Here we go again…
I’ve written about this several times, but it bears repeating.
Home sellers, you need to review how your home is being presented in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and online.
One of our clients found a new listing today that may meet their needs.
This was the photo, the only photo I might add, in the MLS:
Looks to be taken with a cell phone through a car window, or a horribly dirty camera lens. Or something.
Nice recycling can too. Why not move it three feet to the left?
Which home for sale appeals to you more, the one pictured above, or this one:
Sure, the lawn is a little off, but this was taken in the summer, when it was 743 degrees outside for weeks on end. Rest assured, after a few days I brought out my lawn mower from HouseBait and cleaned this up. At least you can see the home…
The listing agent, who to their credit realizes the importance of photos in the MLS, left a remark there apologizing for the lack of photos, saying they were waiting on the seller to send more pictures.
Huh? Waiting on the seller to send you pictures?
Here is a thought… take some pictures yourself.
And if you don’t know how, which appears may well be true, hire someone to take photos.
In other words, do your job.
In addition to the lone horrible photo there were other transgressions in the MLS listing. Mostly minor annoyances like including some abbreviation in the private Realtor-to-Realtor remarks that neither my wife or I or the other two agents I asked have ever heard of, and the request to contact the co-listing agent for any questions on the listing.
Contacting the co-listing agent is certainly no big deal. But it would be helpful to have some info about said co-listing agent in order to contact them. You know, like maybe their phone number or an email address. Or even just a name so I could try hunt down some contact info. But nope, we got nothing–and I mean nothing–on the mystery co-lister.
The agent left instructions to contact the owner to set up a showing. Again, no big deal though the lack of a phone number makes doing that difficult…
Being the dutiful agent, I did what I could to set up a showing. Since the mystery co-lister was nowhere to be found, and there was no number to contact the owner, I called the primary lister. They are a Designated Broker / Owner who has been licensed for over 22 years so I figured if nothing else they could give me the co-listers phone number.
I’m still waiting on a return call. It’s only been five hours though. Maybe they are just busy…
Home Sellers Check Your Listing!
No, you shouldn’t have to check up on your agent and make sure they are doing their job. But do it anyway. There are far too many listings like this in the MLS. If you don’t believe that, take a look at DuhAgent.com, my new favorite site that displays some remarkable (in the bad way) home sale photos and assorted mishaps.
Ask your agent to see exactly what they have loaded into the MLS. Ask to see both the public version and the “Realtor only” version (which includes non-public info like showing instructions, gate codes, client info — stuff the public doesn’t need to see). Make sure the photos of your home are well produced — large, well focused and exposed — and display your home in the best possible manner. If your agent uses acronyms in the home description or private remarks, be sure they make sense. Double check their contact info. Double check for info that isn’t there but needs to be.
Better yet, when you are interviewing agents to list your home for sale ask for examples of their previous listings marketing material andMLS entries. (And you ARE interviewing multiple agents aren’t you? Even if you’d like to help out the neighbor of your wife’s second cousin twice removed who is an agent, or your favorite coffee barista / real estate agent, please interview more than one agent. Please.) Think about what you would like to see if you were looking for homes and if you agent isn’t doing that, find anther agent.
There is absolutely no excuse for listings to have photos like this or be missing critical information. None. But it happens. A lot. Prepare and protect yourself if you are a home seller. Home sellers are Going Here to look for reliable home buyers.
The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...
I saw a listing photo last summer that was showing Christmas decorations. Oy!
Are you sure it just wasn’t a bad judgement call in the choice of Instagram filter? 🙂
Why, oh why don’t agent invest $60-$80 for a professional real estate photographer? PLEASE folks go the extra mile for your client.. It makes a world of difference to have professionally taken photos.Period!….
On the other hand, bad seller’s agents are sometimes good for my buyers. Homes with terrible photos are not going to be getting as many showings so my buyers will have less competition from other buyers and that’s always a good thing for buyers. You can’t be previewing every home in the MLS with terrible photos, of course, but if a home looks like it might otherwise be perfect for a buyer, the poor photos can actually work in the buyer’s favor.
Normally, if a home has terrible photos, it’s a dump inside and that’s why they don’t have more photos but that’s not always the case.
True. Last week a client made an offer on a home that had photos of the bad wallpaper and dark corners. It was actually a nice home!
Really, what was the agent thinking?
This way can you as a seller see the difference between brokers and brokers when selecting how is going to sell your home. Brokers who work so unprofessional should get rid of their license.
Jay, this is a topic with enough material that you could write about it every day and never run out of fresh examples. I don’t understand why home sellers do not do a better job of researching the agent/company that they hire to sell their homes.
I think I have a new favorite website now in Duhagent.com! LOL
This kind of stuff kills me. Agents using their underwater disposable cameras for the marketing photos. I often wonder what some of these sellers are thinking….do they not see that they do not look good online? Or that properties around them look much better? Frustrating.
This is a great post and site! Thank you for sharing! Duhagent.com is hilarious!
Sellers must bear in mind that if the photo seems not for them to see, it is also the same to the buyers. Jay, I agree this topic is worth repeating.Thanks!
Posting the photos of two fairly similar homes in different quality next to each other really illustrates your point! It is easy for people to say something is good enough without comparing results.
Jay – Another spot on rant/post. I had to share it will my agents here in Ohio and just challenged them to be preapred to be asked the questions you suggest to the Sellers in the article. It may never come up but I’d hate to be the agent that was betting that it wouldn’t.
I’d say keep up the great work but it looks like plenty of agents out there are helping you by doing just the opposite. Happy Holidays.
any one wanting to sell their home might i say to read this artical andpay attention to it . it will help u sell your home alot easier
That is pretty bad. Are there still people out there who are reading this blog who aren’t interviewing agents before they sign? I can’t imagine who they would be but apparently you found one! Shame on that listing agent.
Jay…so true! I’ve seen so many of these crappy pics and descriptions. Agents need to spell check too…if I see ceiling spelled wrong one more time…
Happy New Year, love your blog!
Kelly