agent response time?

Question

I am becoming frustrated with the buyers agent I am using to purchase REO's. Seems like when I call him to look at a property, it takes him several hours to get back to me. As some of you know with these properties they can get snatched up quickly if the price is right.

Am I expecting too much to get a call back in 30-60 minutes?

Jake Kucheck · Answer

As an agent- here's my thoughts on your dilemma:

I do my best to mirror my clients behavior.  It makes things easier, because I can prioritize my response time to the level of expectation it appears my client has.

If I send you properties, and it takes you three days to respond, and you say that all of them suck but thanks for sending, I'm probably not going to reply to that right away because you're showing that you're not particularly interested at this time (or maybe all of them really did suck, in which case I need to get a better feel for what you're looking for).

Now- if you are sending ME properties, and want to see them soon, you're damn right I should respond quickly.  However- quickly is a function of what I'm doing at that time.  If I'm at the office, I will usually be able to respond within minutes.  If I'm showing property to a client, I may not be able to respond as quickly because that would be rude to the client I'm with (you probably wouldn't want me constantly on my Blackberry if I was showing YOU property).  If I'm at a lunch meeting or something else that's biz dev-ish, I will probably be checking the BB frequently and will respond if you make it easy to respond.  If it's past 10 PM or it's a weekend, all bets are off because there are too many variables depending on the individual agent, and believe it or not, agents are also human beings that have non-business interests and relationships that also need attention from time to time.

Circling back to "making it easy to respond"- this is important.  Ask me direct questions like "How soon can I see 123 Main St, I'm very interested"  There is a very easy process I can go through to find an answer to that.  Don't leave me a long-winded voicemail saying you think you might be interested but you're not sure about the neighborhood and orientation of the property.  You're an investor.  Your job is to know what you want, and my job is to go get it.  I already have far too many Joe & Suzy homebuyer types that don't have a clue what they want, I don't need my investors starting to have trouble defining their criteria as well.

All of that said- if you are actively searching for property and are ready to execute, and your agent isn't calling you back for hours on end, ask if there is an assistant or someone else in his office that you can talk to.  If he's a one-man show, and you voice your concerns but don't see any improvement, it may be time to start shopping for a new agent.

Lastly- A buyer rep agreement?  Really?  That speaks insecurity to me... but to each his/her own I suppose.

Dale Osborn · Answer

If agent is not performing to your standards - you can fire that agent at any time - you are not locked up for the 3-months. Perhaps if agent works for a broker - a phone call to his managing broker may motivate him/her to return calls in a timely manner.

Dave Charron · Answer

This reinforces why I want to get my real estate license,  to be able to look at properties whenever I want and also share in the comission.  I am sure with my SOI I would also be able to buy and sell some houses for them as well.

Dave Charron · Answer

Being today is a saturday, maybe I should be a little more patient although this is not the first time his call back has been delayed.  He did call me back after 2 and a half hours and was busy with family.  
He says he can show it to me tomorrow (sunday) and being a bank owned property they wouldnt look at the offer until monday morning anyway.

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

That stinks. I never sign those unless they're for a specific property. After all, if they took the time to show me a certain house, and I buy it, they should get the commission.

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

Are these properties you're finding on your own and contacting your agent to show you or are you responding to a property lead he sent you?

If you're finding properties on your own and contacting him right away to see them, what is he doing at the time? Possibly working with other clients that he made appointments with? Unless you're his only client, I wouldn't expect him to drop everything he's doing when you call him.

If he's sent you a property that you're interested in, and fails to respond when you reply, perhaps he should include a window of time when he's available to show the property. My Realtor did that a couple of years ago, i.e., he would send us a listing and tell us the earliest time he was available to show it to us.

Still, I would expect some kind of response within 60 minutes (during business hours) if my agent knows I'm actively looking for a purchase. If he's too busy to get back to you in a reasonable amount of time, perhaps you need to find somebody with more free time to provide you with some decent customer service.

Dave Charron · Answer

This is not the REO agent, this is my buyers agent who had me sign a buyers agent representation form when we put in my last offer.  Its for 3 months, so I feel like Im stuck with him.

Adrian Williams · Answer

Most REO agents I have experienced are not the nicest people most have a high volume of listings and calls and most of the time you can assume a little more stress than your average agent , I would say call another agent to look at the property another agent that will get back with you promptly its a win win you get a agent that wants to work with you, the agent you work with will get a commission and the jerk that didn't return your call will have to split the commission!

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