‘Unrealistic expectations are just planned disappointments.’
It’s difficult to remember when I first heard this nugget of wisdom but it’s one I use multiple times a week. At first it seems like a bit of a downer, but actually it’s a liberating statement. The inverse is hopeful, in fact, ‘realistic expectations avoid disappointments.’ Don’t we all want to avoid disappointments?
Generally we experience two different ‘unrealistic expectations’ when it comes to showing feedback when one of our sellers has a property on the market. To help avoid disappointment, we’re sharing why our clients will be better off if they’re able to adjust their expectations.
‘I expect feedback after every showing.’
We’d like that too! In our experience, however, we usually set our own expectations for around 25% of showings providing feedback when we ask for it. So, why is it so difficult for buyer’s agents to give feedback?
Disclosure Disadvantage – Just as we’re in an agency relationship situation with the sellers in this case, the buyer’s agent also has a duty not to disclose any information that would be to their client’s detriment. Think about it, would you like it if we let the sellers know just how much you loved their house when we’re about to negotiate with them to try to get you the property for the lowest price possible? We rarely give feedback when we’re representing buyers that may even have the slightest interest in the property, many other agents practice the same caution.
The Blend Effect – Buyers agents often have four to six properties on their tours, sometimes even more. The coordination of a buyers’ tour is quite the undertaking, and it’s often a bit of a whirlwind. I don’t think there’s a Realtor out there who hasn’t got back from a buyer tour and thought to themselves, ‘now, which one had the matching Kitchen Air appliances again?’ Especially if you’re looking at comparable properties, often at the end of a tour there are elements which have blended in together.
Professional Norms – Across all occupations there are professional norms practiced in a variety of ways. With the experience we have, we can almost predict who may or may not give feedback, based on a variety of factors – from the experience of the agent, to their age, to our relationship with them. There are some agents that we simply never expect feedback from because of how they operate their businesses; there are others we are excited to see make a showing request because they always give feedback.
‘I don’t want to hear criticism about my home.’
This is the second more common unrealistic expectation we come across and sometimes we have to deploy the old ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ line. It’s always their client’s choice whether or not they choose to receive feedback (in some cases it’s simply too emotional and we keep it to ourselves at their request), but if the client does chose to receive it they need to prepare to hear some hard things for these reasons:
Negative Response Bias – Remember the ‘disclosure disadvantage’ above? That tends to skew feedback to the negative side. We’re more likely to hear from an agent who’s clients aren’t interested than we are from genuinely interested parties.
It’s About Them, Not You – Honestly, some of the critical feedback we receive from buyers’ agents has nothing to do with the home and everything to do with the prospective buyers. Sometimes they should have done their homework better, ‘we didn’t like the fact the third bedroom was downstairs,’, ‘but we had a floorplan available!’ Doh! Other times they realize something matters to them which they hadn’t identified before, ‘actually, I really do want a mud room after all.’ Other times it’s purely down to personal preference, we’ve had plenty of buyers write offers on homes we didn’t particularly like ourselves, and we’ve also had buyers walk away from homes we’d love to live in. That’s one of the things that makes housing so interesting.
Criticism Helps – Sometimes a critical element of feedback really does benefit us. If we’re hearing the same thing over and over again in the feedback, then we need to take a step back and consider, ‘is there something we can do to mitigate this?’ Sometimes there is (purple walls can be painted) and sometimes there isn’t (the location is what it is). Occasionally we hear repeatedly that we’re overpriced, as much as we run our comparables and ensure the most up to date market data, even just being out by $10,000 in some cases is enough to disincentivize buyers. That feedback can occasionally help us.
Why feedback isn’t actually that helpful.
Those are easily the most common areas that unrealistic expectations can become planned disappointments for our clients, so we’d certainly advise considering them to avoid that, but ultimately here’s why we’re not sure feedback matters that much:
- If they’re looking to negotiate against us, they may purposefully be talking it down!
- We have other helpful metrics, particularly ‘Days on Market’, that’s the greatest feedback tool we need.
- There are alternative avenues for us, we have other trusted professionals we can ask their unbiased opinion from if necessary.
‘The Emotions of Moving’
If you’ve been a client of ours before, or have been following us online at all, you’ll know that we really do take the emotional side of a transaction seriously. As much as we do everything we can to limit the stress associated with selling a home, sometimes that help comes in the form of asking a seller to consider their expectations for their own good. Some people may fail to give feedback, some people may be critical, but that’s ok, we have other tools at our disposal and we’re confident in their ability to shine light on each situation. Ultimately, the Market speaks louder than any individual showing, and we keep an eye on that Market very closely. As always, if you’ve got any questions for us please don’t hesitate to reach out, we’re always happy to help!