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A very wise friend of mine, a man with many years experience advising new home developers on sales and marketing issues, bemoans what he considers the generally low quality of agents staffing new home developments. In his view, they simply don’t know how to sell.
He describes as typical agents who know little about the homes they’re selling or their competition, who ignore buyers or show no interest in learning their wants, and who systematically fail to follow up – among many other shortcomings. I could add my own lengthy litany of how confusing, uninformative and just plain wrong-headed much of new home marketing is from a home buyer standpoint.
It’s obvious that poor sales and marketing efforts are only one aspect of the current slow pace of new home sales. Just how big a factor are they?
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I actually expect that average agent quality has improved as agents exit the slowing market.
I can see how selling agent quality affects which properties are sold and \the speed of the sales, but it should not affect the overall price or quantity of sales. I hope that few people who intend to buy will decide not to because of a poor agen – instead they will just buy elsewhere.
That said, I am not impressed with the quality of the selling agents that I have met in my search for an entry-level Chicago condo. They are unmotivated to research competitive properties, uninformed about Chicago neighborhoods, and uninspired when it comes to improving a home. Their grasp of technology seems weak at best. If I was selling, I would not even consider using most of the agents I have come in contact with.
The only defense I can muster for these agents is that they must be quite demoralized with so many sellers unwilling to lower their prices. Surely one skill of a selling agent is their ability to convince the seller of the true market price.
While I agree that good agents are worth their weight in gold, there are way too many bad ones out there. Someone who expects a $30,000 commission for selling a home should at least be motivated to take some pictures with something nicer than their cell phone camera. Also, an accurate, typo-free and complete description of the property for sale is not too much to ask. The more bad agents are weeded out, the better off the industry will be as a whole.
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