Breaking Bad News

I went to show my clients a house the other day. The listing had expired a few days earlier, but the listing agent said it was okay to show the house because it would be coming back on the market shortly. When we got to the house, I noticed that the lockbox had another company’s name on it. Apparently, the seller had decided to relist with another agent, but hadn’t told his first agent. It’s always difficult to tell someone they didn’t get the job or they’re not being given another chance, but what would you have done? If you were the seller, would YOU have told the first agent the bad news or would you let your new agent do that for you? If you would have broken the bad news yourself, would you have done that before or right after you hired a new agent? What about if you were the new agent? Would you have called the first agent to say you’d been hired so the first agent could remove his/her sign and lockbox or would you have left it for the seller, your client, to do this?

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