*Sigh*
Anyone that has read this blog for any length of time knows that lousy listing information on homes for sale is a pet peeve of mine.
Here is today’s winner. It covers pretty much every aspect of what makes a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) entry wrong.
First, there is only one photo. It’s of the front of the home and the most dominant aspect of the photo is the SUV parked in the driveway.
The directions field normally contains, shockingly, directions to the home. Typically something along the lines of “Go south on Main ST, east on 1ST, home is 0.2 miles on left (north) side.
The directions for this listing?
“See Map”
The “Remarks” section is where the listing agent can put descriptive info on the home. It’s the only place in the MLS where the listing agent can “sell” the house. Sure, you often see flowery fluff like “Honey stop the car!”, and “I’m gorgeous inside!”, but more often you see language that describes the home and neighborhood. Both agents and potential buyers find the remarks section especially helpful in determining if a home may meet their basic needs.
The remarks in this listing say only, “Fabulous 3 bedroom w/ a den. North/South exposure. Great floorplan. Enjoy the easy care desert landscaping. Must see”
Not exactly helpful.
Then we get to the room measurements. The MLS has a place for dimensions for all of a home’s rooms. Handy for knowing in advance the size of the bedrooms, if your 9 foot sofa can be placed far enough away from your 60” plasma TV, that sort of thing.
Room dimensions for this home?
Blank. Zip. Zero. Nada.
The MLS allows the listing agent to enter the type, style and details of things like the roof, fencing, home owners association rules and utilities. That information on this listing says “see remarks” and, naturally, there is nothing in the remarks…
A woefully incomplete listing entry like this would by definition require a call to the listing agent for more information and details. So we’re treated to this gem in the “Realtor remarks” section:
Listing agent office hours Mon-Fri 7-4. Contact via EMAIL is best for response. Do not call agent on Sunday. Don’t request more info until you have shown the home and are ready to write an offer. (my emphasis in bold)
I understand having office hours. Many real estate agents work ridiculous hours. It comes with the job. As a service provider, we have to be available when our clients are available. Given that a significant portion of the home buying population works Mon – Fri 8 – 5, a significant portion of the home buying population needs to see homes outside those hours. You don’t want calls after 4pm or on Sunday, fine. Then put the necessary info in the MLS so I don’t HAVE to call you. Attach a file to the MLS with details, do SOMETHING akin to your job that meets your responsibility to your client and I won’t need to call you.
But instead you’re going to tell me not to request more info until I’ve shown the home and have a client ready to write an offer?
Seriously?
Well good luck with that.
You see, I’m not going to even show the home because you’ve given me NOTHING to indicate whether it meets my buyer’s criteria. N O T H I N G.
What is a seller to do?
You shouldn’t even have to ask your agent for this but…
Make sure you see the actual MLS listing. Ask them to show you both the public version and the agent version. Make sure there are plenty of photos that display your home in the best light possible. Descriptive text, room dimensions, all that needs to be included. Ask your agent how they handle inquiries on the property. Find out when they are available to field questions from potential buyers and buyer’s agents. A good agent will likely tell you all this, and more, up front.
What do you do if your home is already listed and you think the listing information isn’t complete?
Talk to your agent. Express your concerns. If they can’t address them, then speak to the agents broker. The broker is the agents “boss” (not technically as agents are independent contractors, but the broker is legally responsible for the agents actions and is your first step in resolving issues with your agent).
Sadly, in the case of this woefully lame listing, the listing agent IS a broker / owner of their own brokerage. If that’s the case and they won’t fix things to meet your needs, your only recourse is the broker’s Realtor association or the State Department of Real Estate. Good luck with that.
And some folks wonder why real estate agents rank below used car salesmen in the eyes of John Q. Public. . .
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You could also title this one “How to find agents you DON’T want to list with”
Dave´s last blog ..Branding
Jay, What a great piece of advice, if every Seller were to see what their agent’s efforts were inputing into the MLS, we would likely see a great improvement in efforts put out.
My standard of practice is to have the Seller sign the full listing, after all they are responsible for the information contained and should have every right to review for accuracy, and more importantly that it is complete.
PS, any agent that does not take calls on Sunday, or any day for that matter, should probably consider another profession.
Jeffrey Douglass´s last blog ..Shame On You REALTOR.com for Promoting Dual Agency
LOVE THIS posting. I have ranted these exact words, should have blogged about it, and will soon.
Leaving dimensions and directions blank in this market is just absurd. I must add onto this, the agents who do actually go to the trouble of posting pictures, but post around 4-5 crappy ones? Like they are using a disposable camera from CVS? They are dark and show nothing of the room? I hire a professional photographer for most of my listings and have a professional grade camera for those I do myself. An I post at least 20-30 pictures of every listing. As I am sure do you.
And lastly, just as the cherry on the lousy-listing sundae, in the map coordinates section they put “GPS.” How hard is it to open up a map and put in the coordinates? Lots of people still use them. It shocks and angers me every time I see a listing with these gross incompetencies on display. It brings down our entire profession. Sellers should absolutely follow up on their agents and see what their MLS listing looks like.
Thank you for writing this.
Coral Gundlach, CRS
Fall Properties
Arlington, Virginia
Well, I’ll get a lot of flack for this; but, I do not feel obligated to show every house in the MLS. If an agent is someone who is going to cause me and my client problems, I just uncheck that home from the excessive inventory to show. If the buyer finds it later (they seem to stay up all night looking everywhere on the internet now a day) and insists on seeing it – I may not be able to stop myself from pointing out all the defects during our walk thru. Or, I may just say the home is not available (because I can’t get any information from the listing agent).
Until Sellers take responsibility for those whom they hire, agents/Realtors will continue to provide low-level, incompetent service.
Start with – are there more than two photos in the MLS? If not, fire your agent.
Jim Duncan´s last blog ..Albemarle County’s School Budget Request
Jim, same way with Buyer’s working with Buyer’s agents.
It’s up to the consumer to do a better job in selecting agents to be their advocate.
Jeffrey Douglass´s last blog ..Shame On You REALTOR.com for Promoting Dual Agency
I’m surprised that the most dominant item in the photo is an SUV. Usually, with this type of listing, it is the garbage cans at the end of the driveway!
This is a disgusting lack of service to the seller, but for buyers or their agents who have the patience to get in to it, they may find themselves in a good negotiating position – with very little, if any, competition from other buyers!
Vicki Lloyd´s last blog ..Saddleback Valley – After the Rains
That’s a good point Vicki…
OK…I have to stop using “Honey, stop the car!” Maybe I`ll try “Stop the car Bitch!”
I completely agree with you, Jay.
As a consumer and potential renter who has recently been pouring over MLS listings in search of the perfect property, I IMMEDIATELY discard a listing with insufficient descriptions and lacking photos. I don’t want to waste my time attempting to view a property that might not fit my needs. When an agent won’t list even the basic info, that is just laziness. And in this day of digital imaging when it is ridiculously easy to take a picture, not posting many images of the home just makes me think something is being hidden.
If you have a wonderful resource for your business like the internet, WHY would you not use it to your advantage?
And there you have it folks, straight from the consumer’s perspective. With 41,000+ homes for sale to chose from, and 7,300+ rental listings in the MLS, it is imperative that the listing agent not only do their job, but go above and beyond to do everything they can to present their clients property to prospective buyers and renters.
And the MLS is the first, and primary step in doing so.
Thanks for sharing your perspective Wendy!
The agent with the lack of information must also be here in Toronto Canada.
The listing said earn your selling commission and find the details for yourself.
That aside I love the pop up links for Facebook twitter Linked In etc. Is this something you did yourself or where does one find this assembly?
If you have people coming to Toronto, Canada we have funny coloured money!
David Pylyp
ShopTOism.com david@DavidPylyp.com
David Pylyp´s last blog ..Managing Your Money
David – the “tool bar” at the bottom of the screen comes from Wibiya — http://www.wibiya.com/
Ah, just realized you were probably referring to the little pop up icons below the post, not the tool bar at the bottom of the page. Those are from a plugin called sexy bookmarks:
http://sexybookmarks.net/
I just pulled up all his listings, and he has a lot of the. They are ALL like this, #Pathetic
Dean Ouellette´s last blog ..Academy Mortage – Home of the 10 day close proves me wrong
I didn’t even want to look…. Doesn’t surprise me they are all similar.
It is truly amazing the kinds of listing agents there are out there. Not willing to do their full job, yet sometimes taking a higher commission than the buying side. As if they’re owed this simply because they have the power to put it on the MLS.
Great topic and overall blog site you have here!
Wow. Pathetic, but all too common. If there is an option for a particular data set in the MLS then USE IT. Type of fireplace? Specify. *Above grade* sq. ft.? Tell me. Climate control systems? Give me details. Type of windows? I need to know.
(My only caveat is the room dimensions because I think they hurt the seller more often than they help. Most buyers don’t have a good concept of how big 10×12 is and may eliminate a home that would actually serve them well if they had seen it in person.)
On a related note, I had a listing agent ask me to call a tenant directly to arrange a showing last week… what?!?
Jeremy Isaac´s last blog ..On the market: 3 bedroom home close to Peterson AFB for under $130,000!
Perfect reason for inexperienced agents to be accountable to Brokers and get a required signature from their seller on the agent copy of the MLS printout to turn in. Good point about suggesting the seller requesting to review both copies of the MLS Plano.
“Perfect reason for inexperienced agents to be accountable to Brokers and get a required signature from their seller on the agent copy of the MLS printout to turn in.”
True. Except in the case of this listing, it WAS a broker that put it in the MLS….
This is the way that REO listings are usually presented in the MLS. The SUV would indicate that the property was occupied when the initial drive-by BPO took place. Very little information is made available because of liability issues. Why any agent would do this with an ordinary resale property in this market is beyond me. It doesn’t come close to fiduciary responsibility to tell the co-broke agent to work for his/her commission split.
Diane Guercio´s last blog ..REPOST: Apple To End AT&T iPhone Exclusivity On Wednesday — Report
Even as a non-Realtor, I am embarressed by this! In any industry this “professional” is stealing money from innocent consumers and should face “criminal negligence” charges..What a DORK!
TheRECoach´s last blog ..“Shadow Inventory” – What’s Wrong With the Math?
I could not agree more! When we go to work for a seller they have the right to expect more than a casual marketing effort. I conducted a seller focus group study and the #1 thing sellers wanted us to do (in addition to selling their homes) was to say good things about it! Is it too much to ask us to know our business, make it easy for other agents to show and provide information on the properties?
Roger, The listing agent should do everything possible to maximize exposure and interest in a property. In this day where everyone is previewing everything over the Internet, complete details, quality photographs, and easy showing are a must!
Jeffrey Douglass´s last blog ..What Percent of San Diego Luxury Real Estate Listings Are Reduced?
When I first started reading I was sincerely hoping it wasn’t one of my Realtor team members but then I realized I don’t have a property without an offer on it but then immediately thought it could be one of my guys/gals.
Thankfully, it’s not because none of my team would ever put that in the remarks(thankfully for them) A lot of great comments already but I personally would like for you to know that car salesman are below agents, not with or above them
just sayin
Nick@Subject2.com´s last blog ..2 Things To Consider With My Email
Uuuh, oooh… I might have to vent a little.
It’s ridiculous that in addition to doing an negligent job of advertising the property in the MLS more and more listing agents:
1. Do not answer their phones
2. Do not return calls
3. ‘Require’ you to pre-qualify with ‘their lender’ prior to offer submission (I am seeing this on traditional and short sales now, not just REO sales
4. ‘Require’ you to use their title company
and I am showing one tomorrow morning where the listing agent stated in MLS:
” **PLEASE NOTE, ALL OFFERS RECEIVED VIA FAX OR EMAIL WILL NOT BE PRESENTED**” “***ALL OFFERS MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTORINCALLY THROUGH THE LINK PROVIDED IN THE REALTOR COMMENTS IN THE MLS”
Sooooo….. They aren’t going to do squat to advertise their listings, aren’t going to answer any inquires about the property, and now aren’t even going to be responsible enough to make sure the seller is seeing all possible offers. The buyer’s agent has to do this too?
These agents are doing less work for their clients and requiring everyone else (seller, buyer and buyers agent) to pick up the slack for them. Not a good trend….brokers are you listening?
Vent away Tiffany. All of those practices are ridiculous. And I’m seeing them more and more too…
When I first arrived in the US from the UK I was shocked (still am) at the low grade marketing of property. I was looking to buy 2 or more homes and contacted 3 agents. The experience was terrible but one of the things I caught onto was they would show me the properties they were marketing. I thought, if you are this lazy for the seller their is no way I want you helping me as a buyer. Foxtons in London (I know they messed up over here!) do an awesome job of marketing even rental listings. (Check out an example – Every home is at this standard whether for rent or sale. http://bit.ly/bRWEVo) The benefit to the agent is that most of the time the buyer has fallen in love with the home before they contact the agent. Agents get quicker deals, less showing around etc etc.
I cannot understand why so many agents survive in the US. Equally, I cannot understand why the industry is taking so long to get ahead of the consumers expectations. WOW THEM for a change!
I hate lazy agents, there is not excuse for it. Now that I say that I am going to lay out and exception to this rule. I have been asked by some of my sellers in that past to get a home on the market before it was ready. In other cases there was a tenant that said they would cooperate only to not do so. In your particular example the agent work hours were posted, that make me laugh as I blog at 9PM.
Dan Edwards´s last blog ..What’s the difference between price and value in a home?
Agents have work hours? I guess I missed that memo. It seems like I’m always on the computer late at night going over paperwork or getting listing agreements together.
Hey thanks for the advice buddy….I will do the same if luck favours;)
That kind of thing infuriates me, not just in realty but in general advertising. Recently I was trying to buy a used car, and reading the classified ads it’s no suprise that businesses are going under. If you want to sell something you simply must make a bit of effort with the listings.
Private sellers are even worse, incorrect spelling (come on, how long does it take to run the text through a spell check?), and using shorthand text as if they are tweeting about it in 140 characters.! Photos that are poorly framed or out of focus, or as you say, things in the way that cause distraction.
I agree with “Descriptive text, room dimensions, all that needs to be included.” Of course, it’s pretty dumb to grab a house without visual informations.
I just came across a listing that was listed by an “Owner/Agent”. The directions said, “See Map.” There was only one photo of the exterior, no description, and no room dimensions. Amazing that a Realtor would be so careless when listing their own property. #RTB
This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine too. There is no excuse for not putting multiple pictures and good information in the MLS. I can’t help but wonder why??? the seller picked the agent guilty of this. In a declining market where days mean dollars listing agents with these practices should be accountable.
Basically, when we work for a seller they have the right to expect more than a casual marketing effort. It’s like that but yes, I wonder who gets the guilt.
Perma-ban list for that guy (or gal). I wonder how satisfied his seller(s) is/are? Complete fail.
Alex Jovicich´s last blog ..New Arizona Real Estate Short Sale seller advisory for home sales
This, unfortunately, is not an atypical MLS listing.
It is our job to get the home sold, and it is our job to make it enticing and available so that buyers and agents will want to see the home. A home that has little or no description that is difficult to see, will generate little activity and few if any buyers. The buyers that are generated may not be those who will pay the highest price for the property.
We all have lives, and cannot realistically be available 24/7, but we can use the internet in lieu of our being available 24/7 and allow technology to provide the information for us if we’ll only do the initial work necessary. What’s the old saying, garbage in, garbage out? Our tools can’t work for us, if we don’t allow them to do so.