I guess this is a retorical question mainly.

I'm thinking about accepting a transfer and I would have a full paid relocation package (this means I'm a realestate agents dream). I have inquired with local agents who chat but never follow up with listings.

Now if I was a agent and had a blind call with a reasonable sounding prospect and was looking at my share of a 12,000 - 15,000 commission you'd bet I'd be following up.

As a buyer I am downright amazed that anyone would not follow up. Is this just me or has everyone had these experiences?

-- Mark (toymeister@hotmail.com), December 04, 2001

Answers

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

As a former broker myself, my first bit of advice would be to stop considering yourself every real estate agent's dream. No offense, but I used to specialize in corporate relo's....and like everyone else in every walk of life, there's good ones....and then there's the not so good ones. On the other hand, I can't fathom any of the agents I used to work with turning down a listing unless it was an unrealistic one, which would simply cost the agent valuable time and money. I would call and speak with the broker of the company of your choice, and remember, often NEW agents are fantastic in their enthusiasm to make a sale, sometimes much better in portraying their enthusiasm to a buyer than a more experienced agent.

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

ARe you calling to buy or to sell?

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

When we were trying to move back to the midwest, we found it impossible to get realestate agents to return calls or send listings. When I did make a trip back to look for a place, I had one agent that wouldn't even show me places that I had seen advertised in the newspaper by him (unfortunately they were exclusive - not multiples).

Years ago, I saw a house advertised (multiple listing) that I really wanted to look at, I called 5 agents before one would show me the place and he sold it to me. I did call back one of the snottier agents and told them about the sale they lost.

On the other hand we listed our farm last year with someone we thought would be a good agent, but the place was never shown once in 3 mos. After we took it off the market, I had talked to someone that was an agent for another company and she told me that she could have sold our place many times over, but that the listing agent would never return her calls to set up a showing. Boy was I pissed, but there is always hope - this agent we listed with was also the broker for the firm and she went bust last month - wonder why.

-- beckie (none@this.time), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

If there's a place you're REALLY interested in - bypass the agent. Find out the owner and contact them directly. Tell them the agent hasn't been returning your calls. Let them can the agent, then you can settle down to talking. The commission they won't have to give the agent can give them a little more flexibility on the price. I'm not saying to bypass good agents, but if they have one who's not doing the right job for them they're entitled to know. It has been known for dishonest agents to engineer things so there is no apparent interest, get the owners to the stage where they'll take a lower price, then send in a dummy/proxy to buy for themselves. Some agents get so much business they don't really have to try - they're busy all the time making an indecent amount of money without chasing business - if that's the case, the owner is entitled to know as well.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

Real estate agents are like any other profession. Some are good at what they do and some need a different job. I have had a very bad agent that lied and lost a deal 2 days before closing and another that was wonderful and did anything it took to make the deal work. Real estate is a time consuming job and the amount of work one agent can handle is limited. The good thing is there are a lot of them. So I would interview a few more and find someone that you like and is willing to work for your interests.

-- Tom (tomdarsavy@cs.com), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

Hey Don Armstrong, I have a question: When you list your house with a realtor isn't there some clause in the contract that says you can't deal with the owner directly, or something like that? Not that a lazy realtor doesn't deserve to have the rug pulled out from under them, but I'm wondering if a realtor could litigate over something like this. Just wondering.

-- gita (gschmitz@directcon.net), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

I'm the guy who wrote the question.

I consider myself a agent's dream beacause 1) I have a house sold and WILL buy one (not may) 2) I'm not a first time buyer or an upgrade buyer and 3) there will be no financing or other special issues for me.

As a purchasing agent for a large firm I expect that my calls are returned or I won't buy from them. So I have an idea of what service CAN be provided.

From what I see a realestate deal for a transaction like mine is easy money, little effort and quick payoff. So of course I expect great service. The overall effort maybe 24 hours lets see, 14,000 commision divided four ways, 3,500 for 24 hours effort. Do you expect an honest effort for this sort of money? I do.

-- Mark (toymeister@hotmail.com), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

Gita, yes, there's almost certainly a clause like that when you list a house with an agent, which is why I said let the owner can them. Once that's done, then the owner's free to do as they will. There may well be periods of notice involved, but if the owner could point to proof that the agent wasn't doing their job, then I think the agent would probably shut up. After all a contract has to benefit both parties, or there's no contract - if they tried to restrict the owner, while not doing their job, I think they'd get laughed out of court - with costs against.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

As an agent I can say that yes, there are times I don't follow up on a potential sale. Most commonly when a buyer wants a $200,000 property on a $50,000 budget. Sometimes I'll let one go when the buyer has no idea what they really want. Call me back when you KNOW what you are looking for. And of course I'll write a buyer off if they come across as too pushy or arrogant. I'm busy enough with respectful clients.

-- Just my thought (mboyc73@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

A few years back we were looking at a property in southern Saskatchewan. It was an acreage with a century home -- pretty much perfect from everything I could see on the multiple listing service. I called the listing broker and the very first thing the snarky peice of work said to me was, "Have you got your mortgage in place yet, because I'm not driving all the way out there if you don't."

I basically told him that no, we didn't have our mortgage in place, because we wouldn't be NEEDING ONE, and perhaps he ought to not make assumptions about prospective clients, because unless the property was an ancient indian burial ground, was on the site of a major oil spill or had been used as a landfill site, he'd just lost a for-sure sale.

Bad service is bad service, and good service is good service. Every industry has both, and ALL clients deserve the very best effort the service person can offer, whether that's a $2 sale or a $200,000 sale. If someone can't offer that consistently, get out of the service industry.

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), December 04, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

You'd think they'd be falling all over themselves wouldn't you? We've run into the same thing. We're looking to sell and buy. We've called on ads and have not only not gotten a call back, when we've called again we still don't hear from them. The way I look at it is, it must be nice to turn down their percent of a $ 130,000 to $150, 000 sale. For now we will look on our own and we plan to cut out the realitor.

-- Kelle in MT (kvent1729@aol.com), December 05, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

I enjoy the responses. Have you noticed the irritated customers vs. the realestate 'professionals' who have replied?

What is a professional anyway? In Michigan a realestate agent must be licenced, a highway flagman must not be. Is this the standard? If it is I am worried. I can get a RS license with a weekend's training (this is not a distortion). It is more difficult to be a licensed carpenter, hairstylist or mechanic than a realestate agent in Michigan, maybe your state also. Now this is not a put down for a good agent as they are a vital asset to choosing a good home and many work very hard but they aren't doctors: they are salesman with some mostly on-the-job 'training' training.

So how do they make a cut beteeen a looker and a buyer? That must be a real art. This is an art that takes time and instinct but it is not because they are "professionals" with vast amounts of training. Customers expect good service esp. from those who identify themeslves as 'professionals'. This is my point

-- Mark (toymeister@hotmail.com), December 05, 2001.

Response to How do you get a reaestate agent to return your calls?

Hey Mark....I was where you are right now. Wanted to buy land and no one would work with us. So I got my real estate lic and said to heck with the snotty/lazy ones and have never looked back since. Call me and I will find you someone to work with you. Lynnda

-- Lynnda (venus@zeelink.net), December 05, 2001.

Some banks have a whole division devoted to corporate (and personal too) relocations.

When we relocated we simply called our bank's relocation people. We filled out their questionnaire (very detailed) and they took it from there. Dealt with the real estate agents, got us school, services, community affairs info, etc. at our new location.

Also got real estate agent who sold our old house, coordinated moving company, turned off services, etc.

Altogether a pretty stress free experience. That was 5 years ago, and now here we are at CackleberryAcres, living our dream while hubby works in town.

Call your bank and see - if not - call First Union if there's one near you.

-- Mick (CackleberryAcres@aol.com), December 05, 2001.

Mark~

We had a wonderful real estate agent who sold our previous home for us in 10 days and also worked out a great deal for us on our current farm. We have reccomended her to anyone we knew was looking, and everyone has been pleased with her service. You might try asking some of the people at your new job location if they could reccomend a good agent to work with. Word of mouth is always the best advertisement.

-- Ivy in NW AR (balch84@cox-internet.com), December 05, 2001.

Around here MN/WI, agents will not show you any property unless you first bring with you a pre-approval. Whether you are paying cash or not, you gotta have proof that you qualify. It annoyed me somewhat the first time I ran into this, but since I couldnt do anything about it, I accepted it and got on with it.

My mother sold real estate for 20 years, so I learned a little along the way. First of all, most of em don't make much money. 20% of agents make 80% of the money. The rest of em just get by, or quit. You can criticize all you want, but most of their time is taken up with running around to dead ends. It's VERY time consuming,as a rule anyway.

As to the comments about getting a real estate license with a weekend's training.......I dunno know where you live, but here in MN, to obtain a license takes 90 hours of school, passing an exam, acceptance to a licensed broker's office, 45 additional hours of classroom time the first year, and 15 hours of post-license education per year thereafter. We have purchased 4 properties in this area, and each time the paperwork has been unbelievable. Most of it is govenment-mandated garbage, "protecting" all parties from lawsuits, etc,but it is one heck of a pile of paper to wade through. I know you can do this with a real estate attorney, but around here there are very few properties to be found that are not on the MLS, and it would be almost impossible to buy one without an agent anyway.

Course a lot depends on the demeanor of the client; no one wants to work with an unpleasant person, no matter how big the paycheck.

Just my experience........

Peace,

-- Earthmama (earthmama@yahoo.com), December 05, 2001.

I’d get a new agent. The first time I bought a house, I spent three days looking for an agent and two hours looking for a house. You can’t believe the responses of some of these agents. Some agents only want to show you their own listings, or those of their company. One actually told me that she supposed she would be able to take me to a couple of houses if I would promise not to look at houses with any other agents! Not wanting her to put herself out, I declined. When I finally settled on an agent, I looked through the MLS book and found three or four houses that looked good. We spent a couple of hours driving to the homes, and I bought one of them.

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), December 05, 2001.

What the relocation company that is handling this does not tell you is they get half of the commision from the agent. I did a relocation and it was the worst time i ever had. Do the math they do not want you but they can not tell you that.

-- phillip (raines@rainesridgefarm.com), December 05, 2001.

I decided to call back one of the guys I talked to before, he seemed decent so I thought I'd give another chance. He had some lame excuse about a bad fax, but I think the truth is that his screening process is waiting to see who follows up with him, bizare logic if thats what he was thinking. But then again, he probably didn't get a business degree and knows little about customer satisfaction.

All in all I've decided to find what I need through my own effort and call an agent to close the deal, the first agent who sets up an appointment.

I do have some other followup comments, Not all relocation companies take a cut from your commisions, at least mine will not. And while I appreicate the offers of assistance, which are most likely sincere, s/he may just be after their 10% cut of the agent who sells me a house commision. So 14,000 commision divided 4 ways, 3,500 to the selling agent, then 10% of that to the helpful forum RS agent ... say where is my cut?

-- Mark (toymeister@hotmail.com), December 05, 2001.

"he probably didn't get a business degree and knows little about customer satisfaction"

Do you really think that is where people learn about customer satisfaction?? I sense that someone is very full of himself...

-- Just my thought (mboyc73@yahoo.com), December 05, 2001.

Well, we live next door to our real estate agents and sometimes we have to go pound on their door to get answers from them!! otoh, they also get calls 24/7 from all kinds of people who don't seem to get the fact that they have lives, too. I don't blame them for turning off the phone for a while!

Most of us don't like getting calls all through dinner, etc.!

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), December 06, 2001.

I know customer satisfaction is taught is business school (but not often learned), I doubt it is even mentioned in a weekend "Become a RS agent and make a million" class. I think anyone who does not expect customer satisfaction (if it is well paid for) is a fool. Those that do expect respect and satisfaction and are normal Americans.

My point here was/is two fold: RS agents need to follow up if they want to maximize sales (after filtering out the tire kickers)and we consumers should expect no less than an honest effort for our money.

What do you think?

-- Mark (toymeister@hotmail.com), December 06, 2001.

I had thought it was just me! When we were ready to move I had trouble getting agents to return my calls. The one who did got my business. We only had a few problems (communication glitches) & everything worked out in the end.

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), December 06, 2001.

ok....first of all Mark for someone who is buying a 250k (can you do the math?) house you seem to be awefully high strung. Try not to judge other peoples professions... you dont know the circumstances. I'm sure you've stepped on a few peoples toes Mr Business School. No wonder your company wanted to relocate you, your a clown.

-- Max Cale (drdieselmd@aol.com), January 14, 2002.

We have had really good agents to work with on both sides of the equation, except for once. The really big agents (the "multi-million" dollar sellers) have a staff that deals with everything from last minute repair work (decent price, good work AND on time) to personally bringing documents to houses for signatures. We are often talking 10 or more people! That is a clue as to how good an agent they are.

I honestly think that it is a GOOD idea for buyers to be prequalified because it keeps THEM from wasting time/money looking at properties they'll never afford (and getting depressed over the nicer houses), and keeps agents from the same thing (although you will always see agents try to nudge up your price a few thousand, in the hopes of getting a bit better commission--if they refuse to listen to you, drop 'em).

I know people think real estate agents make a lot of money, but it is not quite the way you think, although the better agents will make 60/40 or better on the commission split with the broker. Out of each commission comes office expenses (many of the big firms now charge desk/office/phone rent to each agent) in addition to the commission split. Real estate agents are one of the "classic" examples of independent contractors for tax purposes, so any of you in that position know all about expenses that go with that.

One of the best things you can do is to make sure your agent is a full- time agent (they are not teaching to supplement their income, they are not retired and doing this while they are on a full pension, etc.) because they live and die by their referrals and repeat business. If they are a broker or associate broker that also helps too.

This is not to say that part-time agents can't be honest and hardworking, but it has been my experience that part-timers go into real estate (as in get a license) PRIMARILY to get first crack at properties for sale to add to their investment portfolio, and not be actually making a living at it. After all, if it doesn't work out, they still have their teaching job, pension, or whatever. Not to mention other jobs they have mean they are often unavailable.

Hope this helps.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 14, 2002.

real estate agents are like most american businesses they have come to believe that we need them. and that they do not need us, the only thing you can do is refuse to do business with them.

-- david clark (btfakralc@yahoo.com), January 23, 2002.