“Dear Real Estate Agent, I am ready, willing and qualified to buy a home, why can’t you bother to reply to my emails or return my phone calls?”
This is a growing problem and source of incredible frustration among both those buying a home and who want to sell a home. So why can’t or don’t real estate agents return inquiries and what does it mean for consumers, Realtors and investors?
It is absolutely shocking at how many inquiries from home buyers to real estate ads go unanswered and from their experiences some may believe it’s a miracle any homes are actually being sold.
There are a number of reasons real estate agents are snubbing those buying homes from simply being too busy to not having the right tools for following up quickly and achieving good time management but there is really no excuse for it.
Real estate agents need to wake up to how much business they are losing from this and brokers need to protect their reputations by hiring those who are good at follow up or better equip their agents. Even just investing in toll free numbers, good lead software and automating email auto-responders could make a world of difference.
For those trying to sell a home, this is more important than most know. If you list your home with a real estate agent who stinks at follow up you are going to lose money in appeal for your home, holding costs and if facing foreclosure, perhaps a lot more. So screen potential Realtors by calling on their other ads and checking their response times before hiring them.
For real estate investors and new real estate agents this debacle is actually a great thing. It means tons of opportunity to pick up easy deals from simply advertising next to these agents and being the first to reply. Perhaps Craigslist, yard signs and newspaper ads are all you need to make a serious income.
