Posted by SarahBeth_CA on 2/23/06 11:21am
Msg #99245

RE Agents and Ethics on Showing Houses

I'm having the lock box removed today. Here's why. Yesterday was crazy. My hubby took a vacation day because we had to replace the wall heater (Friday the one we had just fell out of the wall, inspection revealed a crack). More background-my brother popped in to say hi. He lives in Hawaii but was out here on business but took the day to help my sister at the funeral home (nanny died, we weren't close, long story, emotionally I am fine). Now during the morning our re agent has been in touch off and on all day regarding a possible offer on our house. Along with sis and bro calling. About 20 calls in 2 hours. So here's what happened. We got in the truck to go to Home Depot for more supplies. The house phone rings after my hubby locks the door. We drive off. I was making a call on my cell at the same time. So I hang up a minute later and see two messages. One from an re saying she would like to make an appointment to show the house tomorow, one from our re. So I call our re and we talk about 7 minutes. I call back the re who wants to show the house and she says "we got in already". Ok so I'm pissed, here's why. I have always made my house clean and available to show. The message said tomorow not we are on our way. Now less than 10 minutes passed between me hearing the message one block from home and returning the call. Due to the instaling of the heater I hadn't cleaned house yet and there was a big hole in the wall, and tools spread out in the hallway. But here's what's worse had it been any other day I would have been in the shower at that particular time as I like to clean the house first. They would have entered my home while I was in the shower.

Reply by cyndi_ca on 2/23/06 11:30am
Msg #99251

So sorry to hear that. I would be soooo ticked off! It seems as though greed has gotten in the way of common sense. Good luck.

Reply by ColleenCA on 2/23/06 11:32am
Msg #99253

I know what you mean. When we sold our 1st house, we would constantly have realtors call and say "we are on our way, is that ok"? One time, there was a knock at the door at 10:00pm and it was a realtor with their client asking to come in and show the house. At the time our two boys were 2yrs and 4yrs and had been in bed for quite some time. Of course my husband told him no that it was too late, and to call first before bring a client. I vowed that we would not move again until we retire and we have not. That was 15 years ago and the memories of that long 3 months of our hose being on the market are still fresh in my mind. Shiver!!!!!!!

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 2/23/06 11:34am
Msg #99255

You know Colleen I have been real good at having the ready for those be there in 15 minute calls. But 10pm without a call first, I don't think so.

Reply by ColleenCA on 2/23/06 11:37am
Msg #99257

I was a stay at home mom back then, and I tried to keep the house as neat as I could at all times. It was a very small house too, and with my two active guys it was hard at times. I usually didn't have too much of a problem with last minute calls and would usually just take the kids for a walk down to our local park. It was nap time, bath time and of course that 10:00pm time that I just couldn't do it. Just have hope that it will all be over soon. Take care.

Reply by Stamper_WI on 2/23/06 11:38am
Msg #99258

Sounds like a busy day! Perhaps you can request at least x amount of hrs notice prior to showings. Some RE markets are incredibly competative and agents are under a lot of pressure to find or sell a house. I have heard that in CA sometimes houses sell in hours and offers come in prior to viewing the property with an approval contingency written in. Given that you have a possible offer, the other agent may have been aware of this and was anxious to get her buyer in so they wouldn't "miss out". Who knows , maybe you'll soon have to pick between 2 offers!
In my area the agents always call the listing agent to set up an appt whether the house is vacant or not. Good luck!

Reply by JS_MD on 2/23/06 11:59am
Msg #99265

About five years ago I put my vacation property on the market. It was very rarely used and never rented. My Mom and Aunt wanted to use it one weekend and upon their arrrival they heard "strange sounds" from the bedroom area....Mom walked in and surprised my realtor and his girlfriend in my bed. (he WAS married at the time... and a family "friend" to boot) Needless to say they werent sleeping. They had actually turned on the hot water heater... air conditioning... showered...used my towels etc..... even opened a bottle of my wine. Similar situation happened to a neighbor at the same condo......some people have alot of nerve.

Reply by ATFCNotary on 2/23/06 3:43pm
Msg #99352

This is absolutely outrageous, I certainly hope that this agent was reported to the DRE

Reply by PL on 2/23/06 12:02pm
Msg #99268

Do you want to sell or not?

If this realtor is showing your house too much fire him/her and find one that will not market it as much. Or you can put in your agreement that the house can only be shown during a certain set of hours and this will make sure that your house is ready. I will say that you rarely hear a seller complaining that their house is being shown too much, I've sold 7 of my houses and I only wish that my realtor had been a little more on the go getter side. Good luck on whatever happens.

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 2/23/06 12:22pm
Msg #99276

Re: Do you want to sell or not?

The issue is an re for a buyer called and left a message that they wanted to make an appointment for the next day. When I returned the call only 10 minutes later they stated that they had already gone in. I was one block from the house when I got the message. The message was a lie. Had it been any normal day they would have entered when I was in the shower, wet and naked. Nobody wants strangers coming in then. Any other time I am more than willing to show, I want to sell my house. In fact I have stayed home other than picking kids up so that I can point out all of the updates to the prospective buyers. Availability is not an issue, constantly showing is not an issue, lying re's is most definately an issue.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 2/23/06 12:23pm
Msg #99277

Having been a Realtor for over 20 years in California I'd

like to weigh in with some information. Things happen. I am primarily a commercial Realtor but I have residential Realtors working for me. The Realtor ( if in fact it was a Realtor and not just a real estate agent) should have checked with the listing agent and the owner. It does no one any good to show a house that is not presentable and shows an incredible lack of professionalism on the part of the buyer's agent. Now, if in fact the agent who showed the house is a Realtor, a member of the National Association of Realtors and of the State and local boards of Realtors (as one must be to use the designation Realtor) there is a grievance procedure. I am a member of the California Association of Realtors Grievance Committee member. You can call your local board and lodge a grievance against this member. It will be acted on!

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 2/23/06 12:46pm
Msg #99288

Re: Having been a Realtor for over 20 years in California I'

Thank you Charles I was hoping that you would reply to this. I looked at her card (she in fact has shown the house before) it does state Broker/Owner of the agency. It's a tricky situation. Do I have the time and energy to put into filing a grievance? What are the consequences of said grievance? Could this cause an issue in selling my home (like if she told other agents that I was difficult or something gossipy)? And I need to consider my responsibility in this as I may not be the only one that she has done this too. One thing is I deleted the message on my phone after listening to it and writing her number down to return the call (had alot on my mind). Would it be an issue because then it becomes her word vs. mine. Your further thoughts would be greatly appreciated Charles. I'm just doing my best to really think the whole situation through before acting.

Reply by Cassandra Read on 2/23/06 3:53pm
Msg #99354

Re: Having been a Realtor for over 20 years in California I'

Sarah,

If you want to file then I would, I would not worry about the showing of your house dropping because of one agent, you would be surprised of just how many realtor's there are in California....lots and lots. As long as your house is priced correctly for the market it will sell.

Reply by PL on 2/23/06 12:49pm
Msg #99291

Re: Having been a Realtor for over 20 years in California I'd

Yeah that's a good idea, lodge a complaint against him/her and see how many showings you get after that. You'll never see a real estate professional again, because at best the people in his/her office will back him/her and your showings will die and at worst they will tell their friends about it. Maybe the best idea is to sell your house then think about lodging a complaint or just move on and next time sell it yourself without a real estate agent or Realtor and not worry about it.

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 2/23/06 12:57pm
Msg #99293

Re: Having been a Realtor for over 20 years in California I'

As a member of these boards for about a year now I have had the pleasure of learning from Charles who has earned my respect through his sharing knowledge of so many different aspects of the notary/re/lender/tc/etc. field. His contributions have been to numerous to spend the time counting. PL I have seen little if any from you that is trully helpful or for anyone elses benefit. One has to consider that I first started seeing your screen name just after the whole anonymity factor was removed from the board. While you are entitled to your opinion just as anyone else is I am also entitled to decide whether that opinion is worth me listening to based on your previous responses in other threads.

Reply by PL on 2/23/06 1:04pm
Msg #99296

Re: Having been a Realtor for over 20 years in California I'

Good luck to you on this, I am sure Charles has the best interests of the Realtor concern at heart. The problem is that Charles is not your realtor.

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 2/23/06 1:18pm
Msg #99301

Re: Having been a Realtor for over 20 years in California I'

Charles sees things from more than one prospective and I totaly appreciate that. I look for sage advice (which I see in him), then I take the time to carefully consider the issue. Unfortunately there is a misconception that notaries on the whole aren't that smart thanks to ads regarding the big bucks out there. I'm sure that if you gathered a group of say 1000 people and played those ads to them, then polled them on it. The overwhelming majority would say it's a sucker ad. Then what impression do you think they have about us, even those of us who weren't suckered and had other good, sound reasons to do this. I for one don't want to be thought of as one that was suckered, I am smarter than that.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 2/23/06 2:49pm
Msg #99338

Gee SarahBeth you're making me blush, I'm flattered

Your real estate agent has a fiduciary relationship with you, the other agent only has to be fair and honest in their dealings with you since they are the agent of the buyer in this situation (check your Agency disclosure). If it was me, I would explain the situation to your agent and remind them (nicely) that you can not be up 100% of the time and that sometimes you need to have private moments. Most MLS memberships require that the broker showing the property notify the listing broker BEFORE showing the property. If this agent did not notify the listing agent before showing the property the buyers' agent violated the terms of the MLS agreement. I might not actually file a grievance (although you could actually do that) because you would have to attend the hearing and it might not get you much more than some personal satisfaction. I would however casually mention that you are aware of the professional standards committee and how it works in a phone call to the offending real estate agents employing or designated broker or office manager. There are many brokers working in the field who are not designated brokers and are really nothing more than a real estate agent with at least two years experience and passed a test weighted on certain topics that make it different from the salesperson's exam. Passing this exam allows them to go into business for themselves rather than working for a broker

I wouldn't worry about being shunned by the real estate community because just as with the glut of notaries there is a glut of residential real estate agents. The buyers' agent probably only cares for her own business and nothing else. There is an interesting and little know fact that the listing agent usually get a commission but buyers are extremely fickle and sellers agents have to go through a lot of buyers before they earn a commission. There are more agents out there than at any time in history and days on market are getting longer and longer and so there is a feeding frenzy to get the sales. I wouldn't worry about it. And that is also why I only work for sellers unless I can get an exclusive buyer/broker agreement and you don't see a lot of those in the residential arena. I hope this helps somewhat

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 2/23/06 3:21pm
Msg #99348

Re: Gee SarahBeth you're making me blush, I'm flattered

Thanks Charles, great input. A grievance at this point would be more than I want on my plate. Now if I would have been in the shower or God forbid having a private moment (the hubby was home and the kids weren't) then I most definately would go with a grievance. I just solved this by having the lock box removed. Since I am at home all day other than picking the kids up there's little chance of us missing out on a showing. The particular agents card says she is a broker and the owner of her agency which bears her name. The good news is we have an offer and need to look over some things. You know the process. So we will see what happens.

Reply by Cassandra Read on 2/23/06 3:35pm
Msg #99351

I am sorry to hear of your bad experience with lock box's. Some ways that can help to avoid problems with unexpected buyer's is by requesting showing by appointments only on the MLS for showing instructions, also a combo lock box can be used by using one of these you do not have to put the combo code on the MLS, that way the buyer's agent will have to call your agent to get into the property, in which case they can set up an appointment for a proper time, you can also put in specific showing times for your property on the MLS. And of course you do not have to have a lock box at all. One of the advantages of using the supra key lock box's is that we the real estate agents can access infomation from it that tell us that agents have used thier key in it to show your property. Hang in there, soon your house will sell and things will smooth out. God Bless and good luck in selling your home.