Agent to Meet? Or Not to Meet? That is the Question.

I've been showing homes to an out of town couple around the $2 million price point over the past few weeks. Each time we view approximately 6 to 8 homes. I give at least 24 hours notice as most of these properties are "agent to meet"...the last thing any Realtor wants to see in the showing instructions section for any listing. I'm not exaggerating when I say at least 5 of the agents attempt to reschedule the 30 minute time frame I give them because they "can't make it at the time we've requested".

On the surface that sounds fair but you have to look at it from a buyer's point of view - and their agent's. When you're looking at 8 homes from Russwood Acres to Jan-Mar to Bluffview to Greenway Parks to UP/HP the listing agents should be THRILLED that I only gave them a 30 minute time frame. Let me give you an example you probably won't care much about. And that's ok. This is my own form of therapy time so let me have it, dammit! :)

You have to have a starting point so let's pick Jan-Mar (Royal and Hillcrest) at 11am. From there we're heading to Russwood Acres (Royal and Midway). Then down to Bluffview and Greenway Parks. And shoot across the toll road to the Park Cities. We'll probably end around 2pm.

But...The first agent can only meet me at 1pm so we'll need to reschedule that one. But then what about the other home in Jan-Mar we just scheduled with the other listing agent for 11:30am? I guess we can move her to 1:30pm.

And then...The second agent can't do 1:30pm because she has a massage appointment.

And then...Both of the Russwood Acres homes we want to see are having an Open House from 2pm to 4pm so it would be nice if we could reschedule our times to view the homes at that time instead of from 12pm to 1pm.

So now...I have to call the Greenway Parks listing agents and the Park Cities agents to reschedule with them and hope they can make the new appointment time after they've probably already made plans.

You see what I'm getting at. It's a pain in the arse and we typically have to cancel at least 2 of the homes on our orginal list because the agents can't meet us to show the home.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of "agent to meet" showings. They are pointless and my buyers find the listing agents more distracting than helpful as they prattle on about how "special" their listing is while following us from room to room.

In my opinion, no home in the Park Cities or Preston Hollow areas under $3 million is special enough to require a Realtor's presence at the home when it is being shown. If you want to brag about the special features of your listing then open up Microsoft Word and prove it by placing an information sheet in the home. You running your yapper and rattling off the 1,000 special things about this home is lost on every buyer that walks through the front door. I don't care if Lambert's did the lawn or the guy standing by the DART bus stop. If it looks nice then it looks nice. That is not a special feature of any home.

The saddest and most important part of all this is that sellers of these homes will never know someone tried to show their $1.8 million dollar home. No wonder it has been on the market for 178 days. I mean seriously, do you think the listing agent will tell their sellers they couldn't make the showing because they were too busy? I didn't think so.

Ridiculous.

Sorry for my absense. I was buying a car.

Thanks to those who have sent emails and comments wondering as to my recent whereabouts. I wish I could say I was on vacation or been kidnapped (this is an Alabaster Abthernabther reference but since he has gone "private" with his blog - not unlike the red velvet rope clubs we all love to hate - I cannot link to it anymore) but, alas, I was not. I was simply negotiating a car purchase which was a far worse experience than any mutli-million dollar real estate deal I have ever been involved in. And no, that's not an exaggeration.

I visited multiple car dealerships in different areas seeing if they would quote me different prices on the same vehicle. Which they did. So then I got "preapproved" through said dealerships and the numbers changed again. It's half-way through Wednesday at this point and 2 dealerships are eager to get my business while others have not contacted me since I stepped foot on their car lot. (Sewell Lexus & Crest Infiniti) So then I go to my ace-in-the-hole. Or so I thought. I called a D & M Leasing agent I had been referred to (much like referring a Realtor) and to put it nicely, she was a bitch. Did she get the deal done? Yes. But she was terrible to deal with. I was on the phone negotiating terms with her for TWO-AND-A-HALF-HOURS! And finally at 7:30pm Wednesday night we had struck a deal. She said I could pick up the car Thursday afternoon. Great! Yea! Hoorah!

At 12:30pm Thursday afternoon I was meeting some real estate professional friends for lunch and I had yet to hear from her! So I call her and she tells me the monthly payment has increased by $25 a month! Wait. What? She said the numbers she was working with the night before were "preliminary". Long story short, I picked up my new car Friday on the terms I wanted but LORD AND BABY JESUS IT WAS A BEATING!

Don't go thinking there isn't a real estate reference in here because there is. Buying a home without using a Realtor is like buying car. There is a reason car salesman have a terrible reputation. Their job is simple -screw you to the wall. These people had no incentive to be honest with me or explain to me their process. They wanted me to agree to the highest sales price at the highest interest rate and since I don't know the first thing about car financing or what prices other people are buying my same car for there wasn't a thing I could do about it. Fortunately for me I did a lot of research and feel pretty good about my purchase. But I'd be lying if I wasn't wondering if there are other people who got a better deal than me. If there was such a thing as a Buyer's Agent for cars I'd feel a lot better. But there isn't.

Considering a home purchase is typically much more expensive than buying a car shouldn't you be using a Realtor? If you don't agree, let me know how your next car purchase goes.

Buyer's Agent = Secret Agent

A person once asked me, "Why are getting listings and putting a sign in my yard so important to you Realtors?"

It's a great question and I do have an answer for this one. It has to do with marketing and visibility. When a Realtor gets a new listing it is basically a mini-billboard for that agent. If one Realtor has 7 out of 10 listings in your neighborhood who do the neighbors think is the market expert? Who gets all the sign calls and then turns them into buyers? When Realtors begin to acquire listings in a particular area it creates credibility and visibility which builds success.

Now picture a house in your neighborhood that was for sale and recently sold. Got it? Now tell me the name of the Realtor who represented the person that bought the home. What? You can't? Now you understand why Realtors aspire to get listings and not just represent buyers. Buyer's agents are basically secret agents.

And now you know. And knowing is half the...whatever. (Couldn't resist)

Listing Agent vs. Buyer's Agent

Now that Pandora's Box has been opened we might as well explore it.

Listing Agent - represents seller's best interests, pricing the property correctly for quick sale while negotiating the highest sales price for the seller.

Buyer's Agent - represents buyer's best interests, finding the right home for the buyer and helping them negotiate the lowest price for the home.

After reading these descriptions, which agent do you think the seller should ask to reduce their commission? Since the buyer is working against the seller's best interests you would think the seller would be more likely to reduce their commission but yet this is not the case. (This is why I love bringing buyers to FSBO's. They have no idea we are taking them to the cleaners. I am representing my buyers yet the sellers are so happy I brought a buyer they start yakking and spill all the beans and they pay me just as any other seller would but without the professional representation. I win, my client wins, seller loses but has no idea.) But I digress.

So who works harder in your opinion? If one or the other doesn't deserve a full commission how much are they worth? Bring it. I can handle it.