Being in this business long enough you start to develop habits and routines to maintain your listing. In that time, you also start to develop peeves about how other Realtors handle business and their listings That said, I have two issues that I am trying to get different perspectives to so that when these 2 peeves in particular arise the words,Shady and Lazy don't come to mind

1) What is the logic of putting flyers at your listings with your contact info allo over them? I understand a brandless flyer but why your contact info? Perhaps when other Realtor show your home their client might take one and call you? I've actually had my buyers get mad because they felt the other realtor was trying to solicit them..YAY FOR LOYAL PEOPLE!!!
2) Why call the sellers to set up showings? Now, I know some sellers just want to share the wheel but It seems more and more common practice that agents want sellers to screen calls. WHy would you want to put them through that? Risk a prying Realtor? Hmmm

Just wanting some other perspectives please.

2) WH

The only time I see "Call sellers for showings" in my area are Housepad.com type listings.

Flyers...outside, I think they're fine. Inside, they do seem like a waste, however the sellers may have parties, guests, etc. who attend and are not accompanied by a realtor ... (I know it's a stretch but hey...it could happen.)

Some sellers really want them and may hand them out to people - no reason not to have your contact info on it. The buyer's agents should have provided their clients with their own printouts so they would have no need of the ones the listing agent has put there.

Around here most people put the homeowner's number in the listing and you call them directly to arrange an appointment. If you show a lot of buyers it is very annoying to have to wait for an agent to call back and then he has to call the seller and then call you back. We don't have a lot of agents who ever answer their phone and some take hours to call back.

I have situations where I am showing a house and we see one across the street that looks great and the client wants to see it. Putting another person in the chain of communication means that half the time they don't see that house. Who does that benefit?

Flyers have to have the agents name and brokerage info on them (around here it is the law). Sometimes it is so the buyer's agent has the contact info and the nice flyer to remind him of which home the buyer liked best.

I don't worry about other agents stealing my clients. If that could happen then I am not doing my job correctly.

I hate when I have to call the listing agent for showings. Not just for the agents who don't return calls, but for the agents who yak and yak and yak about the property and try to get you to see other listings of theirs and won't let you get off the phone. LOL

ALL of my listings have the instructions as "Call listing office." Someone is always there manning the desk. We have all the showing instructions for all the listings in a book (for upstairs) or in the file (by the main reception area).

We strongly encourage our sellers to make showings as easy as possible, and with 1 exception all of my listings are like that. If there is a "challenge" with a listing (such as, seller works nights and only allows afternoon /early evening showings, or owner must be present) it is noted in the private remarks so the buyer's agent can know up front that this one may be a challenge.

Of course, many of our homes/listings are vacant much of the time. Summer is a pain cause sometimes homes are rented out to vacationers, or are being used during peak weeks by family and that restricts showings.

I have flyers inside of most of my listings with the survey/plat and sellers disclosure but my contact information/branding is very limited....on the exterior flyer boxes my contact information is much more prominent but still the information is about the property and not me.

Our MLS does not allow sellers contact information to be displayed and probably 95% of the properties are "Call Office" for appointment....it is a PIA but we have been doing it this way for about 5 years so most are used to it.

I consider flyers at the house as a way to supplement the MLS informaton. We only have a certain about of space for comments on the MLS system.

With a flyer I can point out other features of the home and provide bigger pictures than what you'd get on a MLS flyer. Plus if a buyer is seeing a bunch of homes they all can blur together a flyer helps your home to stand out.

That being said I always create 2 flyers. I have 1 version for agent showings with the minimum legal contact information on it. And the other is for outside and open houses with more information about me.

I do the flyers (and upper-priced sellers expect them). It's true, we can get more info on it than in the MLS listing and buyers have a copy so they can remember the home better after seeing 15 or more homes.

Listing agent info is on it b/c it is a form of advertising and is a requirement.

It is common practice here that the B/A calls the seller if the home is occupied. If it's vacant and on an electronic lockbox - just go and show! It makes selling and cooperation go so much faster. South of us, at another MLS, the B/A has to call the L/A. And it could be hours before the L/A calls the B/A back. Then, the L/A calls the seller, then calls the B/A back. What a waste of time! Not efficient at all.

But, if the seller wants all calls screened through me, I am happy to do it.

I like the way our office handles showings. It's very efficient. Agent calls the office, secretary or whoever answers the phone sets up appointment and confirms, good to go all in just a couple of minutes. We have someone at the desk every day from 9 - 6pm.

In my area we never call the sellers to set up showings unless it is a limited service listing (I hate having to depend on actual sellers. They are worse then listing agents at returning calls). Typically we call the listing office, but more companies including myself and my former company are contracting with showing companies such as centralized showings. I very much dislike calling listing agents to set up a showing as I usually will have to wait an hour or forever to get a call back. Plus for security can a listing agent really verify the person calling is an actual agent while they are driving and talking on a cell phone? I like the showing companies as most allow you to set up showings through a website and I can do that at 5 in the morning if I want without calling anyone.

Nobody around here does the showing services - I think we're too cheap. LOL.

We require an office name and a fax number/email for the show notice. And the person HAS to have an electronic lockbox key - or they have to come to the office and pick up a key if they are from out of the area and don't have one of our lockbox keys...and they have to leave us a business card.

Only agents, appraisers, and home inspectors have lockbox keys. So it's unlikely that an unauthorized person will gain entry into the house by calling the listing agent.

Very few of our homes are on combo boxes, with the exception of foreclosures and the odd listing here or there.

It's interesting how showings are set up in different areas. Like where Deepsea is that agents call the seller directly. The vast majority of homes here are on some form of combo lockboxes. I don't even have an electronic lock box key and I don't own any electronic lock boxes. I would have to lease those if I wanted to use them, which costs more then a showing company. There are some agents that use the electronic lock boxes, but when I set up showings on those I'm given a one day code to type in. The electronic lock boxes and keys is what I'm to cheap for. I believe that the board office in the city of Ft. Collins Colorado disallows the use of electronic lockboxes even. I might be wrong on that though. Everytime I've showed homes there they are all on combos.

Our board has provided us all with electronic lockboxes. The two neighboring boards use the same kind so we can get authorized to open their lockboxes with our keys too.

In our board, each office is given lockboxes in proportion to their listings. But now the problem is that we have so many properties on the market, that the board has run out of lockboxes and now if we need any more we need to buy them.

The electronic lockbox keypad costs me about $180/year.

Peeve 1- The branding is for the listing agent, to impress the client (seller). Sure the buyer is gonna grab one. If they LOVE the house, and buy it, they are gonna keep that flyer. Years down the road when they want to sell, most don't remember their agent, they whip out the flyer and say "sell my home".

Peeve 2- There are many reasons why you need to contact the seller directly to schedule. Most of the time it involves kids, pets, or elderly people in the home. I actually like the permission to talk to actual owner. No matter how much coaching they get, the seller alway talks and gives away their motivation level to sell the house.

Or the seller panics and, in spite of the listing agent advice, says "I'll let it go for $200,000" in hopes of getting a speedy sale...not realizing the bar has just been lowered to start negotiations.

Then when the offer of $185000 comes in they are mad cause their ASKING price was $225,000...Nope, you made your new asking price $200,000. lol

The only thing that people in this business really have for sale is information; and we no longer control that most important resource.

Over the past 10 or 15 years we have lost control of that one item that we, and we alone used to possess. Now, technology has made it available to everyone. We gather it, organize it, input it, and then give it away . . . . voluntarily.

In the interest of making our jobs easier and more efficient, we have slowly demonstrated that we are superfluous; because with all of the resources we've provided, we're not necessary.

Putting Flyers at the property and having Sellers do their own scheduling of appointments just further demonstrates that being a FSBO is something to be investigated . . . . it isn't that difficult with the tools we've created . . . . so simple a Caveman could do it.

Why not give them a note pad and have them write their own ad copy too.

I've been a FSBO a few times myself; it could catch on. And besides, FSBOs aren't held to the same standard, nor are they required to be Licensed or Insured, or regulated and audited and supervised, and disciplined, nor educated on a continuing basis . . . . all of which costs a bit of change and is done solely for the purpose of protecting the Public Interest.

Having the owner on site and unsupervised is good stuff. I make the seller sign an agency disclosure form and explain that I represent the buyer. Thats all the form says, sign it, I show it. Don't ask me questions, call your agent.

Sometimes the seller does it even WHEN supervised. lol

Great points, Vermont. Although there is a plethora of reasons why buyers/sellers NEED a real estate professional on their side, there are are an equal number of reasons why an intelligent person could consider going the FSBO route.

I only leave fliers outside the home on almost all my listings. Inside, though, I only put them in a few.

In OK, the only time we see call the seller to set an appointment is when it is an entry only or limited service listing. BTW they usually drive me crazy.

The FSBO is rarely going to have the luxury of being available all the time to show the home. He certainly can't put a combo lockbox on the door and tell perfect strangers the code. When I use combo codes, the agent has to call me for it, and, I try my best to look up their information (hemming and hawing on the phone to stall) to check for verification (we who are local pretty much know each other in some way or another). The electronic lockboxes: a) you HAVE to have an electronic key, and b) it emails me within 5 seconds with the agent's information. I like that b/c then I immediately contact my client on his phone that an agent's showing his house. A full-fledged FSBO can't give that service. By the way, I received such an email yesterday and it turns out a different agent showed the house - rules have it we cannot "share" electronic keys - should I turn 'em in to the MLS authorities?

I know some newbies don't "screen" their buyer-clients for personal information nor ask for a simple pre-qual letter. They're so hungry for a client, they don't want to insult anyone by asking for personal information. At least being pre-screened provides a valuable service - another thing an FSBO can't do. Sure, that buyer will walk up to their door and provide them with a pre-qual letter to gain access (and some you can get online), but, that owner doesn't know the buyer's real intent; which is why open houses usually aren't successful. I enjoy doing opens but one has no idea if they are qualified to buy the house or not (at least we're possibly getting potential buyers for some house that's out there). Alot aren't going to really know the difference between pre-qual or pre-approval.

The idea of lockboxes for ease of entry is to help get the home shown fast and sold fast.

I haven't had to deal with limited service yet (might as well be FSBO).

A relative number of agents here use a showing service which is annoying and silly in some ways. They ask what time you'd like to show. If the property is vacant, they give you a timeframe which is dumb b/c I just go on my own schedule (which is NOW, not an hour from now). If the owner isn't available, they've got to leave a message for the owner and then call me back that the owner's not available; when they hear from them, they'll call me back. What's the difference with me calling the owner, and, possibly leaving a message? At least then I can negotiate a timeframe without a go-between getting in the way- back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

As far as the seller "giving away" his secrets, why selling, how low he'll go...there are smart people and there are dumb people. Regardless of the fact that he's starting to babble to you, you could remind him that you are not his agent...babbling again...remind him again, "If there's something you'd like for me and the buyer to know, could you please relay it through your agent because I am not your agent?" Some sellers are hard to control with their mouths, but, you could do you're darndest to stop the babbling so you look good in front of the r.e.board when you're telling your side of the story Why? Because you KNOW he's represented by an agent and you're taking unfair advantage of the babbling moron.

I care too damned much - that's MY problem.

"Vermont", did you do FSBO before or after obtaining a r.e. license? I've one or two civilians who have done it. Even my neighbor a few doors down just put up his FSBO sign. I wish him all the luck in the world (wouldn't doubt he's underwater with his mortgage), but right now it's hard enough to find a buyer via r.e. agents and this guy's going to take it upon himself? Who has more connections in all the world to obtain a buyer for his home - real estate agents!

If FSBO caught on so much that we were to become extinct, I think you'd see alot of laws change and I bet one would be that all r.e. transactions MUST go through a lawyer. Our governments (Fed.&State) are too busy trying to protect us from ourselves and others all the time (the reason for more taxes too) to not let at least someone profit from the stupidity of self-representation. Not that all FSBO'ers are stupid, but the majority probably don't realize or understand the can of worms they may be opening when they sell their property. "Maui real estate" herself said it, "there are an equal number of reasons why an intelligent person could consider going the FSBO route." The key word here is "intelligent". Think about it - when you talk with buyers and sellers, especially virgin ones - how much real estate intelligence do you see in them?

Sorry it's so long - it's Friday evening and I don't have to sit here and refresh my danged screen every 30 seconds until Monday morning!

When I was in graduate school in Massachusetts, I bought a little bungalow through an Agent. (It was cheaper than renting). Three years later I sold it myself to another Student from Wisconsin (like me).

I bought my 2nd Mass house through an Agent, and then listed it 12 years later as an "Open" with all Agencies in the Town I lived in . . . . but I still sold it myself.

I bought my 1st Vermont House privately (as a vacation home); and came up here for over 10 years until we decided to vacation full-time, and then I bought this Farm through an Agent . . . . but a couple years later I sold the vacation property myself as FSBO. I used blank Mass Forms to buy and sell Vermont Real Estate . . . . what did I know ? The guy I bought from didn't have a clue, so I did all the paperwork; so too when I sold my Vermont vacation home to an MIT Professor . . . . he didn't have a clue either. They trusted me.

I only got a License after all of that activity when the Market Crash on Wall Street in October of 1987 left my hopes of a peaceful retirement in a shambles, and brought a quick and cruel halt to that year-round vacation idea.

So being a FSBO is good training. Buying a home is good training. Selling a home is good training. Buying/Building a home in a development and then failing to close on the current home in time to purchase the new home whose construction you've watched carefully for months on then lost your deposit/down payment . . . . now that's really good training! (Only happened once).

I really don't know how anyone can get a feel for this business, and what Buyers and Sellers go through: the emotional highs and lows; the heartbreaks; the false starts; the misplaced confidence; without ever having gotten involved in their own transactions first . . . . but they do!

I wouldn't have ever had the confidence to get a License and enter this business if I hadn't watched others try to put my own deals together and often fail. I respected Agents from the beginning . . . . but there were some transactions where I was able to pull it off without them, winging it. Lucky I guess.

Thanks for asking. I hadn't thought about it for quite a while. Some FSBOs know what they're doing, and some don't. Most are OJT, just trying to save a buck.

I was a FSBO once too, selling my family's property after my parents died. And I was like every other FSBO....I had it "listed" for $697,000. I was shocked we had NO OFFERS!!!!!!!!!!

When we got the appraisal, I was appalled...it came in at $375,000.

LOL.

I still think the appraiser was in cahoots with someone, because amazingly enough, right after I got the hard copy of the appraisal in my hands, someone (a real estate agent) called from my FSBO sign and offered us...$375,000.

Now, isn't THAT a coinky-dink.

And then...a year or so later I found out that the new owner subdivided my property off into about 3 or 4 sections...and sold each section for well over $200,000 each.

Hmmmmmmm.

Funny thing, real estate. I do believe I was overpriced, and I do believe that I could not have gotten the price that the new owner got for various reasons....but still. I will go to my grave swearing my property was worth a little more than we sold it for. That's a FSBO for ya.

BTW...I wish had the option of NOT selling...at ANY price.

Heavens - talk about sadness in real estate. Another tale...

Many years ago, a person I knew had a VERY large home (he had like 11 kids). It was on top of a hill on tons of acreage - it overlooked a major highway. The house had a middle wing and two side wings - this thing was HUGE, old transom windows in the doorways, made of solid stone - GORGEOUS HUGE home. I only saw the kitchen, dining room and bathroom. The dining room - seriously, had to be 40 feet long with a stone fireplace - exterior French doors - oh! Well...Some swindlers came along and wrote up a contract for him (no agent representation). They gave him like 25% of what it was worth with the pledge that when they develop it into townhouses or something that he'd get a share of each. They NEVER developed into such - I think it's a Country Club or something now. I felt so bad for the guy, but how foolish to not have representation of some type.