SUBTITLE: WHAT EVERY PHILADELPHIA HOME SELLER SHOULD ASK THEIR AGENT BUT DON’T.

 Or is your home just listed for sale. Has your agent made it impossible for other agents to show?

 One of the questions we are asked at every listing appointment is: How are you going to market our home? What is your marketing plan? Of course we have a comprehensive marketing plan. BUT what every seller should be asking: How will other agents be able to make appointments?, how will you track the appointments?, how will you get feedback?, how will I know what’s going on? No one ever asks this. I think that sellers feel it’s just part of the process and they don’t have to worry about it. Well read on.

I have out-of-town buyers coming into town this weekend to look at homes. They are only going to be here Saturday and Sunday, they have identified 20 homes they would like to see. They need to buy quickly, every sellers dream.

I divide the homes by neighborhood and day and start to make appointments. The 1st two appointments go smoothly, the agents use eshowings, which is a professional showing service for Realtors. Eshowings tracks appointments, calls sellers if necessary for confirmation, sends out requests for feedback, and also sends the sellers weekly activity reports. Why wouldn’t every Realtor use eshowings you ask? Ahhhh because they have to pay for it!

The next three are okay. They all use the office receptionist and it goes pretty smoothly, only one is rude. What you should be asking yourself at this point is: If they use the office receptionist how does one make an appointment after hours? Eshowings is available 7 days a week, 360 days a year and also one can make an appointment online.

NOW on  to my favorite type of agent. Under appointment phone number nothing is entered. I call the office and the snotty receptionist tells me to call the appointment phone number. I tell her that there isn’t one and she transfers me (without telling me) to the agents voicemail. Does he answer? Hell no I get my most favorite message:” I’m not available but your call is very important to me so please leave a detailed message and I will get back to you as soon as it’s convenient.  “Convenient to whom? But wait there’s more. He then proceeds to say: “If it’s an emergency you may call my cell phone”. I just leave a message and hang up knowing there will be no call back. What constitutes an emergency to a Realtor? Yes it’s an emergency I might want to sell one of your listings, oh wait it’s probably your only listing.  Hang in there it gets better.  The only reason I’m showing this house is that it’s 2 doors down from a home my clients have requested to see, it’s priced similar so I think we should see it. Not that I know that from the pictures because he hasn’t bothered to have any (that post ranting about no pictures is coming soon). AND I notice that he is related to the sellers…whoops. I can’t say this enough, do not hire your brother, sister, aunt, cousin to sell your home unless they are good at what they do and can prove it.

I have to email an agent to make the next 2 appointments and a few back and forth emails later I’m all set. I think online appointment centers like eshowings are more efficient and easier but I understand the personal touch and hey she gets back to me in 10 minutes.

The next one I think is my personal favorite of the day. In the Multiple Listing Service under Realtor remarks: “vacant, easy to show”. I go to make an appointment on-line…so far so good…and this is what I’m confronted with:

Well obviously there are no weekend showings and the possibility of getting in anytime looks slim so I just filed that one.

The next time I am asked about our Marketing Plan I’d like to say: forgetaboutit we actually make it possible for agents to show your home and that is our #1 marketing strategy. Yes it takes more than that but think about how important this is.

SELLING YOUR HOUSE? MAKE SURE YOU HIRE PROFESSIONALS

Technorati: philly home sellers, homes for sale, how to sell your home, hire the right agent

posted by janice       SEARCH the Philadelphia MLS. No Registration Required!

photo courtesy of: Hoboken Guy

Well it’s another gray and damp day.  The sun is trying to come out but the clouds won’t let it.  So today I’m in the mood to complain about other stuff besides real estate, which is why I’ve decided to write about dog poop.

I have a dog named Stella.  She’s a rescue dog, 7 years old, brownish and a couple pounds over weight – you know what they say – a fat dog is a happy dog.  Stella & I live in a neighborhood where every other home has a dog or two.  Some have dogs and children but that will be blog for another day.

Anyway – we go for many walks.  We walk up and down different streets, we walk near I-95 along Front St., we’ll walk where ever Stella wants to walk. And we both walk with our heads down.  She’s sniffing the ground looking for the perfect place to poop while I’m making sure I’m not about to walk into a pile of poop.  After a long walk my neck hurts from looking down so much.

Before we go out I put on my special poop sneakers.  It’s a mine field out there and I figure it’s inevitable that I’ll be stepping in “it” and these are the shoes I no longer care about.  What I don’t understand is: why would you get a dog if you’re not going to be a responsible owner.  Do you really think I want to take your dog poop home with me?  And while I’m at this complaining thing – what’s up with talking on the phone while walking the dog?  I guess when you do that you don’t have an extra hand to pick up after your dog.  Great excuse! “Hey dude – can’t pick up after my dog I’m on the phone with my bookie.”  Oh please.

I’m thinking about carrying my camera phone with me everywhere.  I’ll take a picture of the dog and shame the owner with a poster stating “Watch where you step – the owner of this dog doesn’t pick up poop.”

Maybe that will work – but I doubt it!

Potentially Related Website: Sprinkle Brigade

Technorati: philly streets, rants and raves, poop laws

posted by carolyn SEARCH the Philadelphia MLS. No Registration Required!

Why doesn’t this cheer me right up?

Because as a Realtor, I’m always trolling for a short-term space, which the Commission admits is “disproportionately expensive” compared to other cities. Typically, an hour’s parking costs more than half as much as a full day.
Plus, it takes me a few precious milliseconds to drive into a parking lot.
What I want, dear reader, is a nice cheap parking space right smack at the curb.
But sometimes, even in my favorite city, you can’t always get what you want.

PS. You can pay your parking tickets online, it’s almost painless.

Technorati: Philadelphia, Center City, Philadelphia parking, parking problems

posted by carolyn

Interpreting housing statistics.

Sure, you know it. But you forget. So let me remind you that numbers can lie sometimes, and words can lie all the time, so please don’t take every housing statistic you read at face value.

Let’s say, for instance, that you’ve just read that “housing prices in this neighborhood have plunged 2%, the greatest drop since 2001.” Before you go hiding under the bed, ask yourself : is 2% really a plunge? If a 150-pound woman lost 3 pounds, would she shriek, “Yay! My weight is plunging!”? No, she would not. But reporters happy to hype up a story use the ol’ plunge-and-soar verbs all the time.

And that’s another thing. What area are those statistics talking about? National home prices are less meaningful if all you care about is that one townhouse at the corner of 3rd and Market. Figures that include both condos and single family homes, when all you’d ever want is a condo, aren’t so relevant to you. It’s also wise not to over-react to the “since such-and-such-a-date” part of a statistic. It adds some dimension to the numbers, but it can also be stretched to the point of absurdity, as in “Mom, I’m starving, it’s 1:30 and I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

Keep your sense of humor. Hang on to your perspective. Yes, these are challenging times in the housing market, but they’re made worse by media slants, twists, turns and melodrama. Seen a good example of it lately? I’d like to hear.

Technorati: philly real estate, market statistics, housing statistics

posted by carolyn       SEARCH the Philadelphia MLS. No Registration Required!

Last week I ordered a bed on line and was told that it would be delivered on Thursday between 12 and 5.  Ok, that’s good.  So I rearranged my schedule. 

Two hours before the delivery time, They (I’ll call them They, I can’t bear to mention their name again) realized they couldn’t make it and would have to come Monday instead. Again, I rearranged my schedule so I could be there. When I called at 3:00 on Monday just to make sure They were still coming, They said they’d be there before 5:00. At 6:30, even while the dispatcher was promising me that the delivery would arrive in the next 15 minutes, the driver walked into headquarters claiming that he couldn’t find my house.  (He had a cell phone. Why didn’t he call me? I was sitting there like a lump, waiting.)

They rescheduled again, for Tuesday. For the third time, I rearranged my schedule. This time They came.

Can you imagine something like that happening in the real estate business?  Settlement is scheduled for Tuesday at 3:00.  The buyer and agent don’t show up.  What? They got lost and couldn’t find the office and went home?
We don’t do that.  We can’t. We won’t.

Want to share your horror story about bad service?  Vent a little – you’ll feel better. 

Technorati: customer service, bad service, drive you nuts

 posted by carolyn