Picking a Scab

Scab?  Sounds gross, I know.

There is nothing quite as dismaying for a real estate agent as a scabbed house.  This is my own term.  Came up with it after a recent rant.  I had just returned from previewing an upcoming listing.  I sold the current sellers into the home a short time ago, they are moving again and called me since I helped them find the home.  It was a dollhouse when they bought it.

I LOVED this house.  Pushed it hard when it was on the market.  Agents do that.  Usually it's their own listing, but I will do it when I come across a property that I think is a particular value.  This home was that.  Was, it is no longer.  The warm fuzzy feeling has turned to cold terror.

The yard looked a little rough when I arrived but there had been a lot of rain and it was the end of winter.  I made excuses in my mind.  I couldn't uphold the delusion once inside though.  I am not a neat freak - not on any level.  And home maintenance is a chore for me too.  But seriously?  How can you completely trash a home in such a short amount of time? (less that 2 years)

From DOLLHOUSE to dog house.  Literally.  New puppy tearing through the house.  Cats, (don't let them out please) they only stay inside, AND eat on the counters (that's where their food bowls sit).  You can see them in the listing photos.  REAL special.

Keep in mind, just a short time ago, these sellers were buyers.  They picked apart homes left and right.  Opened closet doors, peered under cupboards and critiqued paint colors as viciously as a mad dog.  Now

the colors on the walls would send Martha Stewart into hysterics.

I can talk around most things.  I truly can.  But at a particular point a buyer shuts down, they stop listening.  Sensory overload.  The piles on top of the refrigerator, clothes (BRAS) hanging from door knobs, power tools in the family room.  They simply shut down, and walk away.  A buyer will suck up just so much and then will write off the house.  If the seller doesn't care enough about their own property to present it in an appealing fashion - why would they imagine that a buyer would find it something to invest their future in?  The buyer questions what is going on with the home that CAN'T be seen?

I have had to listen to 'feedback' from the showing agents  'Did they know we were coming'?  Buyers riding by to check out the location, 'It looks like rednecks live there'. The former owners (What happened? They were thinking foreclosure).  Even a call from an appraiser, 'uhhhh...did you price the home to sell while they were still living in it?' she asked.  'No', I said.  'I priced it to sell as soon as they move out'.  Somebody just slap me.

Do the sellers realize what their home looks like?  Yes, they do.  If they didn't they wouldn't say things like 'don't take pictures of this or that room'.  They wouldn't make comments about how 'Down to Earth' they are (I just loooove that one).   They talk circles around me in my effort to 'improve' the marketability of their home.

The home is not SHARK BAIT ( see previous BLOG), but a scabbed house.  What you see is the result of an infection.  The house is infested.  And because of that infestation it has scabbed over.  You know how scabs are... REALTORS, buyers and even appraisers are picking at it.

My poor listing.  She can't help it if she is sick and wounded.  I shall do what I can to the Visual Tour photos with PHOTO SHOP; crop, clone, EDIT the crap out of them...just as soon as I finish my coffee.

My PRECIOUS....

Tomorrow is the mandatory Tuesday $ales Meeting.

Can I stay home Mommy?

Promptly at 9 a.m. we gather to blah de dah over real estate news, warranty info, agent presentations, new listings, have-wants-needs,  all of the things that go along with where we are in the world.  AFTER the meeting the agents head out to preview NEW Listings.  This is the topic of my BLOG today.

Previewing new listings is mandatory.  Agents in our office are required to block out 9-11 a.m. or thereabouts every Tuesday morning for the mandatory Tuesday $ales Meeting and following Tour of NEW Listings. I have no problem with the whole Tour of NEW Listings policy.  I rarely put mine on tour, the herding of the cattle through in 3 min or less isn't my idea of pro-active marketing.  There are a handful of others who abstain.  I prefer agents asking me to go solo and preview a listing-because it interests them.  My newest listing on Lakeside was one such listing.  The agent that puts up my signs was asking before it hit the market if he could go take a look.

Then there are the other agents. The ones who are old school.  The ones who let the office staff handle their marketing efforts.  The ones who tell their sellers and I quote 'I had an OPEN HOUSE Tuesday.'  (yes, I overheard the conversation with her client).  Now, I knew there was no OPEN HOUSE, so my ears perked up.  I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation but from her responses, her seller was no dummy.  He asked questions.  

'No', she said, 'only agents from my office came'.  uh huh...he must have asked about food etc because she finally admitted  it was an OFFICE tour.   Makes me think of a phrase my mother used to say all the time 'Lets not, and say we did'.  Where I come from, that's called a lie.

So, we now have agents using the Tour of NEW Listings as an OPEN HOUSE.  Then we have others  (and I am seeing a trend here) who use the tour to generate 'activity'.  A couple of weeks ago - we previewed a New Listing for the second time.  The difference was, the seller had moved out. We all looked at one another, 'haven't we seen this?'  A few eyebrows raised. Gas isn't cheap and time is even more costly.  Then last week, here we go, three of the six homes we previewed had been seen before on Tuesday's Tour of NEW Listings.  

Here's what I see.  Old school agents have to offer their sellers something. They have resorted to using the 'captive audience' technique.  You must view my precious listing because it is company policy.  It is MANDATORY that you preview NEW Listings, so we now make old things NEW.  Who thought this up?  A think outside the box kinda agent I'm guessing.  (I really hate that phrase) It's about as creative and innovative as their marketing plan.  Someone figured out a way to stir up 'activity' and believe it or not - the others are following their lead.  We looked at one last week that had been taken off the market and put back on a couple months later.  Another that had had a water heater leak throughout the entire house and needed to have the floors redone. (apparently no one had 'previewed' the home in some time for there to be that much damage)  So we went back through...no change in price thank you very much.  I guess they can call their sellers and say some 15 agents went through and SAW it.   Unfortunately, none of US are buyers.  AND they are not endearing the NON-BUYERS to themselves either.  Already agents are looking for any excuse they can find to ditch the Tuesday Sales Meeting and NEW Listing Tour.

Wouldn't it make more sense to offer something people are excited about?  Something they will go away from wanting to use, share and promote.  Rather than gripe and complain about (or BLOG).

I am excited about new listings, mine especially.  My sellers are special, and PRECIOUS.  Because they are mine.  I educated them and they don't give me any flack (not much usually).

I don't begrudge the other agents their special PRECIOUS listings.  But give me a break,ONCE IS ENOUGH.  

Smirk much?

Unless I am skipping through with my own happy buyer.

See Mr. So and So REALTOR on the right?  He is ditching the mandatory Tuesday $ales Meeting and NEW Listing tour tomorrow to take his daughter to audition for the X-FACTOR!!!  Go Sophia!

These re-tours are just forcing us to 'think outside the box' on absentee excuses.