Seeing Other Agents

In Cooler Market, Some Sellers Find They Don't Have the Right Match

Cate Engel and her husband had been trying to sell their house in Gaithersburg for nearly six months when they ended the contract with their agent. (By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)

When Cate Engel and her husband decided to sell their Gaithersburg house, they turned to a real estate agent whose mailing had caught their eye. They met with her twice and signed a six-month contract.

They soon realized their mistake. The postcard the agent mailed to advertise their first open house had an outdated photo, taken before the couple moved in and repainted the house. They looked for the ad the agent said she had placed in the newspaper. They never found it. They did find the ad for their second open house, but the directions were wrong, Engel said.

After those open houses failed to attract buyers, their agent, whom the couple declined to name, gave them street signs so they could hold their own open houses.

"She got to the point where I guess she didn't want to deal with it," Engel said.

Their contract was supposed to expire yesterday. They terminated it one month early and pulled their house off the market.

"We got out of the contract and, needless to say, we will not be going with her when we relist the property," Engel said.

Breaking up is hard to do, especially when it's with someone who knows so much about your finances and lifestyle. Back when houses were bought and sold within days -- or even hours -- of going on the market, it didn't matter if you didn't like your agent. It didn't even really matter if your agent was any good. Chances were you weren't going to spend much time together anyway.

Now that homes are sitting on the market, it matters.

"It's a very personal experience," said Robyn Porter, a real estate agent with Long & Foster Real Estate in Bethesda. "I know people's financial information. . . . I'm spending time in their homes."

Agents now have to work harder to keep their clients, especially sellers.

"There's just a level of understanding that's required and a time commitment that's required to sell these properties, and it requires daily follow-up with sellers, not weekly, not monthly," said Jeff Lockard, a real estate agent with Tutt, Taylor & Rankin. "The agents who got into the business five or six years ago, when the market was easier -- unfortunately, they don't possess those tools or haven't had the training."

Just because it's a buyer's market doesn't mean that buyers require any less attention.