Diana and I thought we would take advantage of a nice day to preview some of the listings being held open in the Madison Park and Broadmoor neighborhoods. We viewed some nice listings, but were taken aback at how we were, or were not, greeted by the respective listing agents.
Listing No. 1: A beautiful $1.8M home in Madison Park. We were there for about 15 minutes. The Windermere Listing Agent hosting the broker’s open house did not greet us, did not introduce himself, and did not acknowledge our presence aside from a slight nod as we were leaving. Thus he obtained no feedback regarding his expensive listing, has no idea if we might have a customer looking for such a property, and did nothing to explain or demonstrate any of the features of the property.
Listing No. 2: An interestingly remodeled home in Madison Park reminded us of something one might see in a nice neighborhood in Los Angeles. The asking price is $1.9M. We were not greeted or acknowledged by the Windermere Listing Agent. She spent most of our visit speaking on her cell phone discussing with a friend her workout schedule. Aside from her pointing out that there was a guest house at the rear of the property, there was very little communication. Again, this Agent has no idea why we were there, whether or not we have a client for such a property, what the features and benefits of the property are, or what our opinion of the listing might be given that there were several similarly priced properties in the area open today.
Listing No. 3: Onto Broadmoor we ventured. Surely we would witness a more professional presentation from the heavy hitters that are fortunate enough to have a listing in the vaunted neighborhood behind the manned and gated entrance. It was not to be. While the broker’s open house flyer referenced “lunch” as an inducement to agents to attend, the pickings were less than lightly considered. I’ll leave it at that. The first listing visited we were again ignored by a very poorly dressed agent wearing her Jackie O’ sunglasses indoors. It was gross. The listing, at $1.375, was worse. It was unclean, poorly finished, poorly furnished, and poorly presented.
Listing No. 4: This was funny. About three doors down from the prior Broadmoor house we ventured inside the “time capsule”, as the Listing Agent described it. This was the only agent that actually spoke to us, but in an apologetic way…for the house…for her disorganization….for the fact she had brought no flyers describing the property. This would be fine if she were showing a 1972 Ford Pinto, but a $1.3M house? The excuse for having no flyers was that the property was “just listed”. Well, if was just listed, why were there about 40 real estate business cards on the counter? It appeared she hadn’t been there in a month and came out to open it up because of the advertised brokers open, of which she was not a part. Also, we were never introduced, and other than the price, have no idea what the property entails.
We are far from perfect, but there are some fundamentals to presenting real estate on behalf of sellers:
1. Provide good signage to the property to make it easy to find. The signage today was poor to non-existant.
2. Dress professionally, as the image presented is part and parcel of the property represented.
3. If food is advertised as an inducement, don’t throw it together as an afterthought. It is insulting to visitors.
4. Greet every visitor at the door if at all possible.
5. Introduce yourself in a professional manner with a hearty handshake, and thank the visiting agents for coming.
6. Explain that you wish to hear any comments the vistors may have…sincerely.
7. Most important, always ask, “do you have someone that might be interested in this home?”
8. That every agent as they leave, using there name. Everyone likes to be acknowledged.
The impression made might be one of cordiality and sincerity which spawns a showing and possible offer from an agent that WANTS to work with you, and your seller, because you showed them professionalism respect.
Share this Post