Buyer Favor by a Bonita Springs Buyer's Agent
In the Bonita Springs, Florida area many homes are “winterized” in the summer. If the owners are seasonal their home may have the outdoor patio furniture put away or the security/storm shutters rolled down. Whether it is for presentation purposes or because a property is list agent accompany (meaning the home or condo is not on lock box) we often open homes, roll up the shutters turn on the lights, etc. prior to the buyer and buyer agent arrival.
The other day I was opening a home in Paradise Village for an agent with their buyer. Per the usual, I parked in the street a few doors down because that is what makes the home look good upon arrival plus the buyer should be able to park in the driveway of the home and arrive at the front door without obstruction. It’s all part of the process of properly showing a home, not just in Bonita Springs, but likely across the country. Well, during this home showing the “experienced agent’' arrived to accompany the buyers/show the home separately from their buyer … you guessed it, the agent parked in the driveway; right in the middle to not even space to share with the prospective buyer. The buyer arrived a few minutes later and had to park in the street.
To each his own but I can tell you this - I have shown and sold a lot of real estate in my career but even before I had a lot of experience I knew that the driveway wasn’t for *me*, it was for the buyer. How full of yourself, how self centered can a real estate agent be to hog up the whole driveway not giving the buyer, who the real estate agent is supposed to be working so hard for, a second thought about experiencing the home as if they were a home owner?
It’s not a nitpick, it’s one of several pet peeves I have as a listing agent. While I am going the extra mile to make a home showing go well, to make a home look great and to give the home buyer the best experience, the buyers agent swoops in and cops a squat in *their* driveway. It’s like taking a lick off of someone else’s ice cream cone before you hand it to them.
If a buyer’s agent doesn’t think of the buyer this early in the process what is the rest of the transaction going to be like? It’s one of the very things I train my buyer’s agents to do. It should be a soft skill, if you ask me, but it is one of the very points I make sure any buyer’s agent on my team understands up front.