Saying "No" To the Realtors..

[kareng57]

 a previous post (#16 I believe) did indicate that they still expected most of the showings to take place during daytime, weekdays.

Where?

30 minutes I think is reasonable enough; the buyers/realtors could kill a bit of time getting coffee, perhaps.  Insisting on an hour or two could be too much, though.

Some buyers may consider an hour or two to be too much, but my point was that for some people 30 minutes just is not possible, unless they want all my dogs crated in the dining room and barking at them!  (actually, no, I would never trust anyone in my house with my animals so they all come with me.)

I understand that realtors need to try and it is fine to ask, I just don't think that expecting short-notice showings to be possible is reasonable.

It was indeed post # 16.

I do understand completely what you are saying, no question.  However, a big part of the selling process is expecting the vendors to be able to vacate on short notice.  Pet round-up would definitely be a concern - I've known of realtors who would recommend that owners board their pets out during the selling process, although I'll admit that many pet-owners would be aghast about that.

In the end, there's really no way around it.  A vendor who says "sure, come now" with 10 minutes notice will likely get his/her house sold faster than someone who requires an hour notice.    No one is saying that the vendor in the second case doesn't have legitimate issues, but it's just the way that the market works.

[jazzbeat]

You realtor was rather rude by not first apologizing for the extraordinarily short "notice."

Imagine if your realtor had said:

I'm so sorry to call on you on such short notice, but I have a client from out-of-town who is leaving in a few hours.  The person just saw your house and was very interested.  We realize you live in the house and have no time to tidy up, but would you consider our stopping by in just a few minutes?  The potential buyer understands that you will have had no prior notice.  I apologize profusely for the inconvenience.

In that situation, I might reconsider.  It generally isn't what is requested it's how.

[Sweettooth]

One of my coworkers just told me a story and I thought of this thread. Their house is for sale and last night they were just sitting down to dinner when a realtor called and said they'd like to show the house immediately. They left their dinner sitting on the table and went to a nearby park to kill time until the showing was over.

When they came home, the realtor had left a note with the potential buyers' remarks--including their complaint that the kitchen had food sitting out!    I suspect any future last-minute requests from that realtor will definitely get a "NO."

[Sirius]

The year before we moved to this location we looked at some condos while we were here on vacation to get some idea of what was available.  We looked at five or six, but of all the owners there was only one who was actually there while we looked, an elderly lady who told us that she was moving in with her son because her health was no longer good.  She was very pleasant and stayed in one room while we looked. 

As it turned out, because Mr. Sirius was about to retire from the military and didn't have another job lined up we didn't qualify for anything in the way of a mortgage at that time.  Now we do, and we're going to start looking come spring. 

[Cymraes]

I don't understand why you have to leave the house when people come round to view it. Our estate agent/realtor would ring up and ask if it would be convenient for someone to look round - if we were, then we were given the option of showing someone round ourselves. And I much prefered to be shown round by the owners of a property I was interested in - they knew the answers to my questions and could tell me about local schools and shops etc.

As to tidyness - the last time we moved house, we were in the process of packing everything up and there were boxes everywhere, but no-one seemed to mind.

[Outdoor Girl]

From watching 'House Hunter' type shows, I find that the real estate process in the US/Canada is vastly different than the process in Europe.  Over here, it seems like the house has to be pristine, pets removed and no owners present while Europe seems much more relaxed, including having showings done by the owner.

Sweettooth, in your coworker's case, I think I'd have told the realtor that they were welcome to bring people by but that I'd be sitting at the table, finishing my dinner while they were looking.  No way would I get up and leave my meal to get cold.

[Knitterly]

I have to say, I'm not impressed with your realtor.

When I was looking for a student rental, on several occasions we would be taken to the house for a 10am appointment and be told when we got there that the current occupants wouldn't let us in because they were still in bed. It became increasingly obvious that this particular landlord wasn't bothering to run his appointments by his tenants before showing up (and was confirmed by a few after we arrived for afternoon appointments to find one in the shower and another in their underpants on the sofa).

If I had been the buyer, I'd have been reluctant to deal with your realtor after this.

When my husband and I were looking for apartments, we went to one place and the landlord let us in to take a look.  As he was taking us through the (rather untidy) apartment, we got to the bathroom.  And heard splashing.

The current tenant was in the bathtub!!

The landlord tried to play it off as her fault, that she should have called out not to come in the apartment when he knocked the door.

 

Needless to say, we did NOT rent from that guy!!!

I think at least 30 minutes is reasonable to show a place.  5 minutes isn't.  It's not necessarily wrong to ask,  but now that the rules have been set out, it would be rude to ask again.

You realtor was rather rude by not first apologizing for the extraordinarily short "notice."

Imagine if your realtor had said:

I'm so sorry to call on you on such short notice, but I have a client from out-of-town who is leaving in a few hours.  The person just saw your house and was very interested.  We realize you live in the house and have no time to tidy up, but would you consider our stopping by in just a few minutes?  The potential buyer understands that you will have had no prior notice.  I apologize profusely for the inconvenience.

In that situation, I might reconsider.  It generally isn't what is requested it's how.

I completely agree with this!!

[Miriam]

Thanks for all the posts!

So far my favorite things from the last few months have been:

1. The realtors complaining about our dead grass. Well, I live in Texas and all the residents in my area have been on a sprinkler ban since the beginning of -last- year. If you're grass is green, then you must be a wizard, because everyone's is dead; dunno what we can do about it. Looking up and down the street ours is the most beautiful yellow on the block.

2. The viewer's complaining about our cleaning products killing their child's brain cells. I like to mop and do a general gloss-over with wipes and windex before anyone shows up to look (so it looks "fresh" I guess) and one family left us a secret note in our plate cabinet about how we are harming ourselves and their child may be forever damaged. Haven't heard further from those people..

3. Another last minute showing had me stuck at home due to an online course, but they were welcome to come in and look around while I sat on the back patio listening to the live lecture (hint: live meaning I couldn't just pick up and leave). Cue viewer throwing a hissy fit on the front lawn because someone was still in the house. Dude..really?

4. The times the realtors decided to show up around 7p.m., no phone call warning us, and expecting us to invite them in. Yeah, well, I'm sure my middle-age mother in the shower upstairs would LOVE for an army of strangers to come troupe around the house.

I remember when I decided to live with friends so I could commute to college easier; the realtor would send us links or physical copies of homes in the areas, tell us times the families prefer showings, and we would let the family know DAYS in advance of our arrival. I find it strange and a bit unorganized to show a home RIGHT THIS SECOND to a family who has been a customer for quite a while and has 24/7 access to your webpage showing the homes and appointment times. JMO.

[Suzume]

I've never bought or sold a house (husband and I rent), but from reading this thread it seems like a lot of the problem comes from visitors or realtors not realizing that a home that is not vacant is going to look lived in! I'm not in the situation, thankfully, but if I were I think I'd demand that the real estate agent NOT forward any complaints of that nature to me. I just wouldn't want to hear about it.

[ShanghaiJill]

I read just this week that the people who view houses at the last minute tend to be impulse buyers.

[kareng57]

I read just this week that the people who view houses at the last minute tend to be impulse buyers.

I'm not clear as to what you mean, here?

If you mean that people who must see a house at very short notice do very often end up being serious buyers, I'd agree.  Sometimes, for example, they are being transferred and have perhaps one weekend to look at prospective houses.  While the vendor might not be happy re hearing that an agent is bringing around buyers in about a half-hour - well, they're serious buyers rather than casual-lookers.

But I wouldn't call these people "impulse buyers" so I am not sure as to the term, here.