When Agents aren’t doing their job properly

by Shawn Lackie

I was perusing the listings, the other day, and came across something I have seen far too often in the last 20 years. An agent not doing their job properly and clients dictating what they feel the market should be doing. That, folks, is a recipe for disaster, no matter how you cut it.

A good agent, or at least a semi-competent one, will do their homework, prior to going to a listing appointment. Armed with pages of data which are recent, the agent can pretty much give their client a good lay of the land. They can talk about what the market trends are currently doing and, hopefully, shed some light on what might happen next. That’s sometimes a big might. At any rate, the client can then make an informed decision on what the next steps might be.

There are myriad details to work out. Price, quality of photos, where the home will be marketed and how. In addition, there are terms to discuss, and most important is the B Plan. What happens if the home doesn’t sell in the allocated time frame? You hear many agents claiming, if the house doesn’t sell, they will buy it. I say, read the small print to all of those ads.

The biggest hurdle to overcome is, if the home doesn’t sell at the listed price, or close to it, and in the agreed upon time frame, what happens next? In a realistic case, if the seller is serious and has a grasp on reality, the price would be adjusted down and the listing extended. In some cases, the seller will move on from that agent and find another, one who will list at the same price.

Hey, stubbornness comes with a hefty price. In other cases, the agent will agree to extend the listing at the same price and hope a buyer will magically appear to buy the home. This rarely happens.

Finally, in the most extreme case, the seller will ask the agent to RAISE the price! Yes you read that right. To which I would ask a very logical and obvious question. “If it didn’t sell at this price, and it was listed for three months or more, what in blazes would make you think it will sell if you up the price?” It’s like these so-called agents who keep adjusting the price and then holding back offers, but we will discuss that another time.

This one is too baffling to make any sense. The listing I was looking at has been listed since April of 2024 and started at over 2 million. It was on and off the market, a few times, and recently raised the price just under $40,000. It just makes me wonder who is more out to lunch, the seller thinking if they ask for more then it will sell, or the agent who goes along with this absurd way of thinking. The place is already stigmatized by being on the market for 15 months. Why would the agent be so willing to bend over, just to have the listing? Why on earth would it suddenly be a great deal for a buyer?

So many questions – so few answers.

Feel free to check out this story and more on my blog site at: https://slackie14.wixsite.com/buy-sell-and-more