Mow Your Damn Lawn…
…and the lawn of your vacant listings!
I was out with my wife today checking out the some of the homes for sale in the Roseway Neighborhood. It’s something we do occasionally to kill some time when we’re just out dinking around.
In our neighborhood, most the homeowners do a great job of keeping their landscaping well manicured. Lawns mowed, edged, etc. so this house really stood out to us as we pulled up to check it out.
As you can see by the image to the right (which I have slightly edited to conceal the identity of the listing agent) there’s a little bit of what I call “agent neglect” going on here. The listing is vacant, which means the owner of the property has already moved out. So, basically there’s nobody living there to maintain the property.
Who’s responsibility is maintenance on a vacant home for sale? The previous homeowner or the listing agent?
As someone who has been in the Real Estate industry for a number of years, I have my opinions on these situations, but I wanted to hear other agents opinions on the matter so I posed the following question to my Twitter followers (who are mostly other Real Estate agents all over the country):
Agents: Do you care about upkeep of lawn on your vacant listings? Do you think it matters?
Within minutes I had several answers that pretty much confirmed my suspicions. I am not the only person who feels it becomes the responsibility of the listing agent to keep the home properly maintained in order to present it in it’s “best light” to potential buyers. Here were just a couple of the comments from other agents:
Now I don’t know all the details here. So there’s a chance that there’s a real valid reason that the lawn hasn’t been mowed in what looks to be about a month. What I do know is that the nice couple out looking at homes for sale don’t care. All they see is a neglected lawn, which may lead to thinking “I wonder what else has been neglected on this property?” and possibly move on to the next home for sale on their list. To me, that’s just a shame.
What do you think?
About the Author | Jeff Bernheisel
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My name is Jeff Bernheisel.
Agency Info:
Mow Your Damn Lawn… http://bit.ly/b7rA34
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
[...] To the agent who took the listing on a vacant property, and has failed to keep the yard properly maintained (see: Mow Your Damn Lawn). [...]
[...] nobody has done any upkeep to the property. The situation is similar to one that I discuss on my Roseway Neighborhood site in that the lawn has now turned into a field of weeds that is literally 2 feet tall (see the image [...]