D Francis,

I am assuming that your home has sold by now, but i am going to give some advise in case anyone else has this problem. Before settling on a Realtor interview a few. You would hire the first nanny that came around. You would want to know what else is out there. Ask to see the Realtors business plan for that year. My broker makes every agent write a business plan every year. And make them answer your questions, you should feel confortable with your agent.

D.

We are sorry about your experience. Get your agent on the phone to review the issues. Suggest a phone conference with his/her broker/manager to set the record streight. Make it clear what your expectations are and that, unless there is a change in services provided, you are prepared to move on.

Make a plan, jot down some notes, and go for it.....

Good luck,
The "Eckler Team"

If you are still listed with the other agent I agree that it would be time to have an open discussion about what is going on with the marketing plan surrounding your home. You should be informed as to exactly where and how the home is being advertised and marketed. We are in a competitive selling market currently. That being said, if the home is priced correctly and marketed correctly it should generate interest from potential buyers.

Feel free to check out http://www.IndyBetterHomes.com or http://www.MikePerron.com to learn a little bit about the home selling services I provide to my clients.

Warmest Regards,

Mike Perron
REMAX Ultimate

(317) 352-5995
mike@mikeperron.com

I being a Realtor in a different state must ask the question How do you know your Realtor has not advertised or held Open Houses? Maybe you should ask for a marketing calendar. This may put your mind at ease about the progression of your listing. Most Realtors want to sell the listings that they have in their inventory. It could be that the communication is not there between the two of you. By having the calendar in front of you both you will essentially be on the same page. Give your Realtor a chance to communicate if you haven't done so yet by telling him/her that you want more communication.

Check out http://www.callcarpenter.com for their award winning marketing program. You will be able to find a very motivated realtor there.

Advertising should be a given, Lawrence has seen somewhat of a dowturn, compared to areas such as Wash Twp, Carmel, Fishers, etc so you need motivation. We have a team of 4 and work extremely hard at getting our listings sold for the best price and as quickly as possible, below you will find some of our key marketing strategies- http://www.realtor.com,www.somervilleteam.com,www.mibor.com,www.msn.com…
Email all of client base (500) the new listing and realtors in the area.
Try to match with our buyers already in our base
Virtual Tour
Brochures/Top Rider with tour info
Mail a weekly report to our client of activity and tasks
Ads for open house/hold open house/Indianapolis Star
Homes and Land Magazine/Remax Magazine
Watch and review current market on a continuing basis
Mail postcards to surrounding area (Just Listed) Monitor ad responses
Provide marketing data to incoming referral buyers

Let me know if you need any additional assistance!

Out of town clients can be a challange for a listing agent. First and foremost I believe you need good communication. Regular contact with your agent will help ease your anxiety over getting your home sold. It does no good as an agent to perform all types of marketing only to never communicate what you are doing with your client. I think your agent should be well versed in email, texting, have an accessable cell number and an office staff who you can reach when your agent is unavailable. (They are available, right....) If you have already relocated, there is not a lot of face to face communication. You need information and communication and you need it in regular intrevals in a format that fits your style.

You need market presence. Simply put, you need exposure on multiple fronts. Does your broker have a relocation company that can work with national relocation companies? Larger firms offer that.
-Internet marketing and syndication of your listing gets it out in front of a huge number of people. 80-90% of the first looks at your home will come from the internet. It's probably a good idea to make sure you are getting this exposure. Yesterdays "walk throughs" of your home are todays internet views to some extent.
- Are you getting any direct marketing to realtors? Since we operate with "buyers agency" in todays market, chances are another realtor will bring their clients to your home. Odds are that 5000+ Indy realtors will find a buyer before your agent will. -What type of news print marketing are your recieving? Magazines, newspapers, local print? A lot of this goes unnoticed today. Newspaper circulation is dropping. Targeted direct marketing in company publications seems to generate interest in homes. -Direct marketing to your community. Your neighbors can sometimes be your best referrals. They know the area and will undoubtable have good things to say. Everyone likes to promote where they live. Help them say good things about your home by sending them information. -1-800 numbers. They can be utilized in all marketing materials the same as web information emails, web addresses and auto responders. Most of these can also capture where the call or link originated from so you can direct market right back. For instance, someone calls your sign and gets recorded info. There number is captured and the agent can call them back. - Virtual tours and multiple pictures. The more pictures the better. People don't need to visit your home today to get an idea of what you are offering. If they can't see it on line, chances are it will not make it to there prefered list and you will not get an actual showing. Do you have financing lined up? Is your home priced so a buyer may need a jumbo loan? If you can offer prefered financing, you have already offered a benefit besides pricing to a buyer.
These are just some of the basics I believe an aggressive agent can and should be using. Note: I have not even mentioned open houses yet. There is a time and place for these if staged properly. They are only just part of a good marketing campaign. I would also look at comissions offered. If you are only offering a 1% co-op vs lets say 3% your competition is offering, chances are you are not getting a full look from the market.
In terms of selling, how are you priced? Are you in line with actual sales prices, or are you overpriced? No offense, but Geist might not be the best section of Indy depending on your criteria. Buyers are more value oriented today and are looking for good buys. Lets say you have 100 homes in your price range that have been on the market for 120 days, but another community has only 50 and they are selling in 60 days. Who has the better market? Check on a metric called months of inventory based on pended sales. It's a good indicator of how healthy your market or price rancge is. Position your property so you can compete. Price, condition, location, and time are the variables that will dictate how, when, and for how much your property will sell for.

Your question indicates you have not had a good relationship with your present realtor. Please check my profile. I would like to be first on your list to interview when you are looking for a new broker. -Eric

I understand being frustrated, if you have not already maybe it is time for a heart to heart with the agent or maybe you are more frustrated with the current market. In today's new real estate world there is no universal percentage of price increases or decreases, it varies from neighborhood to neighborhood and sometimes block to block and home prices really need to be re evaluated every 30 to 60 days.
I don't know if I am the right consultant for you, or if you are the right client for me, but if you would permit me to ask you a few questions, I may be able to help.
Whatever you chose, best of luck.
317-558-6814 direct line

I provide all of my clients with a marketing plan prior to listing.If you have one, its time to review that with your agent, and find out what their plans are going forward. If you don't have a marketing plan, then I suggest a conversation with them on what they intend to do to increase activity. If they are not responsive, then you may decide to move your listing after you have severed your relationship with the current agency. If you do, interview at least 3 new agents, ask them for an analysis of current market trends, inventories and prices. I know here in the northern part of the state, our inventory levels are still building (not enough buyers) and the prices, have dropped about 20% from 2 years ago. As always, if a home is priced right, it will sell! I would suggest a price drop and keep dropping it every couple of weeks til you start seeing some activity. Even though you may not want to take less...you have to factor in what it is costing you each month in carrying costs. Better to take less and move it quicker.

Good luck in your decisions, I know its not easy!
Jody Jones
Century 21 Landmark Realty
Elkhart, IN http://www.calllandmark.com/jjones