Fort Meade - USNA - Andrews AFB: Sellers Want Testimonials, NOT Feedback

I know of an agent who had a seller call her and reamed her out about her comments. Makes you not wanting to be honest but you have to be.

Great points, Margaret.  I have desperate sellers that are unfortunately located on major road (I didn't sell it to them!).  They constantly ask for feedback, but always chastise me for mentioning the road.  They feel that they have already compensated for the road with the price (true), so they don't want to hear about it anymore.  Of course, this is the only piece of feedback we consistently get, so it's a catch-22.  I actually like direct feedback, though, because some sellers need that outside opinion to validate my call for a price reduction or change to the physical condition.  If I hand them 20 remark sheets from a company tour all advising to reduce price or paint out the orange wall, the unfiltered message can help make my case. 

I always appreiciate feedback good or bad, because I think it helps do a better job next time for my clients.  I always urge everyone to give me their honest opinion and not worry about hurting feelings

Margaret, I personally don't like the "feedback" email form that is sent out to buyer agents.  I much rather pick up the phone and call the agent directly with my feedback.  I can be quite blunt - but I try to balance the "bluntness" if at all possible with some kind words i.e. "nice location..however,..." 

I understand what you're getting at, however I do think sellers need to hear the truth about the feedback. They may not want to, but the need to.  After all, if it is the purple door that is keeping buyers away, I want to tell them it's the purple door.  I may have pointed that out to them on the initial appointment and they may have shook their heads and been amandant about not wanting to change it.  If they hear it from buyers and buyers agents it may sink in, especially if they hear it more than once.

I agree with you about the technology taking the "meat" out of the feedback.  I don't like it myself and try very hard to reach the buyers agent personally via phone for their views. 

This is a public forum and it is amazing to me that this is an issue. Feedback is rare in my market, but it is our policy to go and request it - we always pass it on unfiltered. Filtering is simply lying to your client. The bottom line is, the prospective buyer isn't gong to buy it. If there is anything that will help you as a Realtor improve something so that the next prospective buyer MIGHT buy it, then filtering IS NOT going to help you at all. A home should be "cue-tip clean" and if it isn't then you need to be telling that to your seller every time you see the house.

I thnk this is going to be a great dialogue.  Thanks for kicking it off! 

Robert, I've seen a lot of this, and it's something we didn't have in the good ol' days, when agents delivered feedback to sellers.

Paul, you're right.  20 other people saying "it's the road" is something they need to know.  I guess you haven't yet experienced some of the emotional feedback to the feedback to the feedback yet.  Let me know if you still like direct feedback after you do.

Rick, honest opinions is what always made feedback valuable, helped us tweak our marketng and recommendations to the sellers.  THAT is why I think agent-to-agent feedback is the most effective.  The agent can then pass on the emails or comment sheets, packaged with qualifying information such as "This agent works primarily in another county, and he is the only one to criciticze the price - local agents think it is priced right."

Kris - I do like the email feedback, but I thnk the listing agent needs to direct the traffc, and not let the feedback go directly to the sellers.  But you're right.  A phone conversation can be very helpful.

Simon - I thnk you misunderstand.  I'm not suggesting anyone alter the feedback, simply hat they put it into perspective (such as the example about an out-of-area agent giving uninformed feedback on pricing).  Or forwarding five comments about the condtiion along wth a recommendation that you get together to discuss how to address this feedback.  Simply giving the seller access to feedback is not provding full service, and I'm making the assumption that most of us are on that page.

I'm all for solid, strong feedback and making sure the sellers hear it in all it's glory.  Sellers are tired of feeling like their agent hasn't told them everything.  We hear this all the time - "you've told me more in the past 30 minutes than our last agent did in the last 4 months".  I don't mince words, I tell it like it is and I tell it all.  I also share exactly what a buyer's agent says about a property and I make sure to get more than just 'it was a nice house, we are looking at others' - that's a cop out.

Christina - you said the magic words... I tell it like it is... I also share... I make sure.   Without even realizing it, by your repeated use of "I" you indicated that you ARE filtering the information.  YOU are presenting it to your sellers, That is exactly my point.

Well no, we will copy and paste the info from an email, or write down word-for-word from a phone conversation or submit our online feedback right into the sellers service report - which is available to them within 15 minutes of changes and it's available 24/7.  So we aren't 'filtering' it.  We don't use the paid for services, we've created our own feedback submission online for agents and it pops into our sellers service reports automatically.  If a buyer's agent doesn't respond and/or gives us 'the cop out' as we call it, we get on the phone to them until they give us something real.

  I like the old fashion way of communicating agent to agent.  The reason I like it is

Because I can find out how to improve on something for the seller.  It also helps you

Gain rapport with agents, which is something we all need to do. It gives me a reason to

To connect with the seller on a continued bases.  Seller's want to hear from their Realtors.

 I think it's very un-professional to get in any kind of argument with an agent who is giving feedback.

 The agent was asked for their opinion and they are entitled to give it without recourse. 

 It doesn't matter what I think ,if it did, I shouldn't be asking for the feedback.  When I have a listing

agent's seller Call me I do not get in any kind of conversation with them.  I re-direct them to their listing agent. 

 

 

I think there is a way to provide objective feedback to a homeowner without it having to be hurtful. It is too bad that sellers take it personally. If honest feedback helps them make needed changes to the property in order to appeal to more prospective buyers, they should be grateful for such (and the honesty of the realorts involved). "Sugarcoating" it is not doing them any favors!

Sellers who are seeking feedback need to look at it as a market driven tool.  It is not there to insult them, it is not there to make them upset, hurt or angry.  It is a tool that should be used in conjunction with their list agent to determine market value today.

I hate leaving feedback personally.  I am not lazy, I just have my own personal reasons. 

Hey Margaret,

I love www.showings.com I use it with every listing.  I am going to very careful about sending my sellers the complete feedback from the agents from now on.  What I usually do is send them just the report of who showed and when.  I tell them "in my own words" what the comments were.  I am usually very blunt and tell them exactly what the agent said, because I think they need to hear it, I just don't let them know which agent said it.  I have been sucessful in getting price reductions much more quickly lately - because of showings.com.  Problem is, when I leave feedback - I don't know if the seller is going to know what I said or not - so I'm not as blunt as I probably should be when I leave feedback.

Examples of some funny feedback I've gotten:

From an agent, about the "price" of the house, he left this:   "What in the hell were you thinking???"

Feedback from the Agent was:  The buyer absolutely loved it, except she wants a walk-out basement.
From the seller:  If we dig her a hole big enough to put a door down there - would she buy it??

Debbie - I love showings.com, as well, and most agents in my area use them.  However, I'm seeing more and more meaningless feedback, and anecdotally it seems that a lot of agents have experienced scenarios like I described.  It makes them gun shy about candid feedback.  As a result, my request for feedback now indicates whether or not sellers have access to the feedback.  It seems to help.

Renee, "Should" is the keyword here.  Sellers should understand that candid feedback is intended to help them.

Linda, You're right, sugarcoating makes feedback useless.  Unfortunately, that's a trend I'm seeing, and agents tell me they just don't have time to deal with feedback to their feedback.

Dawn, A woman after my own heart!

Christina - That sounds like a good way to do it. 

Hi Margaret,
I still deliver feedback personally, that way I can try and soften the blow from negative comments.  I don't sugar coat but I point out all the positive and then deliver the negative, it seems to help.  My experience was when sellers read feedback, their eyes went straight to the negative and they never really read any of the positive comments.  Works for me.

Debbie - You must have posted those funny comments while I was typing.  Those are good ones!

Cynthia - You're right, the sellers only see or hear the negative, even if it's not a criticism of their home or them, but a relfection of the buyers' opinion - as in, "Buyers couldn't find a good place to put their piano".  I don't know how, but some sellers can turn that into a judgment about them and their house, when it's really a comment on the buyer's needs.

Margaret, I am only a consumer, not a realtor but quite honestly, I would want to know everything about my home that people had to say--negative and positive.  I might, for example, lower my asking price or fix things that I can to make the home more appealing---just my 2 cents.

Carole, Unfortunately, some sellers who have direct access to feedback provide highly emotional and defensive feedback to the feedback.  This is making agents gun-shy, and hesitant to be candid.  As I said in my post, I mourn the loss of constructive feedback. It is a valuable resource in any transaction.

Margaret, ditto. We were using showingdesk for feedback and it just didn't give us a true picture of what was happening. We went back to phoning and my sellers are much happier and quit asking, what does that mean. Great information and I so agree.

Margaret- The old fashioned way is the only way we do it here and have always done it here. Since most agents here are older they are not apt to changing easily. I want to communicate with the other agent. I then want the chance to talk to my sellers. We are in a high tech but high TOUCH business! Katerina

Katerina - You made my point in two lines better than I did in that whole blog.

Missy - I'm glad it's possible to go back.  I'm certainly going to try.

I use showingfeedback.com which is free - and what I use it mostly for is the graphs I can create to give to my sellers

Margaret - The feedback that I give comes in a special format that turns all answers into graphs and charts.  Since there are 10 multiple choice questions, the feedback (when provided) has been straight-forward.  If I thought that someone was being unduly harsh, I would share that with the homeowner, but I will continue to do this form of feedback because it allows the homeowner to hear what they need to hear, instead of what they'd like to hear.  Most of the time, the feedback only confirms what I've been saying all along.

Good post and commenting here - my experience helps me talk to my sellers with tact as I relate the obstacles to the potential buyers, and I don't find any serious issue blending the good with the bad.  I find the positives are just as frustrating when they roll in without any accompanying offers.

Adam - Thanks for commenting.  I think this had been some good conversation.  Interesting how some readers interpret my article as promoting "no feedback" instead of expressing frustration that's what's happening and speculating as to why.

Jeff - It sounds like you do things in Lancaster the way we used to in our area - talk to the people.  Ahhh for the good ol' days.   Sellers who read feedback that is less than rah-rah, without the benefit of having it put into perspective by the agent, can be so emotional.

I believe that sellers needs to hear what buyers and other agents are saying about their home. I prefer speaking with them directly (in person) to present the feedback. I schedule it as a business meeting where we discuss everything that has happened (advertising, feedback, updated market analysis, etc). Meeting with them in this way keeps the relationship professional and personal at the same time. I don't sugar coat or filter the feedback, but I do give them the positive feedback first. They need to have an open mind and if they hear the negative first, that is all they focus on.

I give feedback openly, honestly and respectfully. I usually get feedback in the same way. 

Pamela - I agree, that works!  Ahhhh... for those days.  We don't have much of that around here anymore, because most people are going to the electronic feedback systems and giving sellers full direct acccess.

Before I list a home I have a conversation about feedback and how I will give it  to them unfiltered...I also tell them, that when I ask for feed back that is basically asking for their opinion...and I don't penalize people when I ask them for their opinion..meaning, if they say somethinglike  "The house was dirty" I don't dispute that, I f I ask for honest feedback, I have to let them give it to me honestyly. and I know that is hard for many sellers to take

Konnie, That sounds like a great way to handle the topic from a listing agent's point of view.  I wish more agents did that, and maybe we would have fewer irrational sellers "beating up" agents for candid feedback.