Do You Have Additional Responsibilities for Vacant Properties?- EP 103

2021-09-13

On this episode of the Real Estate Fight Club podcast, Jenn and Monica are going to Duke it out over this question – "Do you do anything extra when it comes to your vacant listings or do you have any additional responsibility to your vacant listings?" Episode Highlights: Monica says it depends on if your clients are in town or out of town. For her, if clients are out of town and she has to take on more responsibility, then she will be charging an additional commission. Jenn inquires, if they pay you, then what do you ...

Episode Highlights:

Monica says it depends on if your clients are in town or out of town. For her, if clients are out of town and she has to take on more responsibility, then she will be charging an additional commission.
Jenn inquires, if they pay you, then what do you do? Monica replies it is not really pay in exchange for given tasks; it is just an increased level of responsibility and time.
We can recommend someone going to the house for the time period that they are gone and it is waiting for a buyer so that it is not just an expectation that the realtor will fill that role.
Monica says it is all expectations because that is where you can get into trouble. They may assume that you're the one that's going to be at every showing, and therefore you can turn on and off the air conditioning prior,etc. Agents should be setting up the conversations that outline how they typically handle each situation.
Jenn says if you are an agent who goes to every showing or has agreed to that request, maybe you charge a little bit more, and even then, you are still not the cleaning person.
Monica says if sellers want me to clean their houses and I agree to do that for that listing, then at least I know what is expected of me.
As per Jenn, turning on and off the lights is fine. She would do that as a buyer's agent.
Monica suggests, "You can be a resource for these things. You should have contacts for people that will clean the houses. you present the solution that's your job but not executing."
Monica asks the listeners if you just have your average listing here in Cincinnati, and let's say it doesn't sell in the first three days as it has... Are you checking on the listing at all, or are you going over there periodically?
Expectations solve all of your problems as a real estate agent. Set them to ask, find out what the other side of the coin's expectations are like.
Melody explains how she balances expectations and her commitments.
When Melody makes commitments to her clients, she makes promises that she can keep.

3 Key Points:

Jenn points out that cleaning, painting, and fixing gutters are not part of the job as real estate agents. She wonders, "Would you rather me market your property to find a buyer or spend my time vacuuming? What are you paying me to do?"
Jenn suggests taking a look at really what it costs you. What is your net profit from taking a listing? Before saying yes to odd jobs at a listing, ask yourself, "Is that a $300.00 an hour activity? Was my time better spent? You are better off spending all the time marketing the listing, door knocking, circle prospecting, calling agents, putting up, you know, on Facebook, making a video, or something to get the listing out there, then you are painting the room.
Tie Breaker Melody Newman joins the conversation to share her thoughts about what do you do if you have a vacant listing?

*STOP yelling at your phone and yell at Jenn and Monica instead! Join us EVERY Thursday at 12pm EST for Real Estate Fight Club in Clubhouse. If you have an iphone but don't have an invite yet, text Jennat 513-400-1691.*

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