Agents want to know why things aren't selling? Perhaps they should look at the effort they put into show houses. Supposedly it's the best way to sell a house but of the 4 show houses I went to on Sunday, 3 were staffed by house "sitters" who had no knowledge about the place. This was a typical conversation:KS sent me a link to where that quote is from. Estate Agents should be watching it every day to pump themselves up.
Me: How many metres under the roof
Sitter: Shoo... not sure... going to have to ask the agent cos he said the pamphlet was wrong...
Me: When was the kitchen renovated?
Sitter: Ja I don't know...
Me: How long has this been on the market?
Sitter: Can't say..
Me: Is there plumbing for a downstairs bathroom?
Sitter: *silence*
Agents, if you want to sell, then get off your asses and start sitting in show houses or at least put knowledgeable people in there not brain dead idiots. I don't have the time to come back during the week just to get answers. To quote Glengarryglenross: First prize is a cadillac, second prize is a set of steak knives, third prize is you're fired.
03 March 2011
Dear Agents: Please Try Harder - Show Houses
Reader KS writes:
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7 comments:
Isn't it illegal under the estate agents board rules to have a non-certified sitter at a show house ?
Smells of laziness to me.
If you don't want to work weekends, then don't become an estate agent.
Estate Agents Board rules?
You are joking, right?
They break the "rules" as often as they like, and when the CEO of the Estate Agents Board investigates them, they fire her ass and move back in themselves.
Bunch of lying thieves!
I wrote the original email.
Of the 4 show houses only 1 had an actual agent with a name tag and business card who was knowledgeable about the place and could answer virtually all my questions and phoned me the next day with answers to those he could answer.
Three had what were obviously non-agents (two of those young enough and casual enough to be students earning some drinking money I would guess) who knew nothing about the place and just sat in the dining room/lounge and noodled away on their laptops while I walked around.
It didn't matter if they were certified or not (I would love to see the test you need to write to get certified), they knew nothing about the place so I then had to spend work time the next day phoning and quizzing the agents.
At least they weren't aggresively lying to your face.
Claremart deliberately misrepresented a property with a title deed restriction.
Agents feigning ignorance about other offers.
A most spot on post.
I see nothing wrong with sitters. Estate agents has to have a few houses on their portfolio to be profitable, and cannot be at all places at once.
The estate agent, at the end of the day, can only advise the seller on the value to enter the market in. Sellers with the bubble perception will ask for ridiculous amount for crap places. So most estate agents will have a lot of property on their portfolio that just wont move.
If i was an estate agent (which i'm not). I'd sit in the property that is most likely to move, let random sitters, sit in places less likely to move, and just advertise the crap places.
I totally agree that the random sitter should have at least a basic knowledge of the place, but having done my fair share of house hunting. I'd rather see as many as possible in one go, which can only be facilitated by random lowly paid sitters.
Jim... although you claim not to be an estate agent, you do talk like one.
Why any consumer - of anything anywhere - would support the idea of a business model that includes clueless "sales" people is beyond me. Especially when buying life's most expensive item.
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