When you want to sell a house, one of the things that you might consider doing is using an agent. But, like it is with any type of business, there are always some bad eggs in agents. Here are some of the problems you might encounter when you sell a house with an agent.
You Might Encounter Agents Bad at Communicating When You Sell a House
Real estate is a fast-moving world. So you want to have clear and click communication. When responses are delayed, it can sometimes mean that you have lost a deal. If you’ve found that your agent will take hours or even days to return your emails, texts, or calls, or if your concerns and questions are met with silence, it’s a huge sign that you need to find someone else.
This also goes for agents who get back to you, but their communication style isn’t a good one. If you feel as if they are irritated, not forthcoming, or rushed during the conversations, or if you don’t have chemistry, chances are that the agent’s not one who can work with you.
Another caveat with communication is if they are sugarcoating the situations and only giving you lip service. When you are selling your home, it’s important for you to know everything, bad or good. An agent should be able to deliver good and bad news.
Also, think about if they’re adhering to the communication channels that you prefer. If you tell them that you would rather get text messages than phone calls and they call you, it’s a bad sign.
You Might Encounter Part-Time Agents When You Sell a House
Of course, everyone gets their start somewhere. Some of the agents might be giving real estate a try before they do it full time. But when you are selling your home, the last thing that you want to use is an agent who may feel like their spreading themselves too thin because of their other obligations.
Part-time agents often will lack the experience, patience, and time to give the service that you as a seller deserve.
Some Agents are Very Pushy with Their Agendas
The role of a listing agent is to help by guiding you through the selling process, not by pushing you. if you’re ever feeling that the agent’s working to force you into deciding that’s motivated by the commission that they can get instead of your needs and goals, this is a big red flag that you should run, not walk away, from.
With bad agents, there’s a good chance that they are putting their interests over yours.
Some Agents Unfamiliar with Market Where You Want to Sell a House
This will often go along with inexperienced or part-time agents. If the agent’s not familiar with the local listings and they don’t give you accurate and reliable data, it’s important that you look for an agent with more local market knowledge.
Some Agents are No-Show or Late to Appointments
There are a lot of scheduled events when you sell your home. when you miss just one, it can derail or slow down any progress you have made towards a sale. If the agent is always late or consistently misses appraisals, inspections, open houses, or other kinds of events, this means that they are very unreliable.
You Might Sell a House with an Agent with Shaky Negotiation Skills
Sometimes, with an agent, everything may seem like it’s fine until they get an offer. If you’ve gotten some offers on the house but you haven’t settled on the sale price, it’s a good chance that your agent’s bad at negotiations
Some Agents Tell Lies & Half-Truths
If you think that the agent’s providing information that’s misleading, misrepresented a buyer or you, told you that you should conceal some information in the contract, or outright lied, they’re not someone that you want to work with.
Additionally, anybody who’s become a realtor has ethics they have to follow. If you think that they’ve violated that code or been dishonest, it’s a good idea to find your nearest realtor association and complain against them.
Some Agents are Eager Beavers
If the agent is good, they should be forthright and transparent. They also should offer their professional information on how to proceed best. This should be done even if you were hoping or expecting to hear.
You Might Find an Agent to Sell a House Without a Successful History
One of the most important things to know is about the experience of an agent, which includes the agent’s sales history. Agents that are good to work with are going to have a sales history that is successful. A lot of people who are searching for agents when they are selling their houses wonder how they are able to identify the success of an agent.
As most of the websites are going to show you the agents’ active listings, it’s easy to find those if there is a section that says ‘my listings’ on it. However, it can be harder to find the sales history.
One way to do this is to ask them about their previous transactions and listings. However, there’s a good chance they won’t be honest. You also should be careful and look for the realtors who may be passing another agent’s listings as theirs, if they work in a group. You should always carefully read through listings so that you can find out the name of the agent selling the property.
Some Agents have a Poor Profile or No Online Profile
If your existing or potential agent doesn’t have a presence online, this might mean that you are going to have other problems later. Perhaps they’re updating the profile or they’re new in the industry. Although there are a few reasons why there is no profile online, it also might mean that they’re not very tech-savvy.
However, what if they do have one but you aren’t really sure if they’re putting effort into online marketing or they’re maintaining it. It’s really bad if they don’t have a website. However, it could even be worse if the agent’s profile was filled with red flags. You want to read reviews that other sellers have left for them. if you’re only noticing a rating that is overall negative with mixed reviews or bad reviews, it’s an agent you don’t want to work with.
So, now that you know what some of the bad eggs in real estate might be, what else can you do? Well, you can always sell your house for cash. We buy houses in Massachusetts for cash, and we are happy to give you a fair cash offer. Contact us today for a no-obligation quote.
