Ok, I'm going to post what I copied and pasted from a word document with a list of greivances against our team of 7 realtors. I'd like to know if this is par for the course, or if its, as we suspect, horrendous treatment and we should "respectfully request" (aka demand) they withdraw their contract:

• Takes days to return phone calls/emails – and I usually had to make the contact, not actually got a return call/email.
• Taken over a week to get our listing updated, and its still all the wrong pictures, and only one site has the updated wording we requested (we sent the new pictures on Friday, June 20). (realtor.com and homes.com finally had the right pictures as of Monday, June 30 and kw.com finally had the right pictures as of Wednesday, July 2. chrisarnoldpremier.com STILL has the wrong pictures as of Thursday, July 3.)
• We were told all of your listings were having issues getting more than one picture up on homes.com. I looked at all your listings on homes.com and with exception of a few that had no pictures; they ALL had multiple pictures on homes.com – except ours (until July 2).
o We staged the pictures with the help of Brett who was taking the actual photos – he was present at the time
o We received no help or direction on how to stage the house better
o Overall unprofessional methods to home viewing
o When confronting Brett about the photos, blame was put to us as having staged the pictures wrong (see first bullet point) (he said, "Well do the pictures look bad because I took them bad or b/c you staged them bad?")
• When I called the number from chrisarnoldpremier.com, no one answered. When I selected the option to connect to voicemail, it put me on hold for 5 minutes then dropped the call – every time!
• When we brought this to your (Brett’s) attention, you informed us that that is not the number to call, that is the number for people interested in viewing properties to call. So, how many potential buyers did we lose b/c that number is not working??
• We’ve received no input, despite requests from us, on what we can do to promote this property. WE had to ask YOU about bonuses, incentives, etc. Shouldn’t that be the other way around?
• When we interviewed you for this job, we were promised excellent customer service, stellar marketing, and great communication. We have received none of these. We chose you over the others we interviewed because of the professionalism and commitment to sell this property we observed in the walk-through and interview process. Where did that go?
• When we signed the contract with you, you stated that you had clients already that were looking for homes in this area, in this price rage. And yet, of the few showings we have had since signing with you, none of them have been from your office/team. Where are all these clients you had?
• According to your “How to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar – Fast!” page on chrisarnoldpremier.com, if you’re not getting 3-4 showings a week you need to check your analysis and MLS listing wording and price. When we asked why our house isn’t being shown, we were met with “We don’t know.” WE had to instigate the change of MLS wording, pictures and price. We've been averaging 1 showing every 1.5 weeks.

So, what do y'all think?? Seriously...I took the new pictures, [b]I[b] instigated changing the price and wording on MLS, [b]I[b] asked about incentives we could offer, [b]I[b] made and printed up a flyer with info and pics to leave on the table for people to take w/them when they view the home (realtor won't put a box on the sign outside for flyers - said your neighbors take them, so its pointless)...so, shouldnt' [b]I[b] be getting the 7% instead of them? Ok, maybe 6% for me, since they finally got around to uploading the pictures and put our listing in a magazine, which I wouldn't have been able to do (the magazine, anyway) myself.

Are we justified in being less than pleased with their service???

Jen

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jvdeibel,

Here is the listing with the WRONG pictures (the ones the REALTOR) took:

http://chrisarnoldpremier.com/custompages_reports.php?key=g198661

Here is the proper listing with the pictures I took (with tons of input from everyone here!)

http://www.mlsfinder.com/tx_ntreis/kw_500/index.cfm?act...6eb16fd&npp=10&sr=11

Jen

Sounds like a lack of communication, and I am sorry you are upset.

I remember all tried to help you stage, but it appears that still some things need to be done for really great pictures. Remember the better you home looks the better chance of a sale if it is priced right. Internet buyers wiz through pictures fast and furious and then stop to look at all photos when something catches their eyes. The staging is not the fault of the Realtor nor are staging services provided by the Realtor.

As far as additional pictures on Realtor.com - if they are not there-- the Realtor has not paid Realtor.com for additional photos. The priviliges to put additional photos on Realtor.com is based on a fee for the number of listings the individual Realtors had the previous year. Once that fee is paid then they can post additional photos on all their individual listings. You need to have a talk with him about that. On his personal Realtor website, he requires a buyer to register before photos - don't like that, but some Realtors do it that way to get buyers.

It is imperative that your Realtor reviews comps with you on a regular basis. I know it is very frustrating to be on market, but we try to help folks here get through it. Price is the main factor, so be sure to know what your market is doing, and require the Realtor to provide you the "exposure" of your home by providing you with all ads past, and planned.

If you know your Realtor to be successful, he has "a lot" of folks like you hammering to get their homes sold. It natural, and comes with the territory. In the soft market, we have even more pressure.

Try to stay calm, Peri will send you some chocolate (lol) and we will continue to try to be helpful.

Successful marketing resulting in sale is a 50/50 effort between Seller and Realtor. Cooperation and communication are key. If you Realtor is telling you something like price reduction and further staging, and you are not listening-- it will only result in longer marketing time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady,

Hey Jvdeibel, when I go to the link with the wrong pictures, I'm getting a form to fill out which of course I don't want to do. Has your Realtor changed something in this link? If ppl are getting what I did, most likely they are aggravated. Who wants to fill out a form just to look at pics of a house...?

(I am not much liking your Realtor after reading your op.)

As to the new pictures yes I was able to see these & they are awesome, you did a GREAT job! I would like to look at the old ones just to compare...since we look at so many here it's hard to remember details.

Real Estate Lady - Thank you for your thoughts!! Things you said on my staging thread really helped me a ton!

As for things our realtor is suggesting - NOTHING! When we asked him what we could do to get people here, he said, "I don't know. It seems like its priced competitively. I dont' know what else we can do." At which point dh asked about incentives, bonuses for the buyer's agent, etc and he said, "Oh, well, yeah, I guess we could do that."

I would've LOVED suggestions. I really wish you could see the pictures he took...well, you saw them in my original thread. We just felt like since he's the "listing specialist" and takes all the photos, he could've/would've suggested soemthing if soemthing looked akward. We asked him specificially that day what should/could we change and he said it looks "great".

So, I'm just aggrivated at the whole situation. I know its a soft market, and that's not the realtor's fault. But, to go a week without a returned phone call or email seems a bit long, even for a busy realtor.

So, I guess all that to say, you don't think we should get a new realtor?

Jvi...the only thing that popped out at me when looking at your new pictures was the pic of the back of the house. It was a bit of a letdown after looking at the rest of it...

It would be good to weedeat/or trim by hand the grass growing up around the patio, and move EVERYTHING off the patio. Beg, borrow or steal some plants in pots to dress it up...even better, have the plants AND a small table/2 chairs to make it look even better. With no neighbors behind, the back is a great asset & you should push that as a nice place to relax/destress.

ETA: Oh, and ***here's your chocolate*** eat the whole bag & call me in the morning!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PeriParker,

Here's the pictures the realtor took:

http://www.glowfoto.com/users/jvdeibel/view.php?aid=53537

Sorry that form came up. Yes, if you go to his personal team's site, you have to fill out a form to see any of the pictures.

Jen

Forgot to mention, I know realtor.com only has one picture unless they pay more. Which is fine. But it took them over a week to get the new MLS listing right, so that realtor.com would have the right price, wording and better exterior picture.

Also, when 1.5 went by and nothing had changed on any site, we asked them what was wrong and it had the old price. Dh was like, "No, that's the original price." And the realtor said, "No, that's the new price, isnt' it?" to which dh said, "No, that's what we first listed it for. We wanted to reduce it to $109,000." And then the realtor was like, "Ooohhhh!"

And after I had sent the new pics, a lot of ppl here suggested not using the backyard pics so I emailed them and asked them to use a photo that had a second angle of the living room instead of a backyard photo. They used the backyard photo (I had sent them 3 to choose from and they chose the poorest of the 3) anyway. I guess they wanted to highlight no neighbors behind, which is fine. But I would've preferred them to call and say, "We know you asked not to use the backyard picture, but we'd liek to highlight the fact that you have no neighbors behind. If you don't like the backyard pictures you took, could you send us a new one?" Or something like that. I don' know...is that just too much to expect? With 7 people on the team you'd think someone could stay in communication with us. And I hesitate to send them a new one to replace b/c it took 2-2.5 weeks to get all the sites correct before. And the last time they tried to change the pics, one website ended up with no pics at all for those 2.5 weeks!

Jen

Jen

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jvdeibel,

I do agree the Realtor should be suggestive -- a fireball in getting things done...and not taking a week to return calls.Sometimes we just don't know the answer to selling except what we know which is price, marketing, location, staging.

What has your Realtor told you about price?

You really need to work on staging and I think you can do it without too much expense. You really need to listen to suggestions as many are just a change of this or that.

Sandstone has some "dating" in her home and with a few changes like removing parts of heavy draperies, moving some things around, and updating flooring it helped clench her sale.

I would be firm with your Realtor insisting on photos on Realtor.com. However if he was waiting on you with the staging, I can understand how that could have held things up.

If you fire your Realtor, you will also lose precious marketing time. However that is your decision.

I dont' think he was waiting for us on staging. I came here on the original staging thread b/c we were not getting any showings and I suspected it might be due to the pictures we had on the internet.

As for price, he did a new market analsys/comp the week I sent him the new pictures. He said there was one house that was $1/square foot less than ours in the area, and that was the only other active listing. There was one that sold in the area at $10/square foot less, but that was a few weeks ago (he told us on the new comp). So, he said he felt like "we were priced competitively". But I think we're going ot have to drop down closer to $105,000. A new house just poppedon the market on the street next to us. They are about 250 square feet smaller than us, but listed at 97,500!! The pics on the internet look great, but it just seems at that price something is wrong wiht it. We saw this house on our own, driving through the neighborhood.

This new comp that he did 2.5 weeks ago was b/c we asked him to and that was the only he's gone over comps with us since we signed with them.

What suggestions do you have on staging? I have a newer photo of the master bedroom, where you can see the tray top ceiling, but still see the floor as well. And I've put a valance in the kitchen (replaced the lace one) that has more color in it.

I've hesitated sending them new pictures since we JUST got these other new ones up finally...I hate to start the whole process over again. But, we've GOT to sell. We're supposed to move out of state at the end of this month, and out of the country in January.

Jen

quote:

Originally posted by jvdeibel:


Sorry that form came up. Yes, if you go to his personal team's site, you have to fill out a form to see any of the pictures.

Jen

Well, that's kind of offensive imo...plus he's wanting to send out that free book...I dunno, seems a little sleazy to me but maybe that's "today's marketing".

After viewing both sets of pictures I agree that your pictures are clearer and less cluttered than your realtors, but they still could use some direction to highlight more of your homes positive features. The backyard photo with the patio clutter and thirsty grass should be removed or replaced. Remove towels from furniture and cabinets for pictures. A simple, colorful centerpiece would compliment the kitchen table. Can you get more of the MB in the picture? I think your home has some very nice features that are getting lost in most the pictures. I'm sorry you are so frustrated with your realtor. Maybe this is the time for an open, honest, sit down conversation to clearly discuss expectations from both sides.

"jv," One question? When you signed the contract with your realtor, were you aware that no one would be able to view your listing on his site UNLESS they "registered" with him?

I ask because when I was internet "shopping" for our new home in 2004, I absolutely refused to "register" with any agencies who required my personal information just in order to view their listings. Needless, to say, none of them got our business!

I could only see the earlier photographs on your myspace or whatever that was and they were only thumbnails. To enlarge each one and then close it out required re-clicking on your URL each time so I only viewed the first one.

It was a close-up of a cluttered closet! Enough said. Obviously the new photographs are an improvement.... Will post some ideas I had about them on your staging thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Resident:
"jv," One question? When you signed the contract with your realtor, were you aware that no one would be able to view your listing on his site UNLESS they "registered" with him?
*snip*.

Glad you brought this up again, Idaho, I am STILL bothered by that...a LOT. I "surmise" that the REaltor will contact each & every person who fills out that form...and WHAT is more aggravating than THAT??

Man, oh man! I went and registered... not sure who I am or what my phone number is, and can't remember my email address except that it was @ something! But, I got on the site. I don't know if this link will take you there are not..
link

I was impressed with a couple of things. First of all, homes in Texas are cheap as dirt! The second thing was, that except for the very high end homes, these all looked awful inside. Maybe that is the way that Tx RE is marketed, but I couldn't believe the clutter and stuff that wasn't put away. A roll of paper towels on the table! PJs on the end of the bed. (All the beds were made. Kind of.) Some showed no kitchens but several bathrooms. Here were two that struck me as particularly awful:

2320 Lesley Lane ($124,995) and 422 Sherrill Blvd ($118, 995). They are listed by price, highest to lowest, with sold homes at the very end. It looks to me that this guy is interested in getting listings only. Either that or else he is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other! Anyone with even no common sense would realize that pictures shouldn't be taken when the rooms are a mess. Why take pictures of a bed? Or a wall with tons of junk on it?

If it were me.... I would start looking for a new agency ASAP, and look at how they market their homes on line, for starters.

BTW, your home is lovely! There are a few places to tweak it (as others have pointed out), but yours is a shining star compared with most of the ones on this guy's site.

(I did make a comment in the comment box, but unfortunately will have no idea what - if any - reply there is since I don't even remember the email address!

"bmrbabe," ROFLOL re your post! Hope I got that right as I'm not too tech-savvy and too old to be a "texter" but I think they are the right letters to say "rolling on the floor, laughing out loud" which I was when I read your post!

Having had yet one more birthday yesterday, I too share your problem of remembering who I am, my address, telephone number and email address. Pure genius! And it got you into "jv's" agents site to view the listings available. Great!

I did try the link you posted and it only took me to his main site which, once again, required registering with personal information in order to view his listings so I will take your word about the other houses listed there.

I agree that "jv's" house is a gem like a diamond in the rough so, if what you saw in the competing listings were as you described, she has a winner just waiting for the right buyers BUT ONLY IF she just does a few things to get them to want to see the house in person!

"jv," Are you listening? My suggestions on steps to take are on your staging thread along with many more much wiser than I, but I do think you need to become proactive with your current agent NOW.

Tell him to either get on board to get your house sold before the end of the month when you have to leave with new photographs or whatever it takes or let the listing expire and re-list with a new agent.

I don't usually blame the agent for a poor presentation if that is what the house really looks like but, in your case, it seems you are willing to do the work it will take to get your house sold. You just did not get any feedback from him to know what to do.

No problem on getting feedback now that you are on this board! Only problem is deciding which task to tackle first! Good luck and keep posting back....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Idaho Resident,

quote:

Originally posted by bmrbabe:
Man, oh man! I went and registered... not sure who I am or what my phone number is, and can't remember my email address except that it was @ something! But, I got on the site.

Well after reading this, I had to go do the same thing. Now of course I don't know who I am, etc., but "it's all in the name of research"!

That is an EYEOPENER, that site. ITA with everything you say. A lot of those listings are one big train wreck...what is this guy THINKING???

Going back over there to see if he has anything to show how many homes he has SOLD.

Wait...wait...he says he'll sell my home in 120 days or buy it himself...???

Ok, now I'm reading his tips to sellers...look at THIS particular gem.

"Don't be afraid to accessorize. If you have a small wall area above the countertops, add some nice wallpaper." HUH????

and this one...(why would ppl buy new appliances to try to sell the house, but then tell the buyers they're TAKING them WITH them??)

"If you are in the market for new appliances, you can buy new stainless steel models but make sure the buyers know they are coming with you. This will at least show the potential buyer what the kitchen could look like if they wanted to add stainless steel themselves."


This guy is unbelievable!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PeriParker,

If it were me I'd drop the guy and go to another agency. I used Coldwell when I sold my two previous homes and I have nothing but great things to say about them. They returned my phone calls and emails w/in minutes. They not only took their own photos (after not just telling me but HELPING me make each room look it's best) they also had a 360 degree video done on each room so potential buyers could view video and photos, you only had to register w/their site if you wanted the homes for sale address, you could view the pics w/out registering. My first house I sold was only on the market for 2 days (sold in the prime of the sellers market) the second house I sold was 2 yrs ago at the start of the downfall of the market, the agent showed my house at least 3 or 4 times a week (all potential buyers had the same "complaint" they didn't like that the back woods was conservation land which meant you couldn't do anything to the back lands, couldn't' take trees down, couldn't fill the land up etc that was the only complaint and it wasn't something I could do anything about).

My agent also had multiple open houses, she refilled the spec sheets on the realty sign a few times a week until I got an offer. She checked in w/me constantly and had any changes I wanted to make to the listing done the day I asked for it (my realtor suggested I get an appraisal, she was at my house the day the appraiser came, she updated the listing the day I got the appraisal back and she paid for his fee, which of course was paid back to her when the house sold as part of her commission she went above and beyond in every way). She showed up at my house w/another agent the day before my house went on the market to help me tie up lose ends, what realtor do you know of goes down to someone's basement and vacuums the cobwebs? It wasn't just her, everyone in her office was like that. She and I met once a week to go over any new homes that came on the market as well. She was the listing agent for a neighbor of mine who sold their house before I put mine on the market my neighbor told me how the agent went over and Helped them repaint some of their rooms. I decided to restage one room in my house (a huge bonus room that I used as my moms bedroom) she uploaded new photos of it to the listing the day I emailed the photos to her. She brought fresh flowers and pastries every time she had an open house.

You agent sounds like he's either lazy or inexperienced. I'd lose him and go w/a more reputable agency.

Peri, glad you thought the same thing about his site! A lot of those "I will buy your home if it doesn't sell" schticks means: "I will buy your house at 50% of what it is listed at, so that I can make some money instead of helping YOU sell it." Seller beware!

Thank you all for the input. You are confirming what we had been thinking all along.

No, we didn't know his website was like that. When we interviewed 5 or 6 agents, this team was head and shoulders above the rest in professionalism, marketing, etc (or so they seemed to be).

And we asked him about the selling guarantee, and they said that's if you buy another house that they're listing.

FYI, the basic input for the number of pictures without paying extra to Realtor.com, will be 4 pictures per listing to take effect sometime this month (july) in the beta release. For agents/RE companies that pay extra, up to 25 pictures can be submitted.
In addition to that, there will be other enhancements such as school, neighborhood and other data that are important to buyers.