South Florida Rentals And Home Sales

    Over the last few months, I have noticed a disturbing trend in South Florida Real Estate. One that seems to be getting worse. I work seven days a week for my clients. I am always available to them or to other Realtors to provide showing instructions or answer questions about properties. As the market has slowed here, with short sales being in the majority and with the closing of firms, it seems like the quality of Realtors are deteriorating.
   Let me give a case in point. Last weekend I called for showing instructions on seven homes. I received showing instructions for four of them and of the other three, two I never received calls back on after leaving numerous mesages and the last was disconected.
   This  weekend I tried to contact the three we could not see last weekend. Two never called back. I contacted the agencies and still could not reach them or get showing instructions. The third, I spent 45 minutes tracking down. I went to the DBPR and found out the agent had changed firms. I finally tracked her down. When I did get in touch with her, she told me that the house wasn’t really for sale. She said the sellers had changed their mind and had no answer when I asked why it was still listed.
   These agents are doing their clients a great disservice. It is their duty to be available to provide showing instructions or at least provide them to their offices. When looking for an agent, I would advise a homeowner or landlord to find out how the agent provides this information and also check on their availability. Houses can not sell or rent themselves. We are paid for a service and it is an agents responsibility to provide that service. If they can’t, they are of no benefit to a seller or landlord and another agent should be found who is accessible. 

I have been working with a few buyers whom have been looking for lower priced South Florida Homes. There is a lot of interest in this area. When there is a price change or a new listing at a realistic valuation, it immediately gets snapped up. What sits on the market are the homes where the sellers have not adjusted to the current market conditions.

  These sellers must come to the realization that they over payed and now the market has adjusted. Until they do, their property will sit. Hopefully they realize where the market is, what their home is worth and adjust their price accordingly.

I was calling Agents to set up appointments to show my client homes. Since we were going to be there after 7:00, I specifically asked if the house was vacant, since I did not want to disturb the tenants or owners. I met my client and headed out to view 6 residences.
Everything was going very smoothly until we got to the last residence. When we arrived at the last appointment, there was no lockbox. Actually, we really didn’t need one, since the door was wide open. Due to the lack of the lockbox, I did not enter the home.
A few minutes later a gentleman pulled up and asked what we were doing. I explained that we were there to show the house. He invited us in and we looked around. We left the home and I was talking to my clients in the driveway. Another car pulled up and a young lady pulled up and said “Get your cars out of my driveway” She then rudely asked “How long were you in my house?”
I explained the situation that the gentleman let us in and we did not enter until before that. She had no other comments and shut her window. We left the home and pulled up the street to talk. What I find funny about this is that the lady is trying to sell her home before it is fore-closed on and should be making very effort to accommodate Realtors trying to show the property. What she did was alienate my buyers and myself. They liked the house but after what occurred, they would not make an offer.

One factor that is very important when choosing a Realtor is if they are accessible. Today, I tried to set up appointments for one of my clients. We are going to go out tonight at 7:00 and look at some homes. I called seven Realtors at 12:00 to set up showings. It is now almost 6:00 and two of them still have not called me back. Their agencies do not have the showing info.
What this means is that their clients properties will not be shown. If an agent is going to take a listing, they should be available to provide showing instructions. Realtors should set the highest standards of service and they are not providing service if they are not available to have the properties shown.
Since I provide the highest level of service to my clients and I feel that they should see these properties, I will try to reschedule appointments. But how many other potential buyers miss seeing the property due to the listing agents lack of response.
In conclusion, I feel that your agent should always be available to you and to anyone interested in your property.