5 Real Estate Pain Points—and How To Relieve Them

Relief From the Pain: Common pain points and how to manage them

By Lew Sichelman

Real estate transactions rarely go smoothly. There’s always a blip somewhere along the line—a “pain point,” if you will. Perhaps an unexpected appraisal that comes in too low, or maybe a home inspection that identifies major problems that neither the seller nor the buyer were aware of. Perhaps your first-time buyer is being questioned by mom and dad for spending “that much.” Or maybe the buyer’s financing fell through.

Pain Point: Investing time, but not securing the listing

For Jane McCracken, CRS, of Keller Williams Realty in Nashville, Tennessee, the biggest pain point comes before there is a sale, when she is trying to nail a listing. After spending hours with a potential seller, the client chooses to go with a discount broker. McCracken calls it “a kick in the gut.” It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, she says, it hurts.

Not long ago, McCracken received a call from a potential seller in the area where she resides to discuss listing their house. After meeting with the would-be client, a listing agreement was signed. But because the sellers were unsure of exactly when they would put the house on the market, the date was left blank.

McCracken suggested that the sellers hire an inspector to examine their 1960s-era house, which they’d lived in for almost 20 years. Once the inspection report was received, she says, “I spent hours going through it, explaining what was pertinent to getting their home sold.” Next, she advised the sellers how to stage their place. And then she was asked to advise them on what colors to paint the house, a job for which she supplied her vendors. “Each [meeting] was several hours,” she says.

As winter approached, the sellers said they’d like to postpone the sale until spring. And as each month went by, McCracken touched base with the sellers, every time getting the same response: “Thank you, but let’s get it on [the market] in the spring.” Then, in response to a March voicemail, she received a lengthy text message that said, in effect, that the sellers had decided to take their business elsewhere.

“I was so shocked, I was frozen for a day,” the agent says. She called again, leaving a message explaining that the reason she spent so much time and effort with them was because they had signed a listing agreement. The sellers responded that things had changed since the contract was signed. So there was nothing McCracken could do except to wish them the best and tell them she was there for them if she was needed.

“We all talk about pain points being appraisals, buyers who don’t qualify or buyer’s remorse, but what about the pain points for listings,” she says. “We do all that work, but we don’t get paid for our expertise. There should be a way to protect ourselves.”

Next time, the Nashville agent says, “I would explain my role more, how I work and what I get paid for. It’s not just putting a listing into the MLS; it’s knowing how to get a house ready to sell, and by doing that, we are entering into a listing agreement. As agents, we sometimes tend to just go through the steps. But we need to slow down and explain our value proposition to would-be clients.”

Relief: Explain your role, your value proposition and what you are being compensated to do for the seller.

Pain Point: Home inspections that kill a deal

Home inspections probably kill more deals than appraisals and financing combined, which is why Pat Wattam, CRS, of RE/MAX First in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, calls it her biggest bugaboo. Inspections “irritate me to death,” she says.

To guard against major problems uncovered by the buyer’s inspector, Wattam advises sellers to obtain their own pre-inspection. “No two inspectors will have the same list [of issues], but they will both find any big ticket items that the seller needs to know about and address,” she says. “If the seller doesn’t get a pre-inspection, I guarantee something is going to come up.”

The Louisiana agent tells her sellers to correct the big things and cover the cost in the asking price. Otherwise, she warns, buyers are going to balk when their inspector finds the same things. And if the seller doesn’t agree to do everything the buyers ask, they can walk away.

Wattam learned a long time ago to give her seller-clients some time “to steam a bit” when they receive their inspector’s report. She stays away for an hour or two and then calls—but “just to listen,” she says. “Many times, the sellers will talk themselves into doing what I would recommend, but now it’s their idea.”

Relief: Recommend a pre-inspection, ask sellers to correct the big items and stay away from the sellers for a few hours after the pre-inspection report is received to allow a “cooling down” period.

Pain Point: Accumulated stress

To remain balanced, Jeremy Caleb Johnson, CRS, of Long & Foster in Virginia Beach, Virginia, does yoga and uses the Headspace app, a meditation tool he describes as a “gym membership for your mind,” which acts as a personal trainer for the brain. “To work through the emotional and financial issues and get everyone to close, I’ve got to get clarity first,” he says. “And that comes from a clearheaded, neutral position.”

Johnson also sets clear expectations for his clients. “Just because they can’t reach me right away or they’re not getting an immediate response doesn’t mean I’m not working hard for them,” he says. “In order to ‘work my real estate magic,’

I need some quiet time and some down time. And that may occur at times that may not be convenient for them.” As a result, Johnson is usually home for dinner five out of seven nights a week.

Here, communication is key. “As CRSs, we’re in the business of fixing problems just as much as we are in preventing problems,” he says. “If you can maintain good lines of communication with your clients and with the co-op agent, you’re likely to have a smoother go of it.”

Relief: Make lifestyle changes and use tools that help you de-stress and maintain clarity. Good communication with clients is key.

Pain Point: An inexperienced buyer’s agent

Marie Presti, CRS, broker-owner of the Presti Group in Newton, Massachusetts, has a long list of pain points, everything from a lack of inventory to the lack of understanding of the appraisal process and bidding wars on the part of buyers. But tops on her scorecard is an inexperienced buyer’s agent.

Over the years, Presti has run into numerous agents who don’t know how to negotiate. At that point, she says, “It becomes very confrontational.” That, or the agent becomes “so complacent that the agent doesn’t do anything, and the buyers are left to make all the decisions on their own.”

Of course, everyone prefers to work with agents who have some years under their belts. “It seems as though if you have experience, you can work through any issue,” Presti says. “You can always tell when the other agent is experienced because they know how to manage their clients. Buying or selling a house is extremely emotional—things usually come up. But if the other agent is experienced, he can calm down his client and get to the heart of the issue.”

When Presti runs up against a novice buyer’s agent, she ends up “being their mentor for the transaction.” After all, she doesn’t have much choice. “It’s frustrating for me because I end up having double the work,” the 17-year veteran says. “But it’s not a matter of whether she wins or I win. It’s a matter of getting the sale closed.”

Relief: Opportunity to mentor the new agent.

Pain Point: Unrealistic expectations  about the anticipated outcome of the appraisal

Appraisals haunt Gary Neubauer, CRS, broker associate, Coldwell Bankers REALTORS® in Fort Myers, Florida. But not because they are too low. “Appraisals are the most accurate I’ve seen in my 40 years,” he says. “Accurate data is out there and they know where to find it.”

No, what bothers Neubauer the most is that both buyers and sellers “have unrealistic views” about valuations. Consequently, he says, “I tell my people upfront that when financing is involved, they are going to have to accept the appraisal. If they don’t, it can create a real calamity. Usually the seller has to lower his price. If he doesn’t, the only way to sell his house is to list it for cash.”

Because it can take up to 45 days for a buyer to obtain a loan commitment, the Florida agent checks in weekly with the buyer’s agent and reports back on a weekly basis to his seller. He also advises his clients not to pay for title work until the buyer is assured he has financing. “Why spend the money when the buyer doesn’t have a mortgage?” he says.

Speaking of advice, Neubauer won’t take on a client unless the client agrees to listen to what he suggests. For example, he will only take a listing that is correctly priced. “No more overpriced turkeys,” he says. “You can hope to find an uninformed buyer, but that’s unrealistic. It’s pointless to invest in marketing, advertising, open houses and all your time if the place isn’t priced right.”

As every agent knows, the real estate transaction is fraught with land mines that can blow up with the slightest misstep. These are just a few of them, but the way CRSs handle them can sometimes be novel. 

Relief: Tell sellers to accept the appraised value or list the home for cash, and not to pay for title work until the buyer has secured financing. Only take on a listing if the seller agrees to price it correctly.

Lew Sichelman is a nationally syndicated housing columnist based in Washington, D.C.

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