Everyone's Edgy Now
Posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 4:29pm.We talk a lot here about buyers' perspectives and sellers' motivations and actions.
Leave it to the LA Times today to bring us the realtors' perspective on a slowing market: They're fed up with "fusspot buyers" and "stubborn sellers," and they're not going to take it anymore.
The article is overstated in a Fox News (or Stephen Colbert) kind of way, but there's something real to it.
It makes sense. "Sales-coaching guru" Walter Sanford says:
Other agents are fed up with unrealistic, "cement-head sellers." We're told that agents refuse one-third of listings due to unrealistic seller expectations. (Don't those sellers end up somewhere – probably with their inflated prices?)
Of course, it's not cost-free to take a listing, and that is the problem. You can't nurse along a deadwood listing for a year or more. The advertising costs, the fliers, and the... well, we guess, blow to reputation, will all do you in. Says one agent:
It seems widely acknowledged that the profession is slowly ditching some of the less-committed, less-successful and/or newer agents. The impatience portrayed here among those who remain is another measure of the shifting winds.
Leave it to the LA Times today to bring us the realtors' perspective on a slowing market: They're fed up with "fusspot buyers" and "stubborn sellers," and they're not going to take it anymore.
The article is overstated in a Fox News (or Stephen Colbert) kind of way, but there's something real to it.
Here's the realization that some agents and brokers are taking to heart: They have neither the time nor the money to waste on a lot of us.You're a buyer and you want to see a lot of homes and take your time? Sorry. If you have one of the agents quoted in the story representing you, you'll see a selection of the homes on market when you start your search, then you're shunted off to email updates. Call when you're ready to move.
It makes sense. "Sales-coaching guru" Walter Sanford says:
Buyers take longer to make decisions, they 'nibble' more, and they will actually eradicate your net profit if you continue to work buyers as a major part of your income flow.Sanford subjects potential buyer clients to a 35-question inquisition meant to measure how serious they are. Endearing.
Other agents are fed up with unrealistic, "cement-head sellers." We're told that agents refuse one-third of listings due to unrealistic seller expectations. (Don't those sellers end up somewhere – probably with their inflated prices?)
Of course, it's not cost-free to take a listing, and that is the problem. You can't nurse along a deadwood listing for a year or more. The advertising costs, the fliers, and the... well, we guess, blow to reputation, will all do you in. Says one agent:
It all adds up to a big zero if the house doesn't sell.A big zero is no fun.
It seems widely acknowledged that the profession is slowly ditching some of the less-committed, less-successful and/or newer agents. The impatience portrayed here among those who remain is another measure of the shifting winds.
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