I need to preface this by saying that I love our Realtor, L. She’s amazing. She’s not pushy. She’s kind. We consider her our friend.

And she does her job. VERY well. (And if anyone that lives in CT wants to sell their home, let me know, I’m happy to give you her name.)

So, here’s an Open Letter to all Realtor’s other than L.

Dear Agents,

I know not everyone is alike. I know that I can’t expect all people to have the same work ethic that I do (or that L does). But I do expect some level of respect. You’re bringing people into our home. You may not understand our lifestyle. You may not care that I have a baby; that my husband and I both work full time jobs; that our commutes alone total 26 hours a week. You may not have ever sold your own house and because of that, you might not fully understand exactly what it takes. Even though I see it as your job to fully understand.

I personally know that things don’t always go according to plan. I get that people cancel. I get that last minute, you might realize you’re in the neighborhood and want to show it right then instead of making an appointment to come back. I completely understand that it’s not always possible for a full days notice. I have been MORE than accommodating in these instances. I have no choice, but to be accommodating. I want to sell. I want a bigger house. It’s in MY best interest to be accommodating.

But when my being accommodating is met with nothing but lackadaisical attitude and complete disrespect for my current life which is 10 times more complicated by keeping a house on the market, I take issue.

When you call and set up an appointment, we clean. We sort. We put-away. We vacuum. We organize. We leave lights on. I pack up my INFANT CHILD and disappear for hours. WITH A BABY.

When we come back and I check the sign-in sheet only to find no additional names other than the ones that were there when I left, the following goes through my mind.

Why didn’t they sign in*? Were they even here? What if they’re running late? The baby needs to nap. What if they show up now? Then what do I do? I can’t not let them in. It’s in my best interest to let them in. But my baby needs to nap. I have things to do. Why didn’t they call? Did they call? Was my phone out of service? Is my voicemail not working? Why didn’t they sign in? How hard is it to sign a piece of paper? WHY COULDN’T THEY JUST FUCKING CALL?

And then I call my agent in a panic and she has to chase you down and find out the story.

We’ve heard the following stories only after being chased down:

“My clients didn’t like the outside**. They wouldn’t get out of the car.”
“We walked up to the door and the wife didn’t like it.”
“My clients canceled. We’ll have to reschedule.”

Don’t make us chase you. Do your job. You’re in a service industry. These are people’s lives and homes you’re coming into – albeit a choice by them, it’s certainly not easy. Not calling or not signing in is disrespectful. It doesn’t reflect well on you or on the agency you represent. The lack of effort is noticeable.

Love,
Pocklock

PS: I’d LOVE to hear your side of the story. Is there a real, honest-to-God good reason why you can’t call when plans change? Or why you can’t sign a piece of paper when you come into the house? Because I’m all for equal argument. Would LOVE to hear your side. And, “we’re really busy people” is SO not going to hold up. Not in this market. Nuh-uh.

———————

The final straw wasn’t the day the agent gave me 5 minutes notice. While that wasn’t exactly fun, the final straw was when the same agent scheduled to come in at 1pm on Saturday for a second showing. It was the first time anyone’s ever been back for a second showing and we were beyond thrilled. We spent all morning primping the place. We bought fresh flowers. We organized closets. We dusted! And then we packed up ourselves and the baby and journeyed to my Mom’s for three hours. It was fine. It was a weekend. It’s not like we were touring the mall. We were with family. We had access to the boat and the lake so it wasn’t exactly painful, but when I returned home to find no sign of anyone being there and Lyla had to go to bed, I panicked. I also left every damn light on in the place (per L’s orders) and I HATE doing this, but I know it does help to have things be well lit. So wasteful! And then to have them not even show? Salt. Wound. Ow.

So they’re supposed to come back today. They told L yesterday that they would call me. No one’s called yet. I’m working from my Mom’s today just to stay out of the house. I primped best I could this morning, but I didn’t waste too much energy. I’m just over it. And I left a note that read:

1. Exterior of unit due to be painted Fall 09.
2. Front porch damage has been reported to the management company.
3. Front windows replaced Summer 08.
4. All screens replaced Summer 08.
5. The flowers were fresh on Saturday, but because you didn’t show up, they’re dead now. If you had showed up on Saturday, there would’ve been fresh flowers to great you. I left them in the vase because I thought dead flowers might be better than no flowers.

Enjoy!

*I know that when an agent uses the electronic key box to get in, it registers in the listing office later that night. That doesn’t help ME, the CLIENT, know if you were there. So while that’s fun and fancy and great for the listing agent, I still have no way of knowing you were there if you don’t WRITE your NAME. DOWN.

**When you pull into our complex, the garages, like most condos are in the front of the building blocking the front door. It’s not an ideal aesthetic, but it’s very typical of condos in the area and also has NOTHING to do with the inside or the back of the unit which is beautiful.