February 1st, 2010 by admin
I don’t think my real estate agent is doing enough to sell my house and I want to fire him, what can I do?
I am in a three month contract with my real estate agent at four percent commission and I want to fire him because I don’t think he is doing enough to sell my house. He is always making me excuses that the market is slow but I know my house can sell because my house is beautiful. I’ve already had my house listed with this guy for over a month now and I haven’t even gotten an offer on it yet! My agent keeps telling me that he has put it on the MLS and realtor.com and sent out flyers for my home and spoken with other agents about it but I don’t think that is enough. He has only done six open houses for my house and it seems like he wants to do them only occassionally now and I want him to keep doing them because I don’t feel he is doing enough to sell my home. What can I do to fire him? I am in a three month contract with him but wish to fire him now. Isn’t there anything I can do?
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Are houses in your area selling for what you want and if so it may be beautiful to you but not buyers you need to look at alot of factors. sounds like for one month they have done alot of work to try and sell for you,
Not really. The contract keeps you with him until it expires. That’s a good number of open houses, more than typical for a realtor. Usually they just list your house and forget about it. but sounds like your realtor is working it. If your house is that much of a looker, then why no good offers after 6 open houses? Sounds like you are missing something, your house nees attention to become a looker. A house near me that is beautiful sold in a week as they gave it huge curb appeal, etc.
WOW, you have had 6 open houses in a month? What more do you think this person should be doing. I would recommend that you do some research. What is the turn time for houses in your area? Do you disbelieve it is listed on MLS and realtor.com? If so, go online and find out for yourself.
I would say that this agent IS doing their job. You need to think about what more you really want them to be doing.
Good luck selling your house, but you need to be more patient.
You said that you have been listed with him for 1 month, and he has done 6 open houses. Its listed in the MLS, what more do you want the guy to do ?
Listing realtors always split the commission with the selling agent. As you have listed your home @ 4%, chances are other realtors are not flocking to show your house , when they can show other houses that are listed @ 6%, and get 3% share as opposed to only 2% with your home. I would raise the price of the home, and agree to a 7% commission, and watch the home get showed a lot more.
The market is very soft throughout the entire country. The housing market (in the 2nd quarter of 2007) has just taken the largest drop since the great depression. This is not a good time to sell homes, especially in Michigan, but throughout the country. Good Luck.
If you would take the time to look at the housing market right now, you will see that he is not lying to you.
You have chosen the wrong time to sell a house.
There are millons of people trying to sell there homes right now, and many of them have had their homes up for sale, six months to a year.
Right now is a buyers market, people are waiting for the prices to come down. So if you do sell it soon, you probably will not get what you are asking for it.
Sorry, but you are getting mad at him for nothing.
He’s done six open houses in one month, sent flyers out and you don’t think that’s enough? What do you want the poor guy to do? Camp out at your front door step and not leave until he gets a buyer?
There is NO WAY I would do six open houses in a month to sell a house….do you know the REAL reason Realtors hold open houses? It’s to generate more clients and rarely does it actually sell the house you are doing the open house for. I have actually got more potential clients from open houses than I have actually sold a home through them.
Houses sell a the right price…if you are not getting showings, then it’s your neighborhood, your school system, crime statistics, or the price.
If you are getting a ton of showings and no offer…then there is something in your home that buyers are reacting to and you need to find out what that something is and fix it ASAP.
Fire him if you wish, but he is working his tail off for you. You won’t get another agent that will do that much in 4 weeks.
Keep in mind that if you sell the home to someone that comes to you from one of the open houses (which he will have a record of), you still owe him the commission in the majority of real estate contracts, unless you contract with another Realtor.
Average marketing time in my area (which is HOT) is 1 to 3 months. Everything that is selling in 1 month is PRIMO condition with excellent schools and usually just below market value….homes that are selling in 3 months are either on the upper end of the value or they are in less desirable neighborhoods.
Seems like he is trying on his end. Realtor’s job is to advertise the property, he can not force any one to buy a property.
Overall market is slow, buyers just want to wait before buying the property as they are thinking home prices are comming down everyday.
You can check, if other properties in your neighborhood sold and those were listed after your property and your property is listed at very reasonable price they you can ask your Realtor the reason .why other properties sold before you ??Then he he will let you list with someone else.
Thanks,
Have you been watching the news??? The housing market is in a huge slump right now. My house has a new roof, new siding, new furnace/air…it has been on the market since MARCH and has only shown (yes SHOWN) once. Nothing is selling at all…give the guy a chance, short of standing outside your house with a flag and a horn there isn’t much more he can do!
if he has done all you have said and you haven’t gotten any interest, then it sounds like it’s the price or something inside or exterior or all of the above.
let me ask you, just what would another agent do that this agent is not doing.
the market is slow
you need to look at the comps of houses that have sold in your area and then put on market not at what you just have to get for the house but at what the house needs to be listed at in order to sell, if they have sold for $200,000 the put yours at $190,000
also look at what others in your area are for sale for, if your is higher then other agents are using your house to sell others.
don’t fire your agent for a changing market and for what you can do to get your house sold, it also takes an average of 90 days to sell now in most areas and sometimes longer
If the Realtor is doing all you said and you were still being so unreasonable, I would let you out of the contract.
Some sellers are whack jobs that want the impossible.
Guess what you are.
I have a few points.
1. I’m sure you’ve heard that the market is in a slump right now. Some areas worse than others.
2. Your agent has sent out flyer, talked to other agents, held open houses and listed it in several places. What more do you want them to do?
3. Six open houses in a month is way too many. Once a month is even a lot. Besides, it benefits your agent more than you. I will briefly explain why open houses are useless to you. First, the people who come typically fall into one of these catagories: Unqualified buyers, nosy neighbors, “lookie-loos”, people looking above their price range, and thieves. They are people who are just beginning their search and have only seen a handful of homes that do not fall in their price range. There is less than half a percent chance that a home will sell while it is open. Agents mainly do open houses to 1. appease the client because they expect them to and 2. to pick up buyer clients.
4. Your commissions are horrible. 4% are you kidding me? That’s 2% for each agent. I wouldn’t take a listing for that amount anyway. My guess is that you bullied your agent into taking it for that low. And for that commisssion you would get minimal service. Why would your agent sink money into heavy marketing on that commission? By the time they are done paying their company their portion, taxes, advertising, time, etc. they make close to nothing. Less than minimum wage. Also, with that commission a buyer’s agent is more likely to show the home down the street where they can get paid more than 2%. Based on this knowledge of the commissions I have no doubt that your home is also over priced and you won’t be willing to negotiate if you do get an offer. Therefore, if you interviewed me to take your listing I would respectfully decline the opportunity.
With that said. I think your agent is fabulous as I would *never* do six open houses in one month for my clients.
If you are that upset talk to your agent. I don’t see much more than he can do. There are more houses on the market right now than people who are buying. That’s a fact and it works against you and anyone else selling. So your house is beautiful. So what. 99% of home owners think that theirs is the best one in the competition.
My best advice is to make sure your home is priced properly, staged to perfection, and available for showings all the time.
I also agree with whoever said they would let you out of the contract. If I was your agent and did all those things and you’re still unhappy I would let you out as I do not like to work with difficult people. Why hang on to the listing for another 2 months, have it not sell, and be aggravated the whole time. Also, I wouldn’t take your listing for just 3 months anyhow. That is not enough time to sell a house.
Dude sounds like you are the expert here, so why did you hire this guy anyway??? I would bet this guy does not come down to McDonalds when your making french fries and tell you how to cook them so why are you trying to tell him how to sell your house????? 6 open houses and you dont think he is doing enough??? And 4% commission??? I am doing a mortgage for a VERY motivated seller here that not only is paying 6% but put a $5000 bonus for the seller. He got it listed and had 5 offers within 3 weeks. He spent some money to make it happen but he did just that. Made it happen, not let it happen. Sometimes you just say forget the cheeze get me out of the trap. Maybe you need to let go of some cheeze and get out of your trap, the house. And I was wondering did your agent have any say in the listing price of your home??? I would bet he didnt and you got it priced like the Rockafellers are going to buy it. Good Luck 2 U man, your gonna need it.
He is doing his job Six open houses in one month? double the commission for this agent, and also the selling agent, lower the price of your property to a reasonable level. Check sites in the Internet were your house it’s being marketed, check if the pictures are great, that is a good selling point..good pictures. About your selling agent, I would hire him to sell my house.
Well, you’ve definitely received a lot of reaction to your post, and I agree with a lot of them. It appears that there are numerous things your agent is doing that most others wouldn’t do.
I’m sure your home is beautiful, but even in Austin, where we have somewhat of a seller’s market, there are lots of beautiful homes to choose from.
The key to selling a home more than any marketing is correct PRICING.
Open Houses occasionally sell home, but mostly get the agent more clients. MLS is one of the best tools, but if it doesn’t stand out from the other homes similar to yours then it will be hard for an agent to “see” it. Online marketing, such as REALTOR.com is the same way.
If there is any reason I see to fire him by “reading between the lines”, that would be because your home may not be priced competitively in a Buyer’s (Slow) Market AND there may be an issue with the commission.
In most cases, the commission amount an agent charges is split amongst other agents (the one representing the buyer).
In most areas, the avg. commission expected for a Buyer’s Agent is 3%. If your agent is doing that then he is only earning 1%, so he probably is splitting it so the Buyer’s Agent is only getting 2 – 2.5%
With SO many homes on the market for sale within a similar price range, that each are beautiful, why would the agent choose to spend his time showing a property that pays less commission. PLUS,it shows him that the sellers may not be easy to work with because they aren’t even willing to pay the standard commission amount, so they avoid it.
This, of course, is only if your agent didn’t inform you of traditionally accepted commissions,AND assuming he isn’t providing the “usual” amount for Buyers agent in the MLS.
One last note, just to reiterate, even with proper pricing a home in a bad, slow market can stay listed for a while.