My client selected a home in Queen Creek after looking at more than 20 homes in person, and over 150 homes via her Client Gateway that I set up in ARMLS. Actually, looking at 20 homes wasn’t too challenging. Every one of them was vacant, so they were typically easy to view, if I didn’t get us lost driving (something I avoided fairly successfull). Overall, the first day we looked at the best quality homes. We expanded our search on subsequent trips, with lesser and lesser success. The first day was also the day she found the home of her dreams. That turned out to be my listing at 10684 East Verbina Ln. An agreed upon price of $150,000 didn’t hurt, along with the condition and size of the home. On top of that, were the amenities offered at Magma Ranch. Most notably the community pool, which is lightly used, unlike Johnson Ranch.
To be honest, I tried hard to sell someone else’s listing, as dual-agency isn’t my preferred mode of agency. At the outset I felt confident we could find a home for $110k-$120k that would be at least a suitable substitute, but the condition and price of the home on Verbina apparently spoke volumes.
Along the way, I discovered one critical field that is missing from the MLS Profile, particularly as it relates to banked owned property. I hope Michael Wurzer is listening, and maybe he can incorporate this into FlexMLS (assuming it isn’t already). That field is: Nasty Smell. There were 3 homes I entered that nearly made me nauseous. Another, may have a problem on the living room floor from my client. The fridge was opened, and she nearly gagged on sight. I think she was able to control herself, but we can’t be sure. It was simply one of the most disgusting sights I’ve ever witnessed in a home for sale. In comparison, a nasty, green, slimy pool would be a viewing pleasure (I hope you aren’t reading this with a sammich in your hands).
Another field that is worth considering: Blood stained carpet. I can’t be sure that’s what the reddish brown staining we witnessed on one home’s carpet was, as I’m not a forensic scientist, but whatever it was, it gave cause for concern about what had happened in the home prior to the foreclosure.
Perhaps the new field would simply be: Preview Required. My client currently lives in North Scottsdale as do I, so she very well understood it was a long way to Queen Creek, and thus forgave me the courtesy of previewing the listings. But if there’s something in the home that will scare, nauseate, or potentially alarm the buyer, buyer’s agents need to know. As a professional courtesy, please, give us a heads up.
And one final comment regarding the foreclosed properties I showed in Queen Creek. 90% of them were on a non-MLS lockbox. The code for 50% of those was identical, even though they were not listed by the same broker or agent. It seems to be the code of choice for the area’s foreclosed homes. Of the 10% of homes on an ARMLS lockbox, none of the listing agents have subsequently called me for feedback. Personally, that’s not a problem, as providing feedback can be challenging when you’ve viewed a number of homes, but none of the listing agents cared about feedback?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Michael Wurzer 04.20.08 at 6:31 am
Steve, I nearly gagged myself reading your post. Yuck. Have you ever seen Emeril Live on the Food Network? Emeril always says we should have smell-o-vision so we could smell what he’s cooking. Maybe we should try to incorporate that into the Internet.
Back to the MLS, in the event clarity is needed, FBS doesn’t make decisions about what fields to track or not. One of the cool things about our system is that the MLS can add fields to the system without programming by us. So, all of your requests can be added in a matter of minutes, giving you all more time to discuss whether they should or not.
Steve Belt 04.21.08 at 8:14 am
Michael, now that is indeed cool. While I generally understand that as members of our MLS, we “own” what data goes in it, I’ve heard that changing the current system, even though it needs it, has an expense that can’t be justified so close to the changeover. It sounds like this is yet another example of why it’s going to be good to move to FlexMLS.
Jenifer De La Garza 04.21.08 at 11:26 am
Feedback seems to be something a lot of agents don’t care about. Sad huh? Part of my responsibilities to my client is to call agents within two days, who have not provided feedback through the Centralized Showing Service. They’ve also by then received 4 email requests to enter feedback. I don’t know if AZ has CSS but its a great resource. Showings can be setup and feedback entered without even a phone call if the agent so chooses.
As for the bad smell and scary stains, can’t say much for that. Scary really.
Steve Belt 04.21.08 at 12:04 pm
Jenifer, I’ll be honest and admit I do not like the online automated feedback systems that I have been forced to use. Each of them seems to ask the wrong questions. Then there’s the trouble of representing the buyer’s best interest, which means that many times the question of price may be something I really cannot answer.
As a listing agent, my feedback needs revolve around convenience, staging, answering questions, and providing support to the buyer’s agent. This is very difficult to do via an automated online system.
Jenifer De La Garza 04.21.08 at 12:22 pm
I’m not sure how automated this feedback system is. The part that I use is just a big blank box for entering text. It works. Not sure about one with questions. It does seem like that would be a little too confining to do any good. When I call I get a lot of answers like, “they didn’t like the house” and I try to get more specifics. I consider it one of my more fun duties and I enjoy talking with the agents.