I Signed with An Agent, Now Where'd They Go?

You want to move and need to sell your home first.

You met with a real estate agent and quickly became convinced that they could expose your home to the market and find a buyer faster than you could on your own, so you signed a contract.

It's been 5 weeks and you still haven't heard anything from the agent.

Your wife is still asking nicely, "What are you going to do about this?"

You've overheard your mother-in-law say, "I don't know why you're having so much trouble, the Rhineharts sold their home themselves in 2 days and got a lot more than anybody thought they would and now they just bought their second vacation home, and ..., and ... . If you would've ..."

One or more idiots you work with asks everyday, "So did you sell your house yet?"

This is not an uncommon situation in the market that I work in; even though it should be.  Real estate agents, especially those of us with the Realtor designation, are supposed to be committed to the promotion of the best interests of our clients, the profession, and the ideals of home ownership, but some are not. 

Situations that create frustration for home Sellers happen all the time.  It should not be that these situations are created by the actions or inaction's of real estate agents.  Even a half-capable agent should keep consistent contact with their active clients.  Good agents set the expectations of communication with their clients way in advance and then meet, and usually exceed, these expectations thus eliminating the added frustration of the Sellers' not knowing what is going on.

For those of you who do find yourself in the above scenario, or anything similar to it, there are some actions that you can take.

1. call, text, and e-mail your listing agent a specific day and time that you expect to hear from them.
2. if you do not get a response: call or e-mail the broker or office manager of the company that you listed with.
3. if still not satisfied then you can contact the local real estate board and issue a complaint.
4. now that you have gotten the complaining off your chest, you can contact any other real estate company to discuss your situation.

Please don't blame the entire industry for the actions of a single representative.  We all work hard to represent the interests of our clients every day.  Do you really think that we just want to put a sign in your yard and then hide from you?  We want you to sell your home for the highest market dollar possible, in the shortest amount of time possible. Period.

I have heard that some upset sellers go FSBO (for-sale-by-owner) and refuse to ever work with an agent again.  They believe that nobody cares because nobody is seeking to fix their problem.  We all want to help BUT, since you signed with an agent we are NOT ALLOWED to seek you out.  We are allowed to speak with you if you seek us out.  Don't go all FSBO, it ends up taking a lot more time and money to sell that way and 85% of the time you will end up listing with an agent again anyway. 

To re-cap:
Try to get ahold of the agent you signed with.  Try to work things out with the Brokerage that you signed with.  Go ahead and complain where it counts.  Talk to other industry professionals about your situation.  Tell your wife what you're doing (she loves you taking control), your mother-in-law that you love her even though she's full of it, and the idiots at work to pluck-the-plank from their own eye.

Let me know how it's going.  I specialize in frustration.