Feedback on your listing–what to do with it

Your listing agent asks showing agents for feedback on your house

When your home is for sale, most agents (the good ones, at least) ask any agents who have shown the property to prospective buyers to provide feedback. The feedback form they use varies (and is customizable). Some of them just ask whether the buyer was interested, opinions on the price and anything that could be improved. Others ask for more detail, like the best and worst aspects of the property. Regardless, the feedback received can be useful. How useful it is depends in part on the questions the form ask, in part on how thorough the buyer’s agent is in filling it out and in part on what their specific comments are.

What is a feedback form and how is it used?

Sometimes, feedback forms are useful. Sometimes, they’re not. If a showing agent says, “Too small for this client”, or “Buyers didn’t like the busy road”, there’s not much you can do. You can’t change those aspects of your property. However, if you receive comments like “The closets were all so stuffed, my clients felt like there wasn’t enough storage space” or “The layout was good, but the wall-to-wall carpet was skeevy”, there ARE things you can consider. For the first example, reduce the amount of stuff in the closets. Store things in tubs in the basement, get a POD, donate/discard things–just reduce the number of things stored in the main closets so people don’t assume they are inadequate. For the second example, have the carpets cleaned, or (yes, more expensive, but often resulting in a more than 100% return on investment), pull those carpets up and put new ones down, or, better, have the hardwood floors underneath refinished.

Ask your agent for a copy of the form

If you’re comitted to selling as quickly and for as high a price as possible, it’s worth your time to ensure the feedback form is structured to be as helpful as possible. Ask your agent if you can see the one he or she uses. Decide whether you think it needs tweaking. Keep in mind that showing agents are busy and sometimes don’t take the time to be specific. Unfortunately, it’s common for them just to check “not interested”. Good agents often follow up with those people with a text or phone call asking for a little more information about why the buyer isn’t interested.

Be prepared to hear the criticisms

It’s pointless to collect feedback if it falls on deaf ears. If you have no intention of making any adjustments (whether to the price, in the event that all the agents say the price was too high for what you were offering, or about things that could be improved), there’s no reason to ask for feedback. While no one likes to hear their home criticized, recognize that soliciting feedback is designed to help you sell. If there are things you can fix with reasonably little cost/effort that may make a significant difference in how the buying public values your property, don’t you want to know about it?

Your agent should recommend, when you are preparing to list, improvements/changes/repairs that he or she thinks will increase the final price and the ease of selling. Sometimes, though, things are missed, or maybe you received a suggestion but assumed it didn’t really have value and you ignored it. Whatever the situation, you are likely to benefit by paying attention to feedback and seriously considering whether you can and should address negatives that prospective buyers and their agents report.