I spent much of the weekend doing home searches on ARMLS and was once again reminded of the problems faced by our industry. The quality and standards practiced by some listing agents is simply embarrassing.
As listing agents, one of our most important jobs is to provide effective marketing of the home we are trying to sell. ARMLS is the principle tool we use to execute this function. In addition to agents using ARMLS to view potential homes for their clients, ARMLS sends home information out to thousands of other web sites where home buyers can search on their own. With that in mind you'd think the listing agent would take great care to provide good pictures, virtual tours, and compelling descriptions to best sell the property.
Below is just a sampling of what I found from a sampling of about sixty listings.
- 3 of the listings did not have any pictures. (This is a violation of ARMLS standards)
- 12 of the listings had only 1 photo of the home.
- 22 listings had 3 or less pictures
- 9 of the 60 had virtual tours. I think that means 51 of 60 did not.
- 6 of the listings has no written description of the property.
- Only 43% of the listings included room measurements.
- 22 of the written descriptions had one or more typo.
Based on surveys, photos and virtual tours are very important to consumers searching for homes on the internet. Most say they strongly base their decision to view a home based on the pictures they see. Let's take a look at some of the fine pictures I found while conducting my home search.
Next, let's take a look at some of the excellent prose used to describe homes to potential home buyers.
- Looks like a mobile home cause of the siding
- ****AGENTS-EMAIL FOR AVAILABILITY. NO CALLS
- A real cream puff of a home.
- Mean dog... do not pet.
- BUY IT NOW!, Has tile, carpet.
- Fell out of escrow due to inspections.
- a kitchen any woman would love.
How do we up the standards in our industry? Perhaps it starts with the licensing requirements imposed by the State of Arizona. The fact an agent is not required to have a GED or high school diploma is one oversight. Most State licensed professions require several hundred hours of monitored or mentored work prior to licensing, real estate has none. Real estate licensees simply have to complete 91 hours of course work and pass an exam. Did you know a massage therapist completes over 7 times as much training prior to getting their license? An appraiser must complete 26 times as much training to get their license. Why are the standards so low for our professions?
If this post raises your shackles, I'd invite you to contact the Arizona Department of Real Estate and voice your concerns. Nothing will change until lots of people voice their opinion and mandate change.
Best wishes to you on this great Arizona day.
Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777
