When I began my Los Angeles real estate blog, I promised that for those of you who thought real estate might be a fun part time job, you could read about the good, the bad and the ugly.  Primarily I try to focus on the positive and have been avoiding much of the “bad”. But let’s look at some of my recent failures:

Several months ago, a homeowner contacted me about the sale of her home.  I liked her and loved (absolutely loved her mid-century home).  Several days after I viewed her home, I met with her again.  We discussed the market assessment which I spent hours preparing, detailing how I would market her home.  At this second meeting she told me there was one glitch.  Her brother, a real estate agent in Temecula, decided that he should represent her in the sale of her home. According to mapquest his office is 94 miles away… but what are brothers for?

I try to time my listings as to when they come on the market; I prefer not to list them near holiday weekends or other major sporting events. I don’t want my new listing to take second place to a play off game.  Because of this, I was baffled when the home was listed in the multiple listing service just before Memorial Day weekend.   It’s not just potential home buyers who go out of town on holiday weekends, but many Realtors as well.  By the time everyone is back in town, there are new listings. And new listings always look more exciting.

The other shocker were the photos... The home has a view and a pool but this is the brother's choice for the primary MLS photo:



The remainder  of the photos are nearly as dismal.  This is a great home, unfortunately for the sister, the photos don't accurately portray the home.

Related Posts:  How to tell if your real estate agent is a slacker  
Timing a New Listing 
A picture is worth 1000 words