Thou Shalt Not Mug the Buyer Agent

I just got off the phone with the listing agent of a home I showed a buyer client this past weekend.

Wow. I feel like I got mugged. 

After the initial salutations and memory jogging of who the agent was and the address of the property in question, she went into this rapid fire, question-answer-rebuttal exchange with me where I was rendered speechless, a rarity for me. Apparently, no objection as to why the house does not feel like home for my buyer stopped her from batting back answers like a 1975 encyclopedia salesman. 

My client needs a yard for her dog, and the house was on a hill with a huge deck out back and almost no lawn. “He’ll take the deck down. He’ll plant a lawn.”

The kitchen needs updating for my buyer’s taste. “He’s a contractor, he’ll put in a new kitchen at his cost.” 

OH-Kay…..

Overall, it is just too much work for her… “He’s willing to update whatever she wants. Is this her price range?”

Of course it’s her price range, she – “Because I have one for <lots more$$>”

Well, that’s a little beyond what she wanted to- “She can make an offer, everything is negotiable.” 

Well come on. How desperate is this person to make a sale? Aside from making me bizzarely uncomfortable, she also throws the more expensive seller she represents under a bus! 

Feedback should not be a debate or a de-briefing. I have said before that the whole concept is overrated. Occasionally the showing agent will have a helpful insight, but not too often. The best feedback is an offer. If there is no offer coming, no snappy rhetorical comeback from an agent will make a house feel like a home.