Dear Realtor:

I think it is time to find a different realtor. They are a dime a dozen. And one more thing, if they are charging you 5% to 6% just tell them, "thanks, but no thanks". The way the market is now, you should be able to find a realtor who will sell your house for less money especially if you are going to buy with them too. They will be getting both commissions. Good luck and I hope you know what you gotta do.

fha:

did you not stop to think that it is probably a BUYER's realtor that is not showing, and not the seller's agent? Blaming the listing agent, and suggesting jlarch fires him puts you in a special class of dumb.

Penny a dozen. That is why I am listed with a Flat Fee agent.

It's the BUYER's agents that are not showing up.  They make the appointments with me. I am the one that cleans then sits and waits the two hour window for the fun king realtor's to show up. I see them drive around the circle and keep going. Or call from the car and not even get out! Or not show at all.

I know what fun it is. I know what I have to do. Just needed to vent.

BTW, I am NOT an agent. I was goofing with my profile and I don't know how to get rid of that.

JLARCH - I understand TOTALLY.

Love your idea of calling them for a showing and not showing up!

Dear jlarch:   When you were wearing the buyer's shoes, did you go to 100% of your scheduled appointments?  If so, you are exceptional.   Going through the selling process is indeed tough.  But, if the buyer's agent didn't call, they are indeed rude.  

Once your house is on the market, consider it an object that you are trying to sell and not your home.   If you have to reorganize your closet to have it color coordinated every time someone might want to stop by, there is something wrong.   Perhaps you could consider pacing the interior and exterior maintenance.   

The people who bought our house a couple of sales ago first visited with less than 10 minutes notice.   I was able to have the dogs in the car, the chopped onions off the counter, and the floors vacuumed and a quick run through to catch any surprise clutter with that five minute notice.   We took my realtor's suggestion of being able to show at the drop of a hat seriously.   As we're normally comfortably cluttered and have dogs, it was not easy.  But, it worked.   There was never  a four hour cleaning session in prep for a showing.    Yes, normal things of life such as laundry happened.  We had to do those chores anyway.   Beds got made daily, that doesn't alway happen in real life.   We vacuumed daily, also unusual for us.   

If this is too tough, move out and stage the place so the resentment doesn't eat away at your heart.

If you are having multiple no-shows from Buyer's agents, what is your Realtor doing to address this?

Have you reviewed your marketing remarks in the MLS to make sure it is factual?  Many times agents and buyers will look at a home in the MLS and when they pull up to it, they see from the street that it is not as advertised and drive off w/o calling.  I'm not excusing the bahavior, just offering an explaination.

Yes, Realtors are an easy lot to knock.  There are practically no barriers to entry, and lax enforcement in many locations.  Before you list, interview three professionals with PROVEN track records and then CALL thier references.  That will usually  weed out most of the bad apples.

Move on to the next agent

Wetdawgs hit the nail on the head! You should be able to show your home with short notice, in fact I just put one of my listings under contract last week & the buyers agent only gave 30min notice, their buyers loved the house. You never know, I have had clients that would not show on short notice & we missed showings because out of town buyers could not reschedule.  Bravo Way to network lenders!!!!

I scrub and polish once a week, vacuum and dust every day or so and we all pick up after ourselves every time we leave a room.  No dishes are ever left in the dishwasher overnite.  The house is wonderfully straight all the time.  As a result we can and have hosted a showing with 20 minutes notice.  My husband only had to pick up the babie's toys and stash the bills he was working on (I wasn't home to help).  The showing went off without a hitch and the folks were very complimentary of the condition. None of this was the norm before we listed the house but we intend to maintain this in the new house because it works so well.  This is a long way of saying that keeping the house ready to show shouldn't take hours each time you have a showing.  I've been a life long slacker but found that decluttering, organizing and daily pick-up made all the difference.  BTW I don't believe in a house looking like a museum just looking clean, neat and uncluttered so folks are comfortable when they look at it.  I hope this helps

I feel your pain.  I have reduced my life to living in the den w/a 6 mo old puppy and I sleep on the sofa there to help keep the rest of house clean.  Now that I am a FSBO "agent" I stay ready for showings--and at a moments notice. Sometimes buyers are here from out of town and call literally at my front door.  No doubt w/children it's really difficult trying to keep the house ready for showings.  I can only imagine the stress that must present.

But I must say that every agent has called me ahead of time and called when they needed to cancel, even when their buyer didn't show.  This I really appreciated.  Hang in there, hon!  As I keep saying, "This too shall pass."

I am with a flat fee broker, so I am the listing agent so to speak. I sit and wait for the showings like GetSusan.

We are in such a competitive area and there are so many new homes that buyers and Realtors think that occupied homes need to "look unoccupied" to compete. I am trying to downsize and keeping 5000 sq ft looking like it is not lived in is unrealistic and stressful and a full time job. I  see the remarks that are made by showings such as clutter needs to cleaned up and out of sight, flower beds are not manicured to my buyers taste, the laudry room should be free of laundry. Wow, Wetdawgs, I can imagine the comments I would get if I left, God forbid, exposed FOOD in my kitchen! (Yes I have had comments about a loaf of bread on the counter. I think it comes down to the expectations and I have to remember that a buyer that loves my house is not going to be the one that dismisses it because of a pair of socks.

I realize the dry by's and cancelations are just because the buyers doesn't like the street.

I will get over this or I will go insane!

Hi;

One of the first things you have to learn in this biz is not to take anything personally.  True buyers will look past some clutter, especially if the home is currently occupied.

Unfortunatly, it's very, very difficult for people to get mortgages right now.  It sounds like you are doing everthing right.  If you are at a break-even point, equity wise, and really do need to sell, I would consider doing a short sale.  You would need to hire a Realtor who specializes in shorts, as they are very difficult and time consuming.

Good Luck!

Charlie

Wow Chas, I don't like your advice.   There isn't enough information here to determine if the OP should sell short.  What I'm gathering is that the OP wants to downsize.  The answer for most people who want to sell for personal instead of financial reasons (and I mean missing mortgage payments) is to not sell at all.

With so many homes on the market and so few buyers it very well ould come down to who does or does not have exposed food on their counter or visible undergarments within eyesight.

One other thing to consider is you will receive far less feedback and far less constructive feedback as your own agent.

Please check the mls brief ,make sure there is a virtual tour as well as photos the more the better .I have had buyers that say do not call the seller" they should know that I only want to see this and that and their home obviously is not so why does it say it in the mls they wasted my time "   opinion only buyers side ... and if they say do not call we can't  .

When I bought my home a few months ago I started with the MLS flyer supplied by my agent.  Fortunately for me the photos piqued my interest enough to actually look at the home. We were stunned when we actually saw the home so we placed our offer and bought it.  Interestingly enough it was only after the closing that I realized we had viewed a virtual tour and several photos on a previous listing with no interest.  It seems that fewer photos and fewer details caused us to want to look at the actual home.  Now that I have my current home listed my listing has what I believe to be enough photos and detail to tease and pique a buyer's interest enough to want to view the home in person.  The actual home and lot are much more attractive than any 2D image can convey.

Dear BJsDad,

It was good that a few photos did the trick and got you into the house. So often the photos can be photoshopped or from ten years ago or something else tricky. I agree with you, take a few truly great shots and let the buyers imagination run wild. They will be so excited to actually see the house, it helps build anticipation. It is proof that "less is more". Good luck with the new home.

Sincerely,

Betina

Thanks Betina, now if I could just sell the old home I'd be golden.