5 Things A Real Estate Agent Cannot Do

by Maria Morton

1. I Cannot Sell Your House For More Than It Is Worth. Seriously, I do not set house values. A house is worth what a ready, willing and able buyer will pay for it today. Home Buyers are not stupid. Most will have an agent to help them determine value of houses they are considering. They will not pay more for your house than what the recent comparables show it to be worth. They will not pay an extra $100,000 just because that’s how much you’d like to get. If the number you want is unrealistic, I won’t agree to list your house for sale. Another agent might but they will still not get you $100,000 more in price. Your house will just sit there. Sorry, but this is the truth.

2. I Cannot Find A Perfect House For You To Buy. No house is perfect. We talk about this at our Initial Consultation. After Inspections, we can ask the Seller to repair some of the items on the Inspection Report but the house will still not be absolutely perfect – there’s no such thing. We can find a house that looks sound and has most of what you want and need in a home but we will never find a perfect house. Even if you build a house to your specifications, that house will not be perfect.

3. I Cannot Make The Banks & HUD Easy To Work With. If you are buying a HUD home, an REO, or a Short Sale, we will be dealing with the idiocy of bureaucracy. ‘They ‘ will want everything from you yesterday but take eons to reply to your Offers and Counter Offers. They will insist on using their own documents which are written in their favor and try to take away as many of your Buyer rights as possible. They will not use the documents normally used in real estate transactions in our area; the documents which have Buyer rights incorporated within. They will refuse to conform to traditional practices and processes. We will have little control over the process and very little, if any, personal contact; they will be slow as molasses and awkward as a 3-legged horse on ice to work with. We can do it but you will need to be as patient as you would be with a toddler at potty training.

4. I Cannot Compel A Buyer To Make An Offer To Buy Your House. If you listen to, and act on, all the suggestions I make about preparing the property to show, that will happen. If you decide it’s too hard, too much trouble, or not really important to prepare the home, it will not receive as many showings and it will take longer to sell. I can market your house for sale as well, or better, than any agent in the Kansas City area but I cannot force someone to make an offer to buy it. They have to want it. I can show you how to make them want it but I can’t force you to do anything.

5. I Cannot Make The Seller Give You Another Chance. If you choose to make a low-ball offer against my advice and the Seller accepts another offer in lieu of yours, I cannot make the Seller listen to your better offer after the fact. Move on. I cannot make the Seller reconsider doing business with you if you alienate them beyond all reason. When a person gets this aggravated with another person, it may be that that person will never do business with you no matter how much money you offer them. Move on. If you decide to ‘think about it’ and another buyer makes an offer on the house and the Seller accepts that offer, I cannot turn back time and make that house for sale again. Move on.