Are the blood pressure of buyers and sellers rising faster than home prices?

By Lindsay Smith/Real Estate Columnist

Over the past three decades I have seen the buying or selling process turn people to the dark side, saying some very uncomplimentary things about agents, buyers and sellers (depending on which side of the transaction they are on.) Grumpy-pants, ticked off, evil-eye stares, eyes rolling or heads shaking, no matter a buyers or sellers’ market, people find reasons to be ticked off. Not at what they buy or sell for, but with how the process unfolds.

Here are a few things that cause emotions to spike:

Buyers:

• Bully Offers – not just that a buyer is forced to wait for an offer date, which causes enough anxiety, but when a home has an offer date and a pre-emptive offer comes. The stress comes from missing an opportunity or being given an hour’s notice to prepare an offer if they are interested.
• Showing Times – showing up on time only to find a sales rep who was late for an earlier appointment in the home, refusing to leave respecting the next agent’s time slot.
• No Response – reaching out to a sales rep with no response. This happens more than one would think, where a buyer tries to get information on a property only to be ghosted by the agent.
• Animal House – showing up to view a home, having the seller remain in the home during the showing. This makes everyone uncomfortable. There is a saying, “there are two things that should not be in a home during a showing, anything on two legs and anything on four legs.” Leaving dogs in a home during a showing makes it more uncomfortable than when the sellers stay home.
• Exaggerating – Realtors love to talk up the property, however, when misleading items are found when a buyer tours the home, it does little to help sell. Think “hardwood flooring” throughout only to find $2/sq. ft. laminate floors. Don’t even get me started on what marble, porcelain, quartz or Silestone looks like.
• ca – having only one picture on the listing, or posting pictures sideways, with fingers in the image, blurry images, or listings without a picture of the front of the home. This could be on either side of this blog, as some sellers react when they see the online presentation of their home.
• Video – touring a home with cameras throughout the property. I have toured homes with buyers and noticed cameras wondering if we were being videoed or listened to. This causes an immediate shutdown of healthy conversation in a potential home.

Sellers:

• Late Appointments – typically we work with half-hour time slots for showings, however, over the past little while, I have had agents show up five hours late for an appointment asking at the door if it was still okay to tour.
• Retracted Offers – realtors who call the listing broker to inform them that they have an offer signed, only to receive a call (after all showing agents have been informed of an offer and time of presentation) that the buyer has changed their mind and to shred the paperwork.
• Touchy-Feely – most Realtors have a Covid form signed with one of the showing protocols that the buyer or realtor does their best to do a “touchless” showing. Over the past while I have had people using bathrooms, moving clothes around in closets and opening/closing window coverings. Really, people, using the washroom in a home for sale during a pandemic?
• Personal Items – buyers asking for personal items to be included in the offer. We do our best to exclude items that the seller wants to remove and take with them when they sell. However, on a very regular basis, these items are asked to be left as part of the sale.
• Revisits – most buyers include clauses to revisit the home they have purchased to measure for drapes, furniture etc. What can cause issues is when a buyer asks for multiple revisits. (I had one offer that asked for eight) Another flash point is when a buyer books a revisit the night before closing when many sellers are packing and living in a state of chaos.

We are Canadians. Let’s be honest, we love to complain; weather, price of beer going up or the prices of gas from morning to noon, to night. The purchase and sale of real estate brings on its own set of issues. Some of the above instances would cause anyone to get annoyed, however the difference with homes is they tend to be decisions peppered with emotions. Sellers in a sellers’ market can exhibit a sense of entitlement, as can realtors representing them. With buyers, operating in a sellers’ market can feel as if the deck is stacked against them. It is easy to see how tempers can flare.

Here are a few tips on managing the current market for buyers, sellers and realtors. Be kind. Show respect to everyone involved in the sale process. If you are a buyer and running late for an appointment, let the seller know. If you are a seller, respect the revisits and offer as much help and information as you can. Remember, you were equally as excited when you bought the home you are selling. For realtors, your patience in helping all parties to get to closing, seamlessly, does wonders for your peace of mind, along with everyone else’s.

Oh, and one further thought; if you see a drone in the air buzzing around a home with a coming soon sign on the front lawn, go introduce yourself to the realtor or photographer. It is a much nicer conversation than calling for the police.