Pet peeves doubleheader
There aren't that many things that bug me because if there were, I probably shouldn't be a real estate agent. So please pardon the little mini rant ahead but yesterday was the kind of day you just have to comment about and there is a lesson or two in the story.
Pet peeve number one: Agent feedback.
Generally speaking, agent feedback is stupid. It stems back to ancient times in Charleston real estate when all real estate agents were sub agents for the seller and nobody represented the buyer. So for that reason, it's traditional for real estate agents to ask the agent who showed their listing what they thought of the home. And Centralized Showing Service makes it easy to ask for feedback by automatically emailing a feedback request to any agent who shows one of your listings.
Now, if you stop and think about it for a moment, if your client is actually interested in a home, why would you provide that kind of feedback and hurt your buyer's negotiating position. And having said that, any feedback other than a contract doesn't mean much anyway.
But back to pet peeve number one. Yesterday, an agent provided this feedback: TOO SMALL! (and it was capitalized with an exclamation point).
OK, what was too small, the home or the real estate agent's brain.
The Charleston MLS listing clearly indicates how many bedrooms and what the square footage of the home is. Now while I understand that some homes may feel larger or smaller than their indicated square footage, that really isn't the case with this particular home since the rooms actually both measure and feel nicely sized.
So if this agent's clients were looking for a home with more bedrooms or more square footage, why were they looking at this home in the first place.
Too small? Do you think that was a waste of feedback.
And now, onto pet peeve number two. I have to see it NOW!
Actually, you don't.
Buying a home is an important decision. You don't wake up one morning, search the Charleston MLS, see a home you like and suddenly decide you have to see it now. Buying a home is not like walking into a department store or Target, seeing something on sale that you have to have and buying it. Buying a home is a process that should be carefully thought out and planned for. If you need any proof, just take a look at all the people who bought homes in the past few years and now find that they can't afford to make their mortgage payments.
Wouldn't it be better if you not only searched for homes but simultaneously searched for a Charleston real estate agent to help you buy that home. And wouldn't it be better if you met with several mortgage lenders, found out what the current mortgage rate was, what additional costs might be involved and got preapproved for a loan (after all, if you did find that home and fell in love with it and just had to have it, the seller will require that you show that you are a serious buyer by providing a preapproval letter).
Then you wouldn't be calling a real estate agent at 4:45 in the afternoon and asking if you could see that house right now. Because I hate to say it but sometimes real estate agents are busy too and can't just drop everything and drive across town to open the door to a home that might not be everything you thought it might be just because you called and had to see it now.
And while I'm sure that some agents might just drop everything for you when their phone rings because of course, business is slower in the Charleston real estate market in the past couple of years than it used to be, in reality, a real estate agent is actually more than simply a doorman with a smart card to open the lockbox and open the door for you.
Mini rant over, thanks for putting up with me today and I hope there was a helpful hint in here somewhere.
Photo courtesy of Flickr by zarprey.