Williamsburgs Real Estate Blog and more!

I've been getting a lot of showings on my listings recently, but when (and if) I get feed back from the agent, I'm hearing things that concern me. A home that clearly is listed with 3 bedrooms, gets shown to a buyer NEEDING 4 bedrooms. A home that is 6 or 7 miles from Colonial Williamsburg, gets feedback that it's too far away. A 7700 SF home gets feedback that it's too large and doesn't offer enough storage.

My question for buyers reading this-and I'd like your feedback-is this: are you asking agents to show you homes that do not meet your basic criteria, or are the agents dictating which homes to show you?

The MLS systems-and there are several providers used by various associations-are very complex and offer a multitude of ways agents can search for homes. If you are on www.REALTOR.COM or www.REMAX.COM or www.HOMES.COM you can only search basic information-price,bedroom count,area etc. But your agent can most likely find you homes that have granite countertops, hardwood floors, two fireplaces,3 car garages,cul de sac lots, and the Matthew Whaley elementary school zone. All of a sudden, you are not looking at 100 homes, you may find 2 or 3 that have exactly what you want. My MLS portal allows you to search some additional criteria-Jim's MLS portal. I can add additional criteria, but what I have seems to address what most buyers have been asking me to find.

I guess my question is, are you asking agents to show you everything in a certain price range, or are you asking them to help you find specific criteria. Are they asking you what you want in a home? Are they showing you homes on the MLS first to narrow down your search or save you some time? If your agent isn't concerned about wasting their time, how concerned are they about wasting yours? 

With additional photos,virtual tours,videos we should be able to show you the homes you don't want online so that when we go out to actually see some homes, we have some real possibilities. What do you think?