Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sold Signs on homes



DON'T LET YOUR AGENT PUT A SOLD SIGN IN YOUR YARD!!!!!

Recently one of our past clients in Mandarin asked us to see how much a home sold for next door to him.
It was listed with a local company notorious for putting their sold signs in their clients yards.
The home was supposed to close on a Friday so we pulled the information up on Monday for our client.
Low and behold the home was back on the market, the buyer lost his job 4 days before closing. So obviously he couldn't purchase the home.
Our client asked why they put the sold sign if it wasn't sold, my reply was and is today "Stupid tactics by agents and their companies"
Many deals are falling through these days due to financing, regulations are changing faster than the mortgage companies can keep up with and they don't know their buyers aren't approved until the last minute.
The listing agents want the neighborhood to know they are good at selling homes, so the throw up the SOLD sign, right after an accepted contract.
That means no more sign calls, no more advertising the home owners home after an accepted contract.
This is a huge disservice to the home seller.
We leave the for sale sign up so we can take the numbers and information of the calls just in case the deal falls apart.
If it does fall apart, we can quickly call back the interested buyers and let them know the home is back up for sale.
THIS IS WORKING IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR CLIENTS! WHICH IS OUR JOB PRIORITY NUMBER 1!
A sold sign only helps the agent, by letting the neighbors know that they as a company and an agent can sell homes but truly hurts the sellers interest.
If your agent wants to put a SOLD sign in the yard, tell them no,
tell them you want the agent to keep the FOR SALE sign out there, and for the agent to take the numbers and the information of those who call just in case this contract doesn't work out.
Oh, and worst yet I've recently seen agents putting sale pending signs on the pictures of their properties on the MLS, don't let your agent do this to you, they are supposed to be working for you not their or their companies ego.