offer to send someone to have a look at it, and she might come back to me with an estimate and she might not. More often than not, the issue will be forgotten until the next time she calls me to check in, a week or two later. I don’t feel like she could have spent more than a few minutes a week thinking about my house since we moved.
She had one open house, about a month after we moved.
Maybe I’m asking too much, but I just don’t feel like the relationship is working right now. It may not be better with anyone else, but after six months of writing two mortgage checks, I feel like something needs to change.
Nitpick to the OP: Not every real estate agent is a Realtor®.
Okay, my opinion - she needs to be having more open houses and showing it more often, but dealing with repair issues and stuff is still the home-owners baby. I think a good realtor will let you know what needs to be done to sell a place, because she doesn’t get paid if it doesn’t sell either, but that’s the limit of her involvement in any repair stuff. She should, however, be beating the bushes to get as many people to look at your house as possible - that’s her job as a salesperson.
If you absolutely need to get something done, ask someone who’s busy to do it.
I’d have more faith in a busy broker who sells lots of houses to sell mine, even if that meant she had less time to devote specifically to it. There are plenty of brokers with lots of time on thier hands. That’s because they can’t sell anything!
That said, I think featherlou gave you some good advice.