I'm going to indulge in one of my real estate pet peeves. Thanks in advance for your patience.
Imagine you are buying a car. You sit in the driver's seat, smell that indelible new car smell, and the sales associate dangles the keys in front of you as you prepare for a test drive. Then, just before you put the key in the ignition, the salesperson begins a 5 minute soliloquy on the glove compartment. After enduring that little, strange episode, you start the car and roll 5 feet, just as you begin to pull out of the spot, the salesperson asks you to stop. Popping open the trunk, he then begins a tutorial of the rear storage as the car idles and you tap your feet awkwardly. You just want to get this thing on the road and see if it's for you.
Finally, getting back in the car, you roll toward the parking lot exit and he stops you again, this time to explain, with granular specificity, the storage compartment between the two front seats. How does this guy make a living selling cars? Short answer: he doesn't make a living, because if he only talks about what is important to him, he's not going to last. He doesn't grasp that if you like how it drives, short of a dead guy in a bowling bag back there, you don't care about the trunk.
The same goes for homeowners who show their house to their prospective listing agent. I recently had this sort of person walk me through his modestly sized house, and it took nearly 20 minutes to walk through a home I could have walked through in less than 5 minutes. The cause of the delay was the guy's insistence on giving me the historical abstract of every room, what he had or hadn't done with it, why that was so, and what he'd do if he were to keep the house instead of selling. For an ADD guy like me, it was like watching paint dry while I listened to the wa wa wa of the grown-ups on a Peanuts cartoon.
I'm a professional; I know what a closet is, and I know the pros and cons of a half-finished bathroom. How the bathroom came to be half finished or why you chose to take the hanging rod out of the bedroom closet and put up shelves instead is not terribly important, at least not for every..single...room...in..the..house.
It all boils down to the stark fact that most homeowners are lousy salespeople and need to slowly step back from the person looking at the house. If it feels like home, they ask questions. If it doesn't, they won't buy if you showed them where you stored the dead sea scrolls in the attic.
Leave out the closet story. Stop expecting the showing agent to put on a horse and pony show. Homes are bought, not sold. I never spoke to anyone and had them say "the agent" or "the owner" as the reason they chose their home. A good agent will assist you in presenting the home, staging it, marketing it to the right prospects, and dealing with the people carefully who walk through. We know when to question; we know when to shut up; we know when to let them soak in it; we know how to sell. You don't, and if you did, you aren't objective. People know what they are looking for. We help them find it.
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Great post. I like that homes are bought not sold line
One question: you feel better now?
A good agent will assist you in presenting the home, staging it, marketing it to the right prospects, and dealing with the people carefully who walk through.
This is good stuff.
True. Many times I resist the urge to say that I can't put buyers in a headlock and make them buy your overpriced home! Thanks, I feel better too.
Those slow motion home tours with a proud seller who mistakenly tells you the history of the home in painstaking minutiae, is deadly to a potential sale. They just don't get that buyers usually don't care what kind of nails they used when they built that -- whatever. They really need to leave the selling to the professionals. That's why they hired us.
Many years ago, in another life, when I worked for a brilliant marketer, he always said the difference between sales and marketing was, the salesperson tries to sell the consumer a product he wants to sell vs. the marketer who gives them what they want to buy.
I got a good laugh out of this post Phil and I couldn't agree with you more. I will take this one step further. I have run into a rash of homeowners who happen to be home during showings for my clients. The most recent was for a very generic home priced at $125,000. This was about 1300 sf and she walked me through her daughter's house like I was two and had never seen a home in my life. She even had to open doors for me because I apparently not qualified to do so.
Billi, I would love to be a fly on the wall when you finally break down and give that headlock!
I actually said to sellers once "perhaps you shouldn't have allowed this appointment if you didn't want my buyers to have the opportunity to view your home for themselves, but I must insist you stop interrupting them so we can keep to our schedule of other appointments". I was very soft toned and smiling as I said it, but they got the hint.
Tammy, that is the right answer. "I am sorry and don't mean to be rude, but if you can let us see the house we will come out back and find you if we have any questions"
Phil, sellers need to stay away from prospective buyers. They can stop a deal faster than anyone!
Phil, I agree. The blow by blow, excruciating detail of house xyz, is for the listing agent, who is getting paid (hopefully) to endure such pain
J Philip: Do you mind if I flagrantly borrow your line of "houses are bought, not sold"? I love it! No amount of flowery language can overcome certain things. Like being overpriced!
Phil, I love your line that homes are bought and not sold. So true. This same seller will probably be at every darn showing, pointing that freaking closet out to prospective buyers until they run from his home!
Well said, my friend. You hit the nail on the head so many times in this post.
Phil - homeowners are their own worst enemy when it comes to selling. Lose lips sink ships, but I can't think of a cute way to phrase it for home selling.
But I want to know what kind of magic formula they used to achieve that particular shade of fluorescent green in the dining room!
Been there, done that! Whew! I have to add, I was "shopping" with my sister years ago and still remember her deadpan reply to the listing agent when he pointed out, "And here is the kitchen..." Nobody likes to feel like their intelligence is questioned.
Very well said. I especially like the line about houses are bought not sold. I keep hearing that...across industries...people love to buy; they hate to be sold to.
You're also right about you are the expert and will look at it objectively and position everything the best for the buyer. The seller is not objective - after all, it's impossible to be.
Oh, and I can relate to this on my job. Sometimes I get the whole history of the house. My husband did this, so & so messed this up, etc. and sometimes I feel exactly as you do. Other, times, though, I sometimes get some powerful insights which help me find better solutions for my customers or ways to assure them that we won't make the same mistake.
If it's what they want, the buyers will know it. A detailed tour isn't going to help. Let the "feeling" kick in and they'll be fine!
You telling me you werent moved by his explaination of the history of the house? ha
This is right in line with Pat Kennedy's post about the importance of a seller keeping quiet. They so often say much more than they need to and it can hurt them in the end.
doesn't it feel good to get that off your chest.
Philip, Be it seller or agent, I think the main reason consumers prefer shopping on line is they don't want some one lurking behind them while they are looking.
Fantastic - it is hard to have someone over your shoulder...definitely think it is worth a feature.
Phil, that is why FSBOs are not as effective as we are...too much emotional attachment. This is great...I've suggested it and found it because of a reblog.
Last week a listing agent showed a buyer and me a 4 year old home. It was perfect! The listing agent told the buyer, room by room, what could be changed after the buyer bought the home. The listing agent un-sold the home.
Great line...homes are bought, not sold. A good salesperson can only do so much to show the positive features of a home but many times people overstep what needs to be said.
Darrell Walters, Newnan Mortgage
So, guess they never heard that " silence is golden?" It's hard for some people to be unemotional about where they live and realize this is now a business transaction.
Too bad this has been reblogged and is featured.... it needs to be members only. This was a LISTING appointment. You were applying for a job. Now you rant about that potential employer in a public post. Nice.
Phil - I have to agree with you on this one. I think I get more irritated when listing agents do this when I'm with buyers. Let us look around! On a separate note, the "consumer" above is someone who appears to be very familiar with AR jargon.
I may be one of the few agents who tell my sellers they don't have to leave the house when it gets shown. The reason is that they know more about the house than the showing agent and can offer constructive feedback , such as where the school bus stops etc. but I go over with them right at the beginning that they should stay out of the way and only answer questions that are directed towards them, answer the question and then be quiet until the next question. DON"T TRY TO SELL THE HOUSE, I have never had a complaint by the buyers agent and have had times when the agent says that the seller was very helpful and the buyer appreciated their input.
Just remember it is their belief system that motivates their behavior. It probably goes something like this: Even though I like discovering some things for myself so I don't have distorted expectations, they are just covering all the bases since you have never actually lived there and they have. I mean don't you want to know how much the home means to them? or how motivated they are to sell?
I'm just saying... seems like a good opportuniity to build rapport.
I sometimes have a hard time differentiating between a kitchen and a bathroom and I appreciate it when a Seller explains those rooms to me! Sorry, I'm not that old (yet!). We're being paid to do a job, we should be left alone to do it. If we have questions, we'll ask for the answers.
I'm an interior designer and I had an art teacher in college that drove a point home that I always remember when doing a design or staging project: "Your project has to stand on it's own. No explanation is allowed." If it is a good house and its well presented, the seller should not have to say a word. Sometimes additional information is nice, but the project, piece of art, home, or car, should stand on it's own and sell itself if it is well done. I see both sides of the story, but as a buyer, I'd rather everyone go away and let me "check out the house" on my own. Someone else may prefer a guided tour, but I want to wander through and imagine my family in that house. If my family fits...I might like more information.
Amen! I was showing a house with all the people at home sitting in the living room snooping. The folks had said they didn't want to see it as we drove up but I asked them to please be polite and walk through since we'd made an appointment. We did the quick look and as we were leaving the owner shouted, "You didn't show them the closet in the hall." Geeeezzeee,,,,
I usually give them something to read over while I tour the home on my own. Then if I have any questions we go back over it or I just get answers while snapping pictures. So I try to get it out of the way or incorporate the tour into something else. They usually don't want to be in the pictures so that keep them moving.
I guess that wasn't exactly a Zen moment for you. Poor guy he might have just needed someone to talk to that day. They have no idea how much in a hurry we are! LOL
Your writing is hilarious! I agree with the sentiments 100%, and got some great laughs out of reading it. Thanks for helping to make my day.
LOL! My A-D-D would have been out of control. Congrats for keeping yours in check! :)
Ah the obligatory Seller pre-listing tour. The polite nods, the feigned interest! LOL. Luckily they aren't all bad.
LOL ! I have had the same frustration many-a-time when sellers insist on showing their homes !!!
I tell my sellers never to give the tour :o)
Philip, I just couls *see* and *hear* you walking through that house - or trying to :) - and listening to explanations... Great post.
BTW, back to car salesman analogy: when buying a car, at least we can drive it for a bit, feel the steering wheel, push buttons, adjust mirrors, open the trunk if we want to. We can try it on. Even sometimes compare "city driving" with of "highway". But with houses - we can't really do that, so all the explanations come in. What if we as buyers could live 2 days in a house to "try it on"... Of course that will only make things much more complicated, legal issues alone would be killing the deal, but just imagine for a moment... That would interesting
Ha ha - well written post that both made me laugh and cringe as I have been there before. I think the sellers believe that if they imbue every part of the house with some magical personal history that it will somehow make potential buyers more interested.
OK, I'm going to go contrarian on this one - you stated you were the prospective listing agent on this house and the seller, who probably has a massive emotional investment in the house, was giving you some details on his "baby". Maybe he's lived in that house for years and had visions for how this room or that room might be, he's changed this or that because of this reason or that reason. I mean maybe he was married in that house or his kids were raised in that house or whatever, I don't know. I don't want to get too sentimental since I don't know the details of this guy and you didn't provide it but suffice to say the guy has SOME emotional attachment to the house (I've seen very few sellers that didn't feel SOME attachment to the house they're selling) and wanted to share some of it with you and you pretty much just trampled on him publicly.
Classy.
Consumer above nailed it - you just went on a public forum and trashed your client who was simply trying to explain to you some of his history with the house. Might want to rethink that one.
I, too, agree with the premise of sellers evacuating the house at times of showing as if it were the Hindenburg, but I can't help but be bothered like the commenter above that this post was regarding a potential listing. In addition to the emotional investment the owner might have in the property, does it not behoove the agent to absorb the tour and stories in painstaking detail for potential disclosure and marketing purposes?
I too share the same frustration with you! Thank you for sharing!
Oh, no! The seller who insists on being present to show the home in its best light.
Another great example, Phil. Many homeowners are just too close to the sale to be able to sell a home on their own. They hold all their projects much too dearly.
Stan, I truly believe they can't be "sold." I bought my house. No convincing.
Teral- I do. :)
Debbie- That's my role.
Billi- No horse and pony show ever worked.
Geri- those are brilliant thoughts.
Tricia, there can be a condescending aspect to it but I think they just don't know how to do it.
Tammy- part of our job is educating the client.
Ted- great minds think alike.
Pamela- we call it buying it back. You sold it, don't buy it back.
Scott- Even I don't want the blow by blow.
Kathryn- use it in good health.
Susan, the point of the post is to make sure they don't.
Craig- we've all been there, right?
Mike- how about "loose lips sink ships?"
Jenna- behave!
Cara- my point exactly.
Debbie- information overload is bad in any industry. '
Liz/Bill- exactly, let us get a feel for the place.
Eileen- you got the hint, didn't you.
Barb- Pat knows it very well .
Lee Ann- I indulged myself.
Deborah- Yes, the privacy of one's own home. Hence the need to allow them to walk through a prospective home in some sort of privacy.
Alan- thanks very much.
Yvette- thanks, I appreciate that.
Maya- we call that buying it back.
Darrell- overkill. Exactly.
Juli- divorcing oneself from the "business " of something so personal as their home is not easy for some.
Consumer- Yup.
Jason- what listing agents do on showings is a whole separate post. I noticed that too.
Don, some people actually can't leave the house. They may not drive, and I have one client who is wheelchair bound. It's the mouth we have to coach. Great thought.
Roseanne- true, but if I engaged them in conversation about everything I'd be there until midnight. I say moderation in all things. We are talking about 5 minutes in an 8x10 room.
Kathy- that is part of the point. I know a kitchen. I know a skylight. I know a skylight makes a dark room brighter. I know shelves. I know hanging rods. I know you can't hang on shelves but they have other uses. It's like that.
Lisa- Your professor was absolutely right.
Barbara- buyers tend to resent that in my experience. Better to stay out of the way.
John, that is actually a great idea.
Lizette- No, not a Zen moment. An exercise in patience.
Sonsie- thanks for that.
Marney- I actually tell people this. Some get it.
Michael- that strikes me as a bit extreme, but I get your point.
Paula- Funny, you. Most are fine. The pathological explainers need to be educated though.
Sheldon- seriously, most sellers are lousy salespeople.
Anna- I think there was a TV show where they did that.
Mike- exactly. Building value does not come from the historical abstract of why you put contact paper on the shelves in 1982.
Eric. Is it better to be phony? Nobody got trashed. Those things could all be true- as all homes have so many personal events occur. What's more personal to us than our bodies? Do we explain every scar and blemish to the doctor? I think not. The point here is that people need to be educated on what is important and what isn't. A potential 10 minute speech in each room, then tapping one's feet until I physically walk over, open the closet, look in and then nod Yes, I have now seen the interior of the closet does not help anyone.
Paul- Ideally I would attentively and compassionately absorb everything, erring on the side of patience, fortitude, and my potential fiduciary need for the information being imparted. I would not steer the conversation at all, and allow the guy to spend 10 minutes on each room instead of the 5. Then I would go home and kick my dog.
Jose- yes. The point is that it is not wise to frustrate those with whom you will potentially do business.
Christine-Yes. In their mind.
Kathryn- exactly, they cannot be objective.
Fair enough, Phil. lol
Its the case of less is more, in sales its what you don't say thats important...
HAH! "Granular Specificity!" Superb!
Bottom line for Homeowners: Let a Professional Realtor sell your home.
Bottom line for Realtors: Keep going after those FSBO's no matter how many times they say, "NO!" Sales is a numbers game.
I caught this with Michelle's re-blog. ROTFL but all too true!
Jim - I too caught this on Michelles's reblog. I did note that you indicated that you were ADD - obviously the owner was not. So what is important to you is basically "bottom line." To the seller, the emotional content has importance. Since I relate more to you than the long tour - I'd hope that part of your education with the seller would be that HE NOT BE THERE when the home is being shown. Around here, most of our inventory now is short sale. If this was a short sale seller - the possibility of success is very limited ... until he become emotionally disconnected. Fine observations; I'm sorry I didn't see it on the first go round.
Very, good post and so true, owners are lousy at selling their homes. I have even seen that when the owner is an agent or broker. They seem forget the basics when it is their own home