I work with many second home buyers, and they are not in town reading ads or driving neighborhoods for open houses. They are home, out-of-state, and on the computer doing research and reviewing listings.When they visit, they are going to work with a real estate agent to view homes. For the buyer’s agents to be compensated, the buyer needs to find the right home. It is then in the best interest of the buyer’s agent to show those homes best matching the buyer’s criteria.
That makes the target market for selling a home in Houston the buyer’s agent, and that buyer. We do not know what specific agent or buyer, but we know their behavior – they are on the computer.
Houston Texas Listing Agent
The listing agent is not the one that actually “sells” the home, it is the buyer’s agent that sells. The listing agent is the key facilitator in whether the home gets sold, or doesn’t get sold. And whether the home sells below, at, or above its true value. Unbeknownst to sellers, many times a listing agent’s effort (or lack there of) is actually a hindrance to getting a home sold.
It is the listing agent that is responsible for how the property is perceived by potential buyers and buyer agents, who will receive their initial impression from what can be seen online. The online information is what captures their interest, and as such the most important sales channel.
Selling your home, is all about getting showings. These are help get more showings:
MLS Content – Property descriptions, data, photos, etc., have to be complete as possible. Sellers take that for granted, but they should not. Thousands of listings in the Houston area are incomplete, or inaccurate. Errors in listing result in fewer showings. And listing errors are more common then any seller would ever expect.
Virtual Tour – Having a nice looking virtual tour is very important. Originally virtual tours were a nice bonus. These days it is a must and should be considered as standard as photos.
Easy to Show – The buyer’s agent is going to choose those homes that are easiest to show, particularly in the early stage with a buyer. Remember for Houston, it is very likely the buyers are from out-of-town and with time constraints. To optimize the buyer’s time in Houston, the buyer’s agent is going to show those homes that are the easiest to show.
These hurting the number of showings.
Listing Agent Must be at a Showing – Many listing agent pitch this to the seller as a hands-on service they offer. They tell the seller “and I will personally be at all showings.” This is a deterrent to having the home shown, and the home absolutely will have fewer showings because of it. Only if a buyer is very narrow in their search, and there are only a few listings available, will a buyer’s agent choose to show a “Listing Agent Must Attend” home. A buyer’s agent, that is trying to schedule a dozen showings over miles of territory, does not want to schedule time specific appointments to get in a door. They want the buyer to be able to spend at much time with each property as the buyer needs, and not rush through a showing, because the next showing is time specific to meet a listing agent.
Must Call Listing Agent for a Showing Appointment - Listing agents also pitch this to seller as a beneficial hands on approach to getting the home sold: “and all showing requests must come through me.” This is also deterrent, and once again will absolutely result in fewer showings. These listing agents do not answer showing appointment calls 90% of the time (they are busy with something else, on the golf course, child’s event or the dentist). The buyer’s agent then has to leave a message. Probably 50% of the time the listing agent does not respond in time to approve the showing. It is much better when the office takes showing appointment calls. They will pick up 99% of the time -answering calls is their full time job.
Targeting the Buyer’s Agent
The buyer’s agent most likely has a buyer that will be in town only for a few days to view properties. Based on the buyer’s criteria there might be 100 possible listings to show. How does the buyer’s agent select the ones that will be shown to the buyer?
They will include the homes that look most promising from the MLS listing data, property information, photos and virtual tours. This is the information the listing agent was responsible for being as thorough and accurate as possible.
Excludes the homes that are obviously overpriced.
Excludes the home that are difficult to show.
Excludes listings with incomplete or inaccurate information.
For additional information on listing your Houston Texas home please call or email.
Come visit our website: http://www.darrelbuyshouses.com
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