1. Bad listing photos. Badly executed (i.e., blurry, dark) ones reflect poorly on the home, seller and agent. Poorly chosen photos (of ugly things, small rooms) make things worse. More is not always better!
2. Dirty homes. One agent related how she and her buyer found dog droppings on the carpets of one home. Another pet folly occurred when an agent opened a hall closet door and out popped a dog that had been cooped up there for the occasion.
3. Misleading descriptions. There is one brokerage that works my area that is famous for their over the top “choose from a thesaurus” descriptions of their listings – which rarely reflect reality.
4. Stalker and overly involved sellers. In one of my listings the seller wouldn’t allow a lockbox and didn’t want me to take calls from buyer agents to set up appointments, but handled the calls herself. An agent called her and set an appointment, but the seller so unnerved the agent in that conversation that the agent immediately called me (to avoid having to talk with to the seller again) to cancel the showing. Let the agent handle any meaningful interaction.
5. Sellers and homes unprepared for showings. Agents have walked into rooms where people were changing clothes, eating, frying up food or sleeping during the showing. When I and my buyer looked at a home while it was raining, we found water running down a chandelier – with all its bulbs on, into a bucket on the dining table. Needless to say my buyers passed on making an offer on that home.