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Is this normal? [Real Estate/Realtor Question]
NibCrom
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I just listed my place on the market with a realtor.
I have a "broker opening" today from 11 am – 2 pm, which I guess is essentially brokers come over and offer the realtor advice on how the place could be improved or what the think of the pricing of the place, whatever.
He showed up at 8 am this morning. He called someones cell phone and rang the door bell and after not getting a response he used the realtor key to go inside. There were still people inside my house that hadn't left for the day, they didn't hear the doorbell, so he essentially walked in unannounced.
I heard about this, called him and told him that I would appreciate it next time if he would get our permission before going in our house. He said okay and I thought that was the end of it. He then e-mailed another member of my family and told them that we had signed a document that we didn't need any notice for people seeing our house. The e-mail was essentially him scolding me after I told him politely but firmly that I would like our permission before he goes over.
He told the other member of my family that it's essentially basic practice to phone and ring the door bell and just go inside if no one answers. My feeling is: unless you get explicit permission from the homeowner, you can't just assume that it is okay to enter our house.
Am I completely wrong here? I think I'm being reasonable, essentially since he showed up 3 hours before the time he said he would be there.
I have a "broker opening" today from 11 am – 2 pm, which I guess is essentially brokers come over and offer the realtor advice on how the place could be improved or what the think of the pricing of the place, whatever.
He showed up at 8 am this morning. He called someones cell phone and rang the door bell and after not getting a response he used the realtor key to go inside. There were still people inside my house that hadn't left for the day, they didn't hear the doorbell, so he essentially walked in unannounced.
I heard about this, called him and told him that I would appreciate it next time if he would get our permission before going in our house. He said okay and I thought that was the end of it. He then e-mailed another member of my family and told them that we had signed a document that we didn't need any notice for people seeing our house. The e-mail was essentially him scolding me after I told him politely but firmly that I would like our permission before he goes over.
He told the other member of my family that it's essentially basic practice to phone and ring the door bell and just go inside if no one answers. My feeling is: unless you get explicit permission from the homeowner, you can't just assume that it is okay to enter our house.
Am I completely wrong here? I think I'm being reasonable, essentially since he showed up 3 hours before the time he said he would be there.
NibCrom on
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He probably shouldn't have sent an email that you view as him 'scolding you', but that doesn't seem all that out there. It's not the best idea to hamstring your broker.
He didn't "walk in unannounced" just because noone heard the doorbell. He announced himself as much as any reasonable person would.
Are you mad because it wasn't an actual showing? If he'd had potential buyers with him but had to bring them earlier than he'd expected would you rather him not show them the house? Realtors generally check in with you before they bring someone over to make sure it's ok, but sometimes it's very last minute.
His e-mail is a little passive aggresive, but I don't know how I'd respond as a realtor to a client getting mad at me for trying to do my job.
My bigger issue is… does he just think it's okay to enter our house or show it potential buyers without our knowledge or notice? I am not okay with that. This is my first time selling a place, but I have never heard of that, ever.
But I feel very uncomfortable if he thinks he can come over to our house at any time of the day. If he had shown up 30 minutes early or so, I would think that would be very reasonable. But people were still getting ready for the day at my house that early in the morning and I am upset that he didn't think there was anything wrong with that.
At this point, you're basically telling him right off the bat that you're going to make his job very difficult. His job is selling your house.
You need to think of your realtor as part of your extended family right now, because he's going to be dropping by and calling quite a bit.
He showed up early today to check things out for the broker meeting. He rang the door bell. Called you. Should he have just given up, or would you like to allow this man to do the job for which you hired him?
By the way, the broker meeting is extremely important, since it gets the word out to other agents about the listing. Those other agents will spread the word to other agents and more importantly, buyers.
Lighten up, or this is going to end in the realtor telling you to go fuck yourself and you'll have a hilarious time trying to find another agent who hasn't heard about the seller with the stick up his ass.
If he really is a condescending dick, fire him and get a new one. What Figgy said might be true, but in larger markets there are hundreds and hundreds of realtors hungry for sales. Word won't "get out." Find one you can work with.
I dunno that this is uncommon, but I do know that potential buyers can come in very last-minute, and if you always want to know ahead of time and you also want to move the house, you are going to need to be 100% reachable pretty much 24/7/365.
This would have upset me as well, but then I also would have been clearer with my expectations.
In these dealings you need to make sure you understand absolutely everything you're signing as well, before you sign it. Selling a house is tough, and made tougher in a buyer's market. Some friends of mine just sold their house. Despite having an infant and a rough pregnancy on their plate, they were extremely accommodating to buyers and managed to sell after a little over a year on the market.
You actually CAN set things up so that showings are only during the week, or only during the weekends, or only in the evening, or whatever you want. There's not necessarily anything wrong with this, but it's a terrible move if you're anxious to sell. For every restriction you place on who may enter your home and when, expect time on the market to increase exponentially.
I did not ream him out over the phone at all. It's not really the fact that he showed up at my house unannounced that irks me. It's the time of day. People were still getting ready for the day when he showed up.
Let's say he had showed the house to some buyers in the middle of the afternoon on a day when he couldn't get a hold of us. That's fine! I don't care! We made it clear to him that we would leave our house show ready at all times so people could see our house at any time. But showing up at 8 in the morning when people are still getting ready for work is not cool.
Edit: I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this correctly. If he had just said, "Sorry I showed up so early. What time do you usually get up in the morning or leave for work? In the future, would it be okay if someone wants to look at the house and I can't get a hold of you that I can show it at a reasonable hour?" I would have said, "yes, that's fine! No problem!"
I read every post here and I am not sure that Figgy is being overly aggressive. Maybe assertive, but there is a difference.
I honestly think the feedback that Figgy gave is good feedback, regardless of the tone. Heed it and I think you will do well.
Based on your reaction to the feedback that has been given I think you are not happy that you did not get the response that you were expecting. Based on your reaction to the Realtor, and to the feedback on this forum you probably tend to be overly sensitive to decorum and expect a certain level of respect from others. Nothing wrong with that, however as a result I think you will continue to have these feelings that others are not treating you as you expect you are due.
Best Regards,
Bigtoy
Also, I can count to "boat".
Rereading my original post I can that my tone may have been taken as aggressive towards this person trying to help me sell my home, even though that was not the case. Sorry if this turned into another "I miscommunicated with someone and they miscommunicated back with me, what do you guys think?" thread. That was certainly not my intent. I don't think I did a great job of explaining the whole situation to you guys and for that I apologize. I do appreciate everyone reading my posts and helping out.