I’m representing a seller selling their house. The buyer put us under contract so we are going through the inspection process. Turns out that the seller agent is out of town this week, it’s a holiday week yesterday, and so they’re not able to meet one of the handymen here to visit the house and look it over.
Should a listing agent give a garage code to a handyman?
And so they asked if they could use a garage code maybe to get in and look at the house. The house is vacant so nobody is living here at the moment, but letting a handyman, a third party, into the house without any agent present, that just invites a little bit of problem. What if something breaks? What if they leave it unlocked, you know? So I said, no, how about I meet them there? And so here I am waiting for the handyman to arrive.
Should a listing agent let the buyer’s handyman in?
I’m the seller agent, it’s the buyer’s handyman coming to take a look, and why wouldn’t I come and look at it? The seller’s paying me to help them sell this house, so even though it’s the buyer’s due diligence that they’re working on, why wouldn’t I help out? Why wouldn’t I do what I need to do to help make the transaction close? Similarly, if a buyer wants to look at the house and they call me and talk to me, even if they have an agent, you know, if their agent can’t make it, why wouldn’t I come help out? Why wouldn’t I if I have the time? Obviously I have a schedule too, but I hear buyer agents or seller agents, I hear seller agents complain that it’s the buyer agent’s responsibility. Why would I go through with the buyer if it’s their other agent’s responsibility? Well, guess what? The seller is paying me to help sell this house, so I’m going to do what I can to help with that. If that means showing buyers the property, if that means opening the door for inspectors, for appraisers, for whatever, that’s just something that’s part of my responsibility as someone who’s trying to help another sell their home.
A listing agent’s job is to help sell the house
As a real estate agent, I believe that’s just something that’s part of the job, and it’s not something I complain about. It’s not something I ask, make them reschedule so that the buyer agent can do it. I mean, if they can, that’s ideal, but if they can’t, hey, it’s my job.
I’m here to do it. So that’s what I’m doing today. So go out there and do some good.