Carryover situation from another thread where I asked about a realtor.
Selling my house in Illinois, I live in Alabama. Had a tenant in there, he moved out June 30th. I arranged to have the house professionally cleaned, carpets cleaned, landscaping done on the yard, new breaker box put in, some other shit. Signed an exclusive right to sell with a realtor that states it is good until 11/26
House went on market one month ago.
I have now paid to have the place re-cleaned and the carpets redone, by companies I trust. Have had 3 people walk through there and they all say the smell is gone now.
They hauled 8 contractor bags of trash out of the house. Every closet, cabinet, etc had junk in it. I specifically asked realtor about this before the house went up and was told "the place looks great, it's in great shape".
What is my recourse on this realtor? I'll be god damned if I'm going to give him 7%. He isn't doing jack shit. His involvement up to this point could best be described as gross negligence. I've now wasted 4 weeks, and had at least 6 potential buyers that walked away, potentially because the place apparently looked like a shithole.
I also feel like he's pressuring me to drop the price instead of putting the effort into properly marketing it and ensuring that it is show-ready. I guess that's an easier way to make a buck, right?
PS realtor is a childhood friend. IDGAF about firing him if I can, just might explain why he was given so much trust to begin with.
Advice?
Selling my house in Illinois, I live in Alabama. Had a tenant in there, he moved out June 30th. I arranged to have the house professionally cleaned, carpets cleaned, landscaping done on the yard, new breaker box put in, some other shit. Signed an exclusive right to sell with a realtor that states it is good until 11/26
House went on market one month ago.
- House was originally put on Zillow and all other home sites with a horrible generic description. I complained about it, nothing changed. I ended up re-writing it myself and emailing it to agent, he finally updated them all with my description. Really, I have to write my own fucking description so it doesn't sound like it was written by a 3-year old?
- Pictures are in a dumbass order. Front yard, bathroom, then front yard again, then back yard, then spare bathroom. They aren't in the right order, I complained and suggested a logical order that gave it more of a virtual tour feel, got no results.
- The only showings so far, as far as I can tell, were initiated by buyers' agents.
- There have been no open houses, and no known marketing beyond slapping it on Zillow with a generic description.
- I was getting showing feedback that the house stunk. Previous tenant had dogs. I haven't had a chance to walk through it since it was cleaned, as I live 700 miles away. But my dad lives in the area, and I had him walk through it. He agreed that it stunk and also it was dirty.
- Realtor said he has done "everything he can do" about the smell, which as far as we can tell consisted of putting a $3 air freshener in the living room. Said that maybe I should consider dropping price or re-painting with odor blocking paint.
- We got a family friend in there that happens to be a painter to look at what needed to be done.
- Painter went through the house, found junk and garbage in every closet. Found fridge and stove a mess. Bathtubs dirty. Shit like that. Carpet wasn't properly cleaned. I used realtor-suggested companies for all these cleaning services. It is the realtor's job to ensure that the place is in show-ready, especially with an absentee owner, right?
I have now paid to have the place re-cleaned and the carpets redone, by companies I trust. Have had 3 people walk through there and they all say the smell is gone now.
They hauled 8 contractor bags of trash out of the house. Every closet, cabinet, etc had junk in it. I specifically asked realtor about this before the house went up and was told "the place looks great, it's in great shape".
What is my recourse on this realtor? I'll be god damned if I'm going to give him 7%. He isn't doing jack shit. His involvement up to this point could best be described as gross negligence. I've now wasted 4 weeks, and had at least 6 potential buyers that walked away, potentially because the place apparently looked like a shithole.
I also feel like he's pressuring me to drop the price instead of putting the effort into properly marketing it and ensuring that it is show-ready. I guess that's an easier way to make a buck, right?
PS realtor is a childhood friend. IDGAF about firing him if I can, just might explain why he was given so much trust to begin with.
Advice?
