Expectations of Realtor

Unless you are contacting her at night, I think it's too long. For one, she should suggest houses to you... That's part of her job. And if she's that busy, she should have an assistant. I worked with a very busy agent so she had a team to delegate to. I also worked with an agent who overextended herself and will never do that again. Don't sign papers and start asking around for anew agent. You're ready to go. She should be thrilled. If this had been going on wth you a long time, then I could see she doesn't prioritize you anymore.

I work in real estate and hopefully can be of some help.

What times are you contacting her? For example, if you are contacting her on a Sunday or at 9:30 PM and are not hearing from her until the next day, I think that is totally reasonable. Additionally, agents are often at appointments showing homes for hours at a time, and might have a "phones off" policy while with clients.

My suggestion is to ask her what her policy is. What days and hours does she work? When can you expect a response? Does she have other team members that can assist you if she is not available?

Be up front about your concern, because it is true that a slow response time can lead to the loss of a home you love, and telling her your concern gives her the chance to resolve this issue.

If you have not signed paperwork committing to work with her exclusively, you could also switch realtors.

I do want to throw out there that I personally think it would be unreasonable for anyone to expect their agent to work 7 days a week and to respond the same day always....everyone needs a day off, time with their family, etc. (I am just saying this because I do see that many people expect their realtors to always always be available, even if is 11:00 PM on Christmas Eve, lol) but your agent should also be very clear to you about what her working hours are.

You should have seen my face when i read "and don't hear from her until the next day." Nope not normal for a realtor who works on commission.

It is a big deal and a lot of money to be made. Find someone who has time for you.

If the market is that hot call the listing agent. I'm sure she/he can help you find a realtor to close the deal.

edit: I happen to not bug my realtor when I looked at houses. The houses around here are so 'interesting' that many did not work for me because of layout or driveway. I wanted to see for myself and did not want to waste her time. I did like that she could work fast when I did need.

No not acceptable especially in this market where houses can sell in less then 24 hours. Get a new realtor someone who knows your ready to make an offer on the spot when you see a great house that meets your needs.

I think it's too long. I am in a lackluster market and if I fill out an online form with my email and phone number when I see a house I'm interested in online, I will get 2-3 realtors calling or emailing me within hours to set up a showing. I am not signed with one realtor. In fact, we recently had a showing on a house we loved, and the guy who showed it to us had us come to his office 3 hours later on a Sunday night to write up our offer so it could be submitted Monday morning. He then spent a very early Tuesday morning revising our offer because we were in a multiple offer situation, and did what he needed to do so our offer would be the one accepted (we got the house). I would definitely want to get results sooner than you are, especially if your market is hot right now.

I've never asked the realtor to set up appointments. I've contacted the seller's realtor directly and invite mine to come along if they can make it. If not and I liked it, then they can come back with me for a second showing.

This person is in a business...and runs it the way she wants. Soooo,let's say you are looking at the house that is only 45,000 and she was about to sell a house for three million dollars, you can bet she will be hounding the purchaser of a three million dollar home first.
Or, she has five children and realty is like a part time job.
Or she is just lazy.
Are you exclusive with her/ did you sign a contract? If not then call the realty number on the listing and have someone else do the work.And yes, go shopping without her. She sounds rather unreliable.

She may be with other clients or at closings, etc.. If you don't like her then find another (if you haven't signed anything), but I would not expect someone to jump when you call unless they have just started out in real estate. They don't work 24/7 and they shouldn't have to.

My advise is to look on realtor.com and give her a list or be sure to give her a list of things you absolutely need in a home. Plan a day that you can go look at your choices and pick one that day to put an offer on (if the market is that good). Sounds like your looking in a sellers market so you may have to compromise on what you want to get a home fast. Or find a more aggressive realtor.

After reading your "what happened" find someone else that is more aggressive. When we bought our house(s) we told the realtor which ones we wanted to see.

Something about your question made me feel like u just want to look at a ton of houses but might not know yet what u really want...not sure what u said specifically so if I am wrong and u know exactly what u what forgive me....someone else suggested being really clear w her on what you must have and what u woukd like...and be realistic about cost too. U want real or to work fast, but it isn't fair to waste her time either.

Have you SIGNED anything with her? If you have, you don't want a list of houses from her. If you aren't happy with her, you want to find someone else now before she is able to demand you pay her part of a commission for a house you end up buying with the help of another realtor.

without knowing how busy SHE is, it's hard to say. on the one hand, yeah, i'd want to hear back the next morning, but if she's up at 7 and showing 3 houses before noon, she simply has to prioritize.
you can look for a less busy realtor, of course, but there's often good reasons why idle realtors don't have a lot of clients.
be pro-active. drive by the ones that pique your interest. my dh and i always tried to rule out as many as possible before we went with our realtor- no point in wasting her or our time on ones that looked great in the listing but were in areas we didn't like, or ended up being too close to neighbors, or had too much ambient light or highway noise or whatever.
if you've got one you're really interested in and your realtor isn't responsive, set up a walk-through anyway. let your realtor know when you're going so she can join you if possible. if you're still interested after poking about on your own, now it's time for your realtor to make you front and center.
but if she's not coming through for you even after you do some legwork, look for another one.
khairete
S.

Sounds like a problem to me too. Even if she's tied up, she should call you much sooner.

When the market is moving so quickly, you have to have a realtor on top of things. When I bought my first house, the market was ok and I was looking in the next town over, so I could look at a house and sleep on it for a week and it would still be on the market. Two summers ago, I moved out of state and had a week scheduled to come down and house hunt. Looking at listings a month in advance was a waste. I had a huge list of houses to look at for my trip and all except a couple were already off the market. The ones still on the market were dumps. The house I ended up buying went on the market Saturday, I looked at it Monday, and had it under contract on Tuesday, about three hours before another offer was about to be submitted on it. Waiting a day means I would have lost the house. I'd set some expectations as to when you want a call back, be clear about what you are looking for, and/or get another realtor.

I would assume she has other clients and is as busy with them too.