RealTown's RealTalk

Sorry, Bonnie.... I have to stick up for that agent..

It is not her job to give your seller that harsh truth.
Of course, the polite thing to do would be to say everything was lovely.
Would you expect her to say the formica looks like hell, or the paneling looks cheap?
And since this property has a view.... yes, I would gush over having a view.

Either she is new, or her clients have some very specific needs, or she is learning the area in order to start up a new farm area.... (I vote for the latter).... in any case, you wouldn't have had this problem if the owners had been gone.

I don't think she did anything wrong.... she was complimentary... much better than insulting.
I always used to tell my buyers Never to insult/critique wallpaper, tile, carpet, etc., in front of a Seller. It hurts their feelings, and is counterproductive. Act like you like Everything, unless we are alone.

Now, as a listing agent, I tell Sellers the hard truths, and give them their Options for dealing with those negatives. They don't Have to do anything I say, but they will usually choose one of the options I suggest. Either change it, fix it, reduce it, or give a credit.... and that the nicest looking house sell first. Pretty simple.
All that is the listing agent's job, not the showing agent's job.

You'll get some self-righteous responses, admonishing you for taking an over-priced listing. I'm not one of those. There are exceptions to every rule, and having a view makes it special.

Lindy in Houston

Be careful if the listing is going to expire. My bet is that the agent will go back at the expiration date and tell the buyer how wonderful the place is again, ask about what the seller's plans are if it does not sell and convince them to list with the new agent who of course has a potential buyer.

Of course the buyer will have decided to go somewhere else since the place is overpriced whcih convinces the seller to lower the price since now they have heard that from two realtors.

Happens all the time here.

Mike Downer

ERA Van Syckel Weaver and Lyte

Bridgewater, NJ 08807

732-560-4444 x 159

Lori said; "Although, I agree with you that agents should be careful about what we say to other agents clients.------.were you there, are you taking second hand information from your clients about what was said?"

Lori may well be right. I had a friend call me to list his home. Frankly, I shuddered. He has a very old double-wide mobile home on a foundation, with 2 bedrooms 1 bath. He did build a nice shop for body and fender work. He got a variance for this in a residential neighborhood. The neighborhood was mostly mobiles on permanent foundations. Pretty, but certainly not high dollar. VERY nice homes in this subdivision had sold for around $200,000-when our market was really hot. His is not in that category.

He told right away that some REALTOR had stopped by and told him he could get $450,000 for his place. The only "landscaping" was a narrow strip of grass in front with a couple of small trees. The rest was asphalt driveway (2) or dirt with autos parked all over. A main road goes right by and above it. Looking down from there it looks like a junk yard.

He gave me a full rundown of the shop and tried to tell me it alone was worth $160,000. (A packaged metal bldg-maybe $40,000 for materials and another $40,000 for labor. It wasn't that big.)

I told him that I am not a commercial REALTOR, and that is what he needed. I told him if he had a REALTOR willing to list at $450,000-chase him down and list with him.

NO WAY did any REALTOR tell him it was worth $450,000! Even an unscrupulous one wouldn't have been that foolish. I don't want to become cynical, but it isn't only buyers who are (sometimes) liars.

Juanita R. Williams

Bray & Co Rifle

970-618-4525

Hello Bonnie, I have to say that in my experience it's best for the showing agent (buyers) to be respectful, courteous & professional but to keep their opinions mostly to themselves. They are not there to do anything other than show the home. With the sellers present the buyers agent needs to be especially conscience of what they say.

Dave Olson

dolson@awardrealty.com