Save for the thieves casing your house, how effective do you think the realtor is at screening? When we sold a house four years ago I interviewed realtors. Two out of the the four I felt were not trustworthy and a third was unprofessional if not incompetent.
Big money in realestate taking 6% out of every transaction for what little work they do. It is a racket. Anybody should be able to do what you do. You should even be able to require an application to buy so long as you don’t discriminate on race, color or creed and just financial qualification? Pre-qualification is so common now you should be able to stipulate that as a requisite to show. Deposit amount? Enough to hurt if they lose it. Most sane people are not in the habit of writing a contract on something they can’t buy but there are tire kickers who try to look at houses as a recreational activity and bring their kids with them.
When there was a showing I always asked about the client. Two tire kickers got through by the same agent and I told her via the agent I hired she could not show the house any more. I wanted to sell the house but I did not have to and I made that clear. It is the agents who have a key to the lock box you need to worry about. They leave the lights on, doors open etc.
Try screening to rent.
The original part of the house was built in 1900 and it had a series of additions and remodels mostly by amateurs. My goal was to get it back to its original glory and get all the pieces to flow better. The house is approximately 4000 sq. ft. in total which is one of the reasons why it took so long. Every room needed to be almost completely redone. Today, hopefully I will finish sanding the original wood floor from 1900 in the living room. It will not be perfect, but it will be beautiful. I am proud of what we accomplished and sad to let it go, but we have run up against harsh economic reality and it is time for us to move on.
Our neighbors were selling their house, went on vacation, and we couldn’t figure out why lights were on all night...so we texted them...they got listing realtor in...someone had turned every light on AND disconnected a water line in kitchen, which caused flooding...cost them a lot to fix. ALWAYS be there (or close) when house is being shown.
” how effective do you think the realtor is at screening? When we sold a house four years ago I interviewed realtors. Two out of the the four I felt were not trustworthy and a third was unprofessional if not incompetent.”
As a building contractor put it to me years ago, What kind of people do you think are going to be attracted to an industry where they can make the same kind of money as doctors and lawyers and only have to graduate high school and pass a test?