I have been working expired listings in the Denver, Colorado market. Most real estate agents just rely on there Sphere of Influence (SOI) or as we used to say at MCI Friends and Family. That is low hanging fruit. I’m a professional salesperson, marketer, and businessperson, and my feeling is if you can’t market to more than those people then you will likely have a short career.
I actually go up and knock on the expired listing in the metro denver area if you are afraid to talk to strangers then how are you going to negotiate a contract effectively? As I am starting to do this, most of my career has been spent working with investors, the stories and situations that I see are incredibly weird. Here is my favorite one and I was at almost loss for words.
As I’m pulling up to the house there is the big real estate sign in the front yard. The house is on a corner so there are actually signs on both corners. I’m thinking somehow I screwed up and this got relisted and my search missed it. I’m a completely ethical agent and I’m like, don’t engage in sign crossing. I pull out my trusty Android phone and check the mls. Yep it’s expired, so I proceed to go knock on the door. It looks like they are home so I have really got to be ready.
I knock on the door and the homeowner answers. She’s holding back a big dog, a Golden retriever I believe, that is desperately trying to get outside to greet me. I have two boxers at home so I’m very familiar with this problem. It certainly makes talking difficult and I realize unless she can come out of the house I’ve got between 30-60 seconds to make my pitch.
What do you mean you didn't know your home was off the market?
I noticed your listing has recently expired and I was wondering if you have any plan to put your home back on the market. She tells me, I didn’t know my home was off the market. I felt like my dog when you try to explain something to him, very confused.I was dumbfounded. Having been a championship debater in high school I knew not to say “uhhh uhhh uhhh.”
I had a million thoughts running through my head.
- What a bad agent. I work so hard to get and satisfy my clients that I can’t imagine letting this happen to them. My listings get sold, they don’t expire. I’m certain going to communicate with my client to see if they want to relist.
- Does this person have so much business that they can just ignore this client and potential?
- Do you just want your signs on the corners of this house to troll for buyers?
- Can I tell the homeowner you hired a bad agent if this is how they treat you and your house?
- Did the agent make a mistake on the date or enter it in wrong. Would they make a mistake like this or screw up a date in the actual buy and sell contract?
What did I tell her? I’m not exactly sure what is going on, but if you are actually under contact with the other agent I’m not even allowed to talk with you about anything about your house. If you are not under contract then you really should talk with another agent they can offer opinion of your marketing campaign to sell your home and even if it is realistic to get the price you need for your home. I’m going to leave this packet of information with you and if you aren’t under contract then you can call me and I’ll be happy to give you a second opinion on your situation.
Follow up: I still haven’t heard back from her nor have I followed up with her. That happens tomorrow. I went door knocking again today and had the exact same thing happen. I handled it much better.
