Unseen = Unsold

It is 2008. The government has nationalized the banking industry. We are in a recession, and the real estate market has yet to hit bottom. And there remain sellers out there that don’t realize that if they make seeing their home difficult, the home won’t get sold. In 2004, if it was difficult to get a showing in, we all waited patiently, knowing that when we did see it that there would be other potential buyers right there with us. Today, there are literally dozens of other options. People need to wise up.

Today, a listing agent I have been trying to reach since before Christmas called me back and told me some rather ridiculous parameters for showing her listing, including that it would not be available to show until this coming weekend.

Why, I have to ask, is the house even active on the market? Why isn’t it temporarily withdrawn? After some further discussion, I was told her client is a physician, which apparently grants him a dispensation from the same rules the rest of us must play by.

Our job is to educate our clients, not kiss their caboose just because they are doctors or lawyers. Listing agents who do not instruct their clients how destructive it is to be so difficult in this market are enablers of some very damaging behavior.