Usually, it is not so difficult to drive realtors absolutely insane; it just takes a little effort. Sellers are good at that. I always try to keep my blogs a bit educational. But once in a while, a good laugh for a change is also necessary.
Property owners can get very desperate to sell. It is not always their own fault. I know sellers who do everything possible to assist the agent in selling the property. Angry sellers don’t help themselves and their agent, and it is sometimes impossible to work with them. My solution is to wish them well and save myself from heartburn.
The Costa Rica real estate market is light years away from being as organized as the North American or other markets. A couple of days ago, a team from a large US real estate group visited and they couldn’t believe some of the things I told them. In Costa Rica, we still live in the Wild, Wild West, compared to other countries.
For those who don’t know how the Costa Rican real estate market functions:
1. We have mostly open real estate listings, so a seller will list with 50 real estate agents, at least 7,562 taxi drivers, and 5,767 bartenders.
2. In Costa Rica, agents do not use lock boxes, we make showing appointments with the sellers.
3. Sellers will be present during every showing.
There are a lot more things that sellers do to hurt the sale of their property than just 11. Over 20 years of selling real estate have been enough to write over 1,200 blogs. So you can imagine how easy it was to come up with only 11 Things Sellers Do That Drive Realtors Absolutely Insane:
1. Raccoon
The seller greets the real estate agent accompanying the buyer at the front door. The seller has a raccoon sitting on his shoulder. When the buyer walks in the raccoon jumps the buyer in his face, scratching his face all over. The buyer left to come never back again. Also, the agent canceled the listing agreement.
2. Reduced commission
After having tried to sell her house in Santa Ana for several years, the seller finally decides to lower the listing price. The new price is reduced by 2%.
The seller confirms the agent in an email that with the reduction, the real estate commission goes from 5% to 3%. It took only 1 second to delete the listing from the MLS.
3. Difficult showing appointment
A seller at listing appointment: “please only show my house on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am – 11 am and from 3 pm – 4 pm.”
After re-scheduling a showing several times, the agent finally gets a showing appointment from the seller. Having to reschedule showing appointments drive Realtors absolutely insane!
On arrival, the seller mentions not to show the bedrooms because the housekeeper is sick. The owner has not been able to make up the beds and organize the bedrooms.
4. Dogs
The seller has 20+ dogs running around everywhere. By the time the agent and clients get to the front door, the seller asks the buyers and agents to take their shoes off.
“I don’t want dog shit all over my carpet,” the seller says.
5. Group showing
After a first visit, the buyer likes the house so much that she wants to show the house to the family. They all have to approve the purchase, she says.
She arrives with 14 family members, grandma, and 6 children included.
6. Bathroom noises
Every time the house is shown, there is underwear in the bathrooms, dirty clothes all over.
Last time, the owner used the master bathroom during the showing and ugly noises were heard. The buyers lost all interest in the house, as well as the agent.
7. Pizza
The buyers were so nice, the sellers decided to order pizza for all. A bottle of wine was opened. The showing went well into the evening.
The buyers did not buy anything.
8. Turnkey
The sale was lost several times because the seller insisted on including the furniture. Unfortunately, all the buyers that made a reasonable enough offer already had their furniture. A garage sale was not an option and the suggestion of giving it to the Salvation Army was not appreciated by the seller.
Receiving a serious offer at a perfectly good price with a seller not accepting can drive Realtors absolutely insane!
9. Rain
Seller tells the agent not to show the property when it rains. During the rainy season (6 months of the year) it can start raining at any time. That means the property needs to be sold during the dry season.
The realtor tried hard…
10. The baby room
The agent is showing a beautiful home to a buyer couple with the seller trailing along.
In one of the bedrooms, the seller’s wife says “wouldn’t this be a beautiful baby room”? Not knowing that the buyers had recently lost a baby.
Sellers making unimportant statements can drive Realtors absolutely insane!
11. Shoot the messenger
The seller accepts a lowball offer in a buyer’s market. The property has been listed for just 1 week. The seller makes the life of the agent impossible because they had to accept the lowball offer.
This was probably the most horrible seller in history.
It’s good to be able to laugh about the 11 Things Sellers Do That Drive Realtors Absolutely Insane now. They’re often stupid and unnecessary ways to lose a sale. If you don’t want your home to be on the market for 7 years, don’t make any of these 11 mistakes.
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