# Agents Won't Return Calls



## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

This is a bit bizarre. 

Houses have started selling again, so I thought I'd get someone to look at my house and tell me if they think they can sell it.

I've called 2 different agents. One never returned my phone call. The other one, I actually got her to answer the phone but she was supposed to look up some comps and get back to me, and she has never called back.

I know there are a lot of lazy agents out there who prefer to list houses and then not do any more work. They wait for someone else to do the selling and get it through escrow. But here are 2 agents who aren't even interested in taking a listing.

Next, I'll try a different office and see if anyone there is interested in taking a listing.


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## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

Keep calling around, and someone hopefully will respond.


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## Newlife (May 27, 2012)

Another idea would be to find a buyer's agent. Spend your time searching for a good one -- it will save you sooo many headaches.

That is provided they have them in your area. I thought the concept was pretty ubiquitous, but I've looked at properties in some areas and when I mention it; I get looks like I'm talking in a foreign language


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## Forestdude (Jun 9, 2012)

In my limited amount of dealings with realtors, I had *Terrible* luck with them. It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I opted to sell my old house on my own, and it worked out great. I just made up some nice flyers and put them out by the mailbox, a for sale sign in the yard and an ad in the classifieds in a small town paper. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I really enjoyed showing and telling about my house and meeting new people


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

When you want an agent, don't look for the one with the lowest commission rates, look for the one with the highest volume sales. They are the go-getters and will do you the better job. We learned to also stay away from those agents that are part-time agents.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

We had 90 acres we decided to sell. We have a good friend that is an agent. He has been calling us about every 6 to 8 weeks with interested buyers. Finally, we let him list it. He hasn't had one person look at it. So, when our contract is up, we'll take it off the market, most likely because we know the value of that place will double in the next 10 years or less.


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## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

My dh was military for 28 years, so we have done our share of moving, & buying & selling homes. I usually try to get 2 or 3 agents to come out----This person will be working for you, so you want an agent you have confidence in, and feel comfortable around. The one that give you the highest listing price is not always the best one to go with either. If your house is overpriced, it may sit on the market for a very long time.

Maybe the agents know the property in your area is not moving, so they don't want to bother, but if you keep looking, you will find a few who are hungry enough to do a great job for you.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Newlife said:


> Another idea would be to find a buyer's agent. Spend your time searching for a good one -- it will save you sooo many headaches.
> 
> That is provided they have them in your area. I thought the concept was pretty ubiquitous, but I've looked at properties in some areas and when I mention it; I get looks like I'm talking in a foreign language


There is a reason many agents arent jumping through hoops to become a buyers agent. One of the best reasons I can think of is that buyers are seldom willing to enter a contract and pay them a commission. 

The other major reason would be that most realtors know whose best interests they are looking out for.... and it isnt the buyer.. nor the seller.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

oregon woodsmok said:


> This is a bit bizarre.
> 
> Houses have started selling again, so I thought I'd get someone to look at my house and tell me if they think they can sell it.
> 
> ...


Looking at this from an agents point of view here. Listings cost money.... and if there are no buyers... why bother to spend time money and energy adding yet another listing onto the existing stack of unsell-able properties? When the RE market in CA gets back on its feet... there will once again be a supply of able buyers for Oregon property... until then... I suggest you enjoy your property.


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## whodunit (Mar 29, 2004)

Got to the Dave Ramsey website Dave Ramsey Homepage - daveramsey.com and see if there is a ELP (Endorsed Local Provider) in your area.


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## KentuckyDreamer (Jan 20, 2012)

Even if property is no moving at this time, it would seem to me common courtesy ( as well as future costumers ) would be to return the call an explain the situation.


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> Looking at this from an agents point of view here. Listings cost money.... and if there are no buyers... why bother to spend time money and energy adding yet another listing onto the existing stack of unsell-able properties? When the RE market in CA gets back on its feet... there will once again be a supply of able buyers for Oregon property... until then... I suggest you enjoy your property.


 As the OP clearly stated, she is interested in listing as houses have started moving again in her region. Pretty common situation in many areas, actually. I live in the worst hit county in PA, highest foreclosure rate by far, yet sales are up about 80% in the first four months of this year, compared to the same period last year. As for your theory that realtors should just give up, you're kidding right? My realtor husband and wife team sold six million worth of property last year. A huge percentage of it was short sales, foreclosures, REOs and other bargain basement stuff. They did this by working their butts off, not by, as you suggest, giving up because times are hard.


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

oregon woodsmok said:


> This is a bit bizarre.
> 
> Houses have started selling again, so I thought I'd get someone to look at my house and tell me if they think they can sell it.
> 
> ...


Unless you have a real knowledge as to an individual agent's performance, it's better to approach this from a different angle. Contact several agencies and ask to speak to the broker in charge of the office. They run the show, and can direct you to a top seller that will actually do the job. This is also a great way to prequalify all the players involved. If the broker can't be bothered to return your call, you can't expect their agents to be any better. The same goes for the agent they recommend. Bottom line in real estate is that 20% of the agents sell 80% of the inventory. The amount of useless dead weight in that field is simply staggering. I needed to sell an out of town property and had no knowledge of the agents in the area. I called five agencies and asked have the brokers return my call. Two never got back to me. one returned my call, then failed to listen to a darn thing I said. The remaining two set me up with agents. One agent called my three days after I called her, and offered to meet in a week. I told her I would keep looking. The agent I selected was, not surprisingly, a top performer who returned every call, text and email instantly.


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

KentuckyDreamer said:


> Even if property is no moving at this time, it would seem to me common courtesy ( as well as future costumers ) would be to return the call an explain the situation.


 Doesn't matter how well the market is doing, it's pretty rare that an agent would turn down listings. I know that some will turn down individual hopeless cases. I have heard of several potential customers being turned away in my area when they were simply too upside down for any deal to make sense. No point in listing a home when you owe a great deal more than it's current market value, and you would need to bring tens of thousands (that you don't have) to the table, to close the deal. As for the theory that the market is slow, so why bother answering calls from customers? Sorry, but that doesn't really add up.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

wharton said:


> As the OP clearly stated, she is interested in listing as houses have started moving again in her region. Pretty common situation in many areas, actually. I live in the worst hit county in PA, highest foreclosure rate by far, yet sales are up about 80% in the first four months of this year, compared to the same period last year. As for your theory that realtors should just give up, you're kidding right? My realtor husband and wife team sold six million worth of property last year. *A huge percentage of it was short sales, foreclosures, REOs and other bargain basement stuff.* They did this by working their butts off, not by, as you suggest, giving up because times are hard.


I did not get the impression from the OP that they were interested in selling their property for bargain basement prices.... which is what is currently selling... when and if a qualified buyer can be found. And no... a good agent will not role over and play dead... they actively pursue "marketable" listings.... like the husband/wife team you mentioned have done. I was the top selling agent in our office for 11 years.... I never pursued overmarket price listings... I looked for marketable properties instead. Not to say that I wouldnt talk to folks who clearly had no idea about property values.... I did, but once I had talked to them... and given them the facts... if they (for whatever reason) insisted that they knew better than I did... I referred them them to my competitors who didnt seem to mind wasting their time. Those properties rarely sold, but they made good "bouncers". A bouncer is an overpriced property you show first... then show similar properties that are priced reasonably to your customer.... guess which one sells?  In todays market there are still plenty of reasonably priced (forclosures shortsales etc) properties to select from in Oregon... Unless the OP is ready to sell their property competing in those price ranges... they are probably either not going to get an agent to list and actively work the listing... or if they find an agent to list it for 5 year ago prices it will become a bouncer and sit on the market until the listing expires.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Thanks. I did find an agent to list it. They did the comps and came up with a price range. I listed it for the lowest number. Several houses of equal quality have actually sold this spring for a higher price.

So I don't think I am all that unrealistic or unreasonable.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

oregon woodsmok said:


> Thanks. I did find an agent to list it. They did the comps and came up with a price range. I listed it for the lowest number. Several houses of equal quality have actually sold this spring for a higher price.
> 
> So I don't think I am all that unrealistic or unreasonable.


As long as you have listed it in the competitive range you may do ok. A good agent will do a cma (competitive market analysis) which includes several comps of recent sales as well as several comps of similar properties on the market in the low price range. These are your competition. Wishing you the very best of luck.


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## Nomad (Dec 19, 2002)

Last fall when we started looking for a house we couldn't get agents to call us back when we would see a listing online. I don't understand what they were thinking. I guess their business was so good they could afford to be rude to potential buyers. We finally got our own agent and things went fine.

Nomad


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

Nomad said:


> Last fall when we started looking for a house we couldn't get agents to call us back when we would see a listing online. I don't understand what they were thinking. I guess their business was so good they could afford to be rude to potential buyers. We finally got our own agent and things went fine.
> 
> Nomad


 Unfortunately there are no shortages of horrendiously incompetent agents out there. Most sucessful agents will tell you that their office is still harboring a lot of dead wood, and before the boom collapsed it was ten times as bad. The old saying that 20% of real estate agents sell 80% of the market is real believable. I've been in the building business for almost three decades now, and there have been many times when an agent either screwed up a deal, or was doing their best screw it up, until somebody stepped in to limit the damage. Firing agents, and/or chewing somebody a new butt, is pretty much SOP if you deal with enough of them. There are some REALLY good ones in every market, they are surrounded by idiots, and knowing the difference will have a massive impact on your sucess and happiness in buying property.


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## rickfrosty (Jun 19, 2008)

oregon woodsmok said:


> Thanks. I did find an agent to list it. They did the comps and came up with a price range. I listed it for the lowest number. Several houses of equal quality have actually sold this spring for a higher price.
> 
> So I don't think I am all that unrealistic or unreasonable.


Hope you can sell & not take a beating .
Will you go to a more farmable, or ? property ? More rural ?


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Look for the top two or three agents in your area and call them. The first one who calls you back is the one who wants the job.


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