Katie's Real Estate Blog: Communicating With Your Realtor

COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR REALTOR

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Communicating with your Realtor

Communicating with your Realtor is usually described in one of two ways, either easy and effortless or like pulling out teeth and horrible. We thought we would share a few ideas about communicating with your Realtor today. First we will talk about what you should expect when communicating with your Realtor and then we will give you a few ideas of how you can help make the experience of communicating with your Realtor an even better one.

The horror stories we have heard from our friends and clients about their experiences in working with other realtors usually stems from a grave lack of communication. I remember one client that came to us after having tried to sell their beautiful home with a friend Realtor of theirs. They had moved out of state for a career opportunity and had left the sale of their home in the hand of this Realtor. The Realtor placed the house on the market and then essentially fell off the face of the earth. After months (and I mean a lot of months) this seller was referred to us. We were originally asked to go over and give our opinion of the price of the house and see if we had any thoughts on why the house wasn’t selling. We gladly went over and looked at the house, ran our numbers and waited for the call from the listing agent to ask for our feedback. It never came!

As a seller, you have the right to expect that your listing agent is following up on EVERY SINGLE showing of your property. You then have the right to expect a full report of the showings and the feedback from those agents and buyers who visited your house. In our business model, this report happens at least weekly! You should also expect a method of communication that is suited to your style. If you prefer to text, your agent should be willing to accommodate that. If you would rather have an email so that you can go back and refer to it or if you do better talking on the phone, each way is acceptable and your Realtor should be willing to communicate with you in the way you feel most comfortable with. In our business model we like to at the very least use email so that everyone has something to go back and reference should they need. Usually we will call or text (if it is desired) and then we follow up that conversation with an email to recap everything.

So, what can you do to help your Realtor better communicate with you. Help your realtor set up proper expectations in regards to communicating with you. If they don’t ask how you would like to be communicated with or how often you would like to hear from them, tell them. If they are not meeting your expectations, talk to them directly about it so that they have an opportunity to correct it for both of you. Ask them what their communication plan usually looks like so that they can explain to you how they typically work and why they choose to do it that way. Be available to communicate with and if you are planning any trips or times when you won’t be available yourself just let them know so they can plan for that. And finally, if it’s just not working, fire them and find someone who will communicate with you properly.

Buying and selling real estate can be a complicated process and you want someone who will help walk you through that process and help you understand what you are doing. This cannot be accomplished without good communication. Ultimately communicating with your Realtor is vitally important and if everyone is working on it all parties should walk away feeling confident in all the decisions that were made and the end result of the transaction.

If we can help you in your journey of buying or selling real estate, please contact us. We like to communicate either by phone, email or text. Take your pick!