Having just celebrated my half-century birthday, I gather I’m now entitled to a) wearing purple and red together and b) to be a bit cranky and even more opinionated than usual. I have a rant piled up and so, in the spirit of b), I just need to tell you what drives me nuts!
The vast majority of REALTORS® are competent and a pleasure to deal with so this is not intended to slander any of them in any way. There are a few th
ings though that I would call “areas of concern” and it’s those things that are making me crankier than usual.
In our online word, buyers expect to see photographs and lots of them yet, I come across listing with no photos all the time. Or listings with pictures of the front door and the driveway. Worse still, are the blurred pictures snapped from a cell phone or pictures of the messy kitchen or bathroom showcasing the raised toilet seat. What are they thinking?
In the last couple of years, I’ve sold a number of income producing properties which are generally part of a rental program. If the value of a property is tied to its income, you’d think someone would have financial statements, right? Wrong. In many cases, we have to chase these down which is incredibly time consuming and really, time wasting.
Then there are the listings that present incorrect tax information. There are ones that report the square footage incorrectly. Frustratingly, many show the number of bedrooms incorrectly. If there are two bedrooms on the main floor and one in the basement, this is not 3 bedrooms. It is to be reported as 2+1 bedrooms. It makes a big difference to buyers.
Recently, I’ve come across two condominium listings that presented a street address but no unit number. Am I supposed to guess?
Now I wonder, are the Sellers aware of these problems? Surely they’ve looked up their own listings online. Do they ask for corrections, changes or improvements? Are they content to let the agent “do their job” and leave it at that? For the many of my collegues who work hard to represent their clients fully and professionally, I know it drives them nuts too.
In the end, it’s the consumer that needs to do their job in researching and choosing a real estate agent who will fully and professionally do their job. With hundreds to chose from in any given area, this really isn’t hard.
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