An excellent real estate agent can do a lot to help you sell your home. However, it is essential to understand that not every Realtor does the same things to move a house.
Like any job, some are better at selling houses than others, and some prefer to do the bare minimum as long as they can get away with it.
These post-and-pray Realtors are not the best choice when you want to sell your home promptly for top dollar. Our guide will provide you with all the tell-tale signs you have picked the wrong real estate agent!
From three decades of experience as a top-producing Realtor, there are qualities that stand out among the best agents.
You’ll know it right away. Attention to detail, communication, solid business skills, attentiveness, and always thinking about what is best for you. A true fiduciary.
To get the most money possible for your home, you want an outstanding local real estate agent willing to put in the time and effort it takes to reach maximum dollars.
If you are a first-time home seller, this is crucial for you to understand.
There are lots of ways Realtors can be stand-out agents. Putting a home into the multiple listing service (MLS) is not one of them.
Let’s look more closely at what I am talking about.
The Post and Pray Method
One helpful tool in a Realtor’s toolbox is the multiple listing service or MLS. Any Realtor you use will make sure to put your property up on the multiple listing service, allowing all other agents using the service to see the features of your home and the price you are asking for.
This also makes your home viewable by various online searches. In other words, putting your home in MLS makes it possible for real estate agents – working for home buyers – and often home buyers themselves to see your home.
Unfortunately, some agents rely solely on the 3 Ps of marketing: put a sign in the yard, put it in MLS, and pray. These post-and-pray Realtors see some success with this formula and use it repeatedly. They may do this for ignorance, laziness, or other unknown reasons.
Terrible real estate agents don’t rely on sound real estate marketing techniques. Instead they do the bare minium.
The Multiple Listing Service is All You Need
Ultimately, a Realtor can do far more to sell a house than rely on the 3 P’s. Some will tell you that you must price your home correctly, and the MLS will cover the rest.
While this may be true if you want to ensure getting the absolute most money for your home, JUST putting your home in the multiple listing service is not your best bet.
If you are fortunate enough to be in a blistering hot seller’s market where homes are selling as fast as an ice cream cone on a hot Summer day, sure, the MLS might be all you need.
The majority of the time, this is not the case.
When real estate markets are in balance or have a decent supply of homes, you need every edge you can get when selling real estate. The best real estate agents understand this. They don’t get lazy or complacent.
They have time-tested marketing systems in place and continue to work year after year. There are many things to know before selling a home; one is the value of having an excellent agent.
Home Sellers Can Do Better
There is always a chance that a post-and-pray Realtor will be successful. A random buyer may notice the sign in the yard and contact the Realtor. An agent may find your home on the MLS and bring the buyer to you.
A person searching online could also stumble across your listing and see precisely what they are looking for. Then again, none of this may happen.
A good Realtor understands how to market a home successfully. They will do far more than throw up a sign and a listing and wait for the calls to pour in. This is because a good Realtor is every bit as motivated to sell your home as you are. This is how they make a living.
A real estate agent who wants to be recognized as top in their field will step outside the box and not just be average. They will use techniques and marketing ideas that other Realtors don’t.
For example, the real estate marketing materials left in the home will be exceptional.
Marketing is as much an art as a science – a combination of positioning your home appropriately, exposing the property through an expansive network, and utilizing the power of the Internet to funnel prospects toward your home.
These things take time to develop and lots of practice to get good at. Luck is always a part of the process, but it is much easier to get lucky when you have done all the hard work necessary to seize an advantage.
Common Denominators With Bad Realtors
Disregard For Having Great Photography
One of the common traits of a post-and-pray Realtor is their total disregard for the importance of good real estate photography. In fact, with most lousy real estate agents, this is one of the first things another Realtor will notice, which reflects poorly on you.
You must understand that photography is one of the most essential things in real estate sales.
Nothing is more accurate in real estate sales than the famous saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The photography on your home can make or break a sale.
Consider this fact – most home buyers will skip right on by a home that does not look appealing online. They will not read about your home’s great features if the pictures turn them off.
Many homeowners never check up on their Realtors after being hired. If there were more due diligence on a seller’s part, they would be appalled by what they saw.
From having only a few photos posted to only showing exterior shots to blurry photography to something that looks like it has been shot from a Polaroid camera from the 1980s.
Good Realtors see it all and are astonished by how some agents have the worst judgment in marketing a home and how it should be done. You can look at a website dedicated to making fun of lousy Realtors who post bad photography in the MLS. Take a look and have a good laugh. Some of these are almost too ridiculous to be true.
However, the hard reality is that this kind of poor marketing happens daily in the real estate industry.
No Time Spent on Detailed Home Descriptions
You will also notice bad Realtors’ disregard for the importance of good listing descriptions in the MLS display and their marketing materials. Multiple listing services allow a Realtor to post a pretty decent description of any home posted into the system.
Like photography, your descriptions are important because they tell the buyer about your home’s excellent features. An exceptional Realtor designs something that will entice a buyer to want to visit your home.
A post-and-pray real estate agent doesn’t have time to write great descriptions. They will slap something together and call it a day. The same thing will happen regarding the marketing materials left in your home for a buyer to take.
Lack of Good Marketing Materials
You will immediately recognize the Realtor who understands excellent marketing when you see a nice glossy brochure with gorgeous color photography of all the rooms in the home, along with exterior shots of the property, including the lot.
You will likely see a black-and-white copy of an MLS sheet left in your home from a bad Realtor. Why spend money on marketing is how the post and pray Realtor thinks. This is the last thing you want as a seller looking to get top dollar for a home!
Unfortunately, this happens constantly because people don’t know any better.
Slide show or video tour? I can hear the post and pray for the Realtor snickering now. Who needs to spend extra money on marketing? Why must I do those things when my sign and the MLS work just fine?
No Communications Skills
Study after study shows that one of the biggest complaints homeowners have with their real estate agents is a lack of communication. When you have a showing on your home, knowing what the buyer thinks is excellent.
An excellent seller’s agent will have a sound system to get feedback from the buyer’s agent.
A good agent will get back to you to keep you in the loop of what is going on. This is a common courtesy and should be something every real estate agent does.
Feedback helps both a seller and an agent gauge any issues and if there are corrections that can be made. Is getting feedback something that happens in every real estate sale? Not! You will likely find this out hard if you hire a lousy agent.
It’s one of the many reasons consumers search online for how to fire their real estate agent. It’s also why countless real estate listings have expired in the MLS.
Leveraging The Internet
Online marketing is far more than throwing up an ad for your home. It is about exposure, about getting your home in front of people. Search engines are excellent for finding a home within specified parameters, but a Realtor can do more.
Your home is more likely to be seen if they have a high-quality website that ranks well on major search engines like Google and Bing.
You can have the greatest-looking website going, but it will be almost useless if nobody can find it doing local real estate searches.
Some real estate agents realized early on that ranking well on Google would have advantages for selling homes.
These Realtors began working to build a site that was respected for its information and its listings. This is not something that can be accomplished in a day. It takes time and a lot of effort.
Have a Real Estate Blog
Some Realtors have recognized and taken advantage of how powerful a real estate blog can enhance their business. Savvy Realtors who understand marketing realize the punch a blog can bring.
You can be recognized as a local market expert and an agent with a lot of helpful real estate knowledge that buyers and sellers can utilize.
When looking for a Realtor, you should find one who understands how to leverage the Internet to sell your home. Post and pray Realtors are the opposite of this.
They take the path of least resistance and expect the Internet to do the work for them. Find an agent that cares enough to have a website and to make it a good one.
Utilize Social Media Channels
With social media having become a large part of normal day-to-day activities, it makes sense to have an agent who is tied in and utilizing social channels as another means of broadcasting that your home is for sale. Thousands of people visit sites like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter daily.
A web-savvy marketer will use the channels to make your home more visible. Post and pray Realtors would never dream of doing this. It takes too much effort.
The lack of marketing, among others, is one of the many reasons so many homes for sale by owner don’t end up selling. The line of thinking aligns well with many of the post and pray Realtors.
Many for sale by owners think selling a home is easy and all it takes is a sign. That over 80 percent of all FSBOs listed with an agent shouldn’t be all that surprising. They are missing one of the P’s!
Interview Multiple Realtors
Never hire a Realtor without interviewing them first. You want an agent that can sell to people, but you don’t want to be the one getting sold.
You need to ask hard interview questions and get the answers before agreeing to any business relationship with this person. It is not enough to be charming.
It would help if you had someone who gets results and uses all available channels for selling your home.
One thing that is humorous about real estate agents is that almost every one of them will say that they are #1.
What you need to find out is #1 at what? Selling homes or baking sugar cookies for their ineffective open houses.
Most homeowners don’t know how to interview a real estate agent. After all, it is not like most people sell a home that often.
Please take a look at some of the hard-hitting questions I have provided. These questions will make an unqualified Realtor want to sink under their chair!
When you interview a Realtor, ask about the number of successful sales the person has had. You want someone who has had success recently – not ten years ago.
You also want someone good at listing a home at a specific price and selling close to that price. Some Realtors will gladly list your price too high to make you happy at the beginning, only to drop the price substantially by the end to sell the home.
The Best Real Estate Agents Are Factual
Get an agent strong enough to tell you what your home is worth and what it will sell for – and one that closes a deal for around that price. The original list price to sale price is one of the most important statistics you can find out from the Realtors you are interviewing.
Don’t fall for the agent trickery in which you are told your home is worth far more than possible. Many Real Estate agents intentionally tell sellers what they want to hear to get them to sign a contract.
Find out how many days this agent’s listings stay on the market. Time is not your friend when selling. You want someone who sells promptly.
Lastly, make sure the agent has a respectable website. The advantages to this are many, and enough years have passed that any good agent will use an array of web-based marketing to sell your home.
Keep in mind that the Realtor you hire is your partner. Everything they do is a reflection on you and your home.
Do you want to be associated with a brand and agent that is well respected locally? The choice is yours. All you have to do is take the time and choose a Realtor who will make a difference in the home sale process.
One of the top home seller mistakes is picking the wrong real estate agent.
Summary For Picking a Great Real Estate Agent
- Look at examples of the Realtor’s photography on homes currently listed for sale.
- Check to see if they have enhanced their listing descriptions to make their client’s homes stand out.
- See if the agent uses slide shows or video tours for marketing.
- Find out how the real estate agent will communicate with you throughout the home sale process.
- Investigate the agent’s websites. Do they provide great information? Can you find them in local searches?
- See if the agent uses a real estate blog to provide additional exposure for your home.
- Is the real estate agent using social media to cast an even wider net for people to find your home?
- Make sure you do an excellent job carefully interviewing multiple Realtors.
Conclusion
If you take the time and do these things, the chances of picking a bad Realtor will drop dramatically. Real Estate agents are a dime a dozen. The barriers to entering the field are lower than they should be. You will be paying a lot of money to an agent.
The best real estate agents typically do not charge more money, so having one working for you makes sense!
Other Home Selling Articles Worth Reading
- How to sell a home for top dollar via Maximum Real Estate Exposure.
About the Author: Bill Gassett, a nationally recognized leader in his field, provided the information on whether your real estate agent is a post and pray Realtor. He is an expert in mortgages, financing, moving, home improvement, and general real estate.
Learn more about Bill Gassett and the publications he has been featured in. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest towns for the last 38+ years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
I service Real Estate Sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Natick, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton, and Uxbridge MA
The price point of homes makes a huge difference in marketing. Sellers can’t expect or assume realtors will use the same marketing for a million dollar home vs. a condo. Marketing takes effort and money and the commission earned determines the type of marketing realtors will spend. Another point is experienced successful realtors who refer out lower priced homes with low commissions and sellers only choice is to hire inexperienced or less productive realtors. So your Post and Pray realtors will always be hired by sellers who can’t get the experienced productive realtors. I can guarantee those productive realtors are the ones working for sellers with expensive homes to sell.
I disagree Kathy. I care about my clients as well my career so it is with great pride and diligence that I handle all of my home listings the same, no matter what the price for sale is or if they are rental listing. These post and pray agents are shameful to this field and these home sellers deserve better representation. Hopefully with the era of online information they will easily find it out sooner than later that a suitable agent is key.
Kathy I am going to disagree with you on this. I treat all of my clients the same. There are only slight variations in the marketing that I do from the lowest end of the pricing spectrum to the highest. Each client gets my very best.
I agree Bill. It is the post and pray attitude that gives Realtors a bad name. This can also lead to people trying to sell for sale by owner. Realtors need to earn their commission!
I agree with Mr. Gassett. We had amazing marketing on our $200k home which sold the day it listed. The agent had sent out beautiful glossy full page brochures to other agents and clients. The brochure was on a high quality card stock. She had information from our utility bills graphed out, copy of the builder’s floor plan, the schools, churches, stores and restaurants nearby, and lastly, commuting distance to major area locations: airport, downtown, office parks and recreation locations.
Contrast this with our current agent on a $499k home – the brochure is printed on regular paper, put together in a report binder (used in grade/middle school), the upgrades were cut and pasted from an email that I sent a copy of our lot plan. That’s it. Marketing consists of sending said brochure to HR departments at ‘companies’ (which we don’t know which ones) and facebook on the personal page of listing agent. No twitter. No you tube. We had 10 secs on TV during the realestate company’s morning program of open houses.
Bottom line – in a tough market, in ANY market, you get the effort that you give. Our home is 20 month’s old, in show home condition, immaculate and priced with comps. Only 6 showings in 78 days.
Iris just like any other business you get back what you put into it. There are many real estate agents who will do as little as they can. The common denominator is often times money. You need to spend money to make money. Many Realtors have not figured this out.
Great article! It’s important to check the credentials and experience level of a real estate agent before choosing one. Having a real estate agent that utilizes current technology or trends, like social media, can be the difference between a quick sale and a long, drawn-out sale. Thanks so much for sharing!
Oh, Bill. I wish I had read this article a few months ago. I’m doing a fair deal of marketing *on my own* even though my home is listed with a realtor. Things started out promising– we had three showings scheduled within the first 7 or 10 days. Unfortunately, not a single one of those “prospective buyers” was a qualified buyer. The last couple who looked even admitted they were very passive and didn’t know if they were ready to move. I’m glad now I have some verbiage to ascribe to her philosophy– the “post and pray.” In my opinion, once I signed on the dotted line and she created the most basic flyers and photos, she forgot about my listing and decided it would either sell from MLS or not.
Sara almost every home will have the most activity when it is first listed. The “new listing” always gets the most traffic because buyers in the market have already seen everything else. It is typical that the first three weeks a home is for sale will be the busiest until it goes under contract.
Yes,
My wife and I have experienced a post and pray Realtor. We feel since our house is relatively inexpensive, and our Realtor will not make a lot of money on the sale, they have no urgency selling our house. And that’s unfortunate.
Their answer to our concerns are drop the price, drop the price. My question is how would we go about ending our relationship with the Realtor.
Thank you
John – sorry to hear you are having some issues with your agent. If you cannot work out a release from the contract with your agent I would go and speak with the owner of the company.
The best way to get a release is to suggest you have a lot of family and friends in the area. Make it clear to the owner you are unhappy and want out. Let the owner know you would hate to have to speak poorly about the firm to people you know.