On a recent Monday morning I received a call from a seller I represent who was ecstatic that his house was show over the weekend. An agent first previewed the property and said it was, “Aggressively priced and showed great”. This property would be one of four the agent would show to their client. My seller felt he had, “A 25% chance that his property would be sold”.

 

Wouldn’t it be nice if real estate agents and buyers meant what they said and life was as logical and linear as mathematics?

 

I told my seller that we would get some feedback about what the buyer thought after they viewed the property. This is more important than what an agent says previewing the property before the showing. Most agents and buyers are complimentary to a fault. Many buyers and agents are brutally honest ‘behind the scenes’.

 

For example, whenever I see a baby in the arms of a mother I usually say, “What a lovely baby,” to my wife. When we are out of range I tell my spouse the ‘rest of the story’.  “Didn’t you think that kid had a weird head?” Or, “Did you see the nose on that baby? It looked like the beak on a peregrine falcon.”

 

There is a big difference between feedback and flattery. It seems the bigger the ego the less this difference is apparent. After viewing a dozen houses, buyers and agents begin to forget what they saw. In order to make the time go faster some buyers actually joke about a seller’s decorating.

 

If an agent shows a buyer four homes, does each seller have a 25% chance of receiving an offer? No way, Jose! A typical buyer will love one, like another, and dislike the last two.

 

Sellers deserve showing feedback. Sometimes that feedback is accurate. At other times it is inaccurate. Many times people don’t say what they mean, or mean what they say.