Do Agents Refuse to Show Listings by Calling Listing Agent?

Whether agents refuse to show listings is a slippery slope to travel down because it is very difficult to prove. Yet, due to human nature, agents can often make judgment calls based on limited information. Buyers do it, too. They see a home on the market with longer days on market than usual and they automatically leap into the realm of defects. Something must be wrong, they assume. Some accumulate DOM because they do not fit every buyer.

I realize, too, that some agents refuse to show listings by calling the listing agent because they wrongly assume the agent wants to pull “a fast one.” They figure when showing a property involves too much hassle, it means the listing agent hopes to double-end. So some agents might not show those listings. And eventually, the buyer will call the listing agent directly, and the listing agent will pick up both ends of the commission.

Not all listing agents operate in this manner. I do not. In fact, I’d say most listing agents do not. But the unscrupulous agents do exist. Yet, it is fair to assume all listing agents want to double-end when they need to make the appointment for the buyer’s agent? Like Milo in the Phantom Toolbooth, some agents land on the island of conclusions by jumping.

In the case of one of my recent listings, the tenants had small children and did not want showings at the drop of a hat. So they suggested we show in two windows of time during the week. Two hours on one day and two hours on another. The instructions said go direct to show during those hours on those days. The showing instructions also said if agents preferred another day to call the listing agent who would make a special appointment.

Agents did not show. Agents did not call. OK neighborhood, nice house. But 19 days of no showings. Do agents refuse to show listings? Some agents do not like tenants due to bad experiences, like when they are not home as they promised. I don’t really know. I can only relate what happened. Soon as the tenants moved out, we changed the MLS listing yesterday to VACANT with lockbox. Yowza, my phone blew up. Half a dozen calls asking if the home was still available to show, and two immediate showings.

Coincidinky? Maybe. It might also be agents did not read the confidential agent remarks past the first sentence of when to show, nor realize they could make a custom appointment. But what else is new? My biggest piece of advice to buyer’s agents is please read the MLS listing. To get an edge, just read the data. They often don’t read the marketing comments nor the confidential agent remarks. Let’s not talk about attachments. But that’s another blog for another day.