I recently stumbled upon a listing in the Tempe area (see previous post) that at first made me half laugh at the stupidity of the agent selling the condo and half empathetically cry for the sellers of the condo.
“The property, which is listed near downtown Tempe for just under $400,000 is incorrectly listed as being within the Cave Creek Unified District. That’s one hell of a bus ride for kids to Cave Creek which is roughly a 36 mile drive to the northern-most suburb city of the Phoenix metro area.”
Worse yet is the description used in the listing - or lack of description for that matter. It gives no detail of the property or the amenities located within this development or the convenience of future light rail and the proximity to downtown Tempe. The pictures (there are only three and the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service now allows unlimited photos) posted for the listing look like they were taken with the first cell phone camera ever created as they are grainy and extremely small. Worse yet, the agent “stole” a stock photo of a Tempe Town Lake sunset and the Mill Avenue Bridge - and used it as one of the three photos to market the property.
Now, for the icing on the cake - the property is listed as “Owner/Agent” which means the agent selling the property is also the owner. My empathetic cry for the seller quickly went away. Can you imagine what this agent does for his/her clients if this is all he/she does for his/her own property!?! It’s no wonder the real estate industry has a bad image - who sees the value in paying an agent upwards of $24,000 to market a property in that way? I sure as hell wouldn’t.
Sellers: Check and recheck your complete MLS listing for accuracies! Don’t ever assume, no matter who your agent is, that they’ve listed your home with 100% accuracy. Better yet, don’t assume they’ve posted it in it’s best light. There are a few way to check your MLS listing. The easiest is to simply ask your agent for the complete listing printout. Ask for the “Agent Report” so that you see everything another REALTOR would see. Verify that all the information in the listing is correct and that nothing has been left out.
Better yet, go to websites that reciprocate MLS data - perhaps ours - and check your listing’s photos and (hopefully you have one) virtual tour. On our site, you can view the pictures in full-screen - but only if your agent has loaded photos that are of full-screen quality. If they haven’t, they’ll be small photos or even grainy if they are of super-low quality. Not only that, verify that your photos actually present your property in it’s best light. That means either your agent is a great photographer with a great camera or your agent hired a professional photographer.
With well over 80% of home buyers using the internet to start their search it’s very easy for them to move on to the next listing if the pictures for your property don’t stir their interest. Most of us are visual people and will first look at the pictures and then decide if we actually want to read about the property. Make sure your pictures and virtual tour engage buyers rather than disengage. And make sure the information on your property is 100% accurate to ensure it comes up on searches as it should.
