bad real estate agent

[SilverOne]

I have a question for those that are familiar with the house buying process. sorry for the long post.

I am in the middle of negotiating to purchase a property. I am representing myself, which made the listing agent thought I am young and stupid as a first time buyer. After I turned down her offer to help me write up the purchasing agreement, she has been sarcastic, then rude at times, and poking fun of my lack of real estate knowledge.

I have friends that have been in the real estate business for 10+ years helping me with the purchase contract, and doing research for comps, which the listing agent is unhappy about, because i can find the real bottom line price, instead of her fluff numbers.

however, the offers that I am making, I think they are fair market value, and I think if the offer is presented well by the listing agent, and with real consideration, this deal should be easy. I have very good financing, strong downpay, solid loan situation. I think it's the agent being a sour grape that will not present my offer in the right manner.

in order to get the agent to help me out too, i relent and signed with her to represent me. however, due to the fact that I have friends that can pull out real market value of the property instead of the ridiculous asking price, she kept on forcing me to up my offer price.

I am looking for a fair deal, as much as i like the place, i refuse to pay for something that are over priced. At this point, I am very disappointed, cause i have been searching for a while for a property that i really liked, and because of this agent, the deal may fall through, any opinions on what i can do?? I am prepare to walk away from the deal, however, i didn't think it's right for the agent to kill a good deal because of her own personal gains.

should/can i contact the seller directly in person, and just talk it out? let them know their agent is watching out for her own commission more than helping them sell their property.

call the agent's boss or company and file complaint.

any other suggestions?

thanks for listening.



[This message has been edited by SilverOne (edited 15 November 2002).]

 

[coolnsx]

Wait for the exculsive agreement to end with the seller, contact the seller directly. Risky, but seller will be ready to unload then.

 

[Ag NSX]

Am I to understand that you signed with her ro represent you as you buying agent? In that case, she will also get the buyer's commissioner?

My understanding is that a selling agent must present every offer they get to the seller, no matter how ridiculous it may be.

If I were you, and I didn't have a buying agent, I would get one. You do not pay any commissions for having one. Your buying agent would be representing you and their only interest is finding you a home. They would not care about the seller's agent or the seller. It'd be better to get a buying agent from a different real estate company if you can.

Imagine you are looking at a 100k house and real estate commission is 6%, 3% to selling agent and 3% to buying agent. If the seller is Remax and buyer is Century21, they'd each get $3000. So your Century21 agent will get some commission no matter which house you buy. So this person wants to get you into a house. The seller agent only gets the $3000 commission if that particular house sells. Now imagine if both seller and buying agent work at Remax. This means the if you buy this house, Remax would get all $6000. This could be a conflict of interest because your buying agent may not be acting in your full interest.

 

[huckster]

how long has the house been on the market?

why are they selling? moving local or out of area?

how long have they owned it, and what did they pay for it when they bought it?

time on market and what they paid for it and when they bought it are all available to you through the mls which an appraiser has access to. this will all give you some indication as to how motivated they might be to sell.

sorry to hear about the realtor's attitude. you get that sometimes when you represent yourself. ask about seller paid closing costs, that is one small way to close the gap between two parties, but only after youre already very close to an agreed upon price. its a fairly small concession, unless your lender/broker fees are really high.

small thought in dealing with this realtor; approach her with the 'hey, lets see if we cant work out a sales price together with this seller, because I really dont want to go through the hassle of getting my own realtor agent.' ie. a buyer with a realtor represents a 50%pay cut for her on this transaction.

caveat emptor, as everyone involved in the process benefits from a higher sales price. realtor and lender commissions are based upon sales price and loan amounts. but for this realtor, a transaction without a buyers agent allows her to keep the whole commission. that is your only real tool in motivating her to work with your lower bid.

good luck

 

[steveny]

If someone treated me the way you have described I would not even give them one second more of my time.

 

[SilverOne]

thanks all for your suggestion. I signed with the listing agent to have her represent me in buying this property in the hope that she will help me given she's working for all of the commission. However, so far it seems she's still more of seller's agent rather than my agent.

In addition, because I have other friends that have access into MLS and can pull comps for me, which pretty much made the listing agent useless to me other than to persuade the seller. But, she can't even do that propoerly! As I am frustrated with the situation, and my ultimate goal is to purchase the house and not fight or take revenge against the agent, that I will deal with later.

 

[WeakestLink]

I used to be a licensed real estate agent and have been a real estate investor for about 7 years. I was a licensed agent from 1991-1992. When I moved to a different state, I chose NOT to transfer my license because of the legal obligations I would have as a real estate buyer. Please take my comments as just my personal opinion and nothing else. These are NOT to be construed as legal opinions and/or recommendations.

In my opinion, the first mistake was deciding to represent yourself. Having friends in the business is a far stretch from having representation. I am not a big fan of paying 6% commissions to realtors. HOWEVER, I believe that is much better to have a realtor than to try to do everything yourself for a few reasons:

1. You need someone to negotiate on your behalf. I believe the MAIN reason realtors are needed is b/c people view their home as part of themselves. You may make an offer that you think is fair based on comps, but the owners may feel insulted. Realtors can keep the negotiation professional and impersonal.

2. You need to understand your legal rights as a buyer in a real estate transaction. You have already given up a lot of your benefits by agreeing to use the listing agent as your buying agent.

3. Especially in this case where the seller had an agent, agents do not like to work with buyers without agents. They don't want to waste time "teaching" you the ins and outs of the business. If you had a realtor, the transaction could have been quick and easy. Besides, YOU are not paying your buyer's agent, the seller is. By not having representation, you are not saving yourself any money at all. Instead, the seller's realtor would receive the full commission. (rather than split it with your realtor)

If your friends were actual realtors, they should have been able to inform you of why you needed a buyer's agent. If they had to "help" you write a buyer's contract, I assume they are "in the industry" in non-realtor professions, maybe as mortgage brokers or appraisers. Most states use a commercially accepted "Purchasers Agreement" where you essentially fill out the information about you, the property, the offer and any contingencies. These "standard" purchase agreements are used b/c everyone has already reviewed them and understands what is in them. All the person needs to focus on is the specific terms of your offers. Hopefully, you used the standard purchase agreement for your area.

As far as people helping you with comps, comps give you guidance. They in no way give you a "bottom line price without the fluff". No 2 houses are alike. Comps show you size, price and location but they don't show condition, motivation of seller, neighbors, defects, layout, yard condition, smell of the dumpster nearby, sound of the construction that will continue for 5 years etc. Even if they did, the only "bottom line" price is the price the seller is willing to take. You can make a cogent, well analyzed offer that may seem more than fair to you but would still be rejected by the seller simply because they think their house is worth more.

HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART:

When a realtor is representing both the buyer and the seller, it is called "dual agency" and there is an automatic conflict of interest. Your realtor has a LEGAL OBLIGATION to act in the best interest of the SELLER. If she does not push you to go as high as you are willing to go on your price, she is in BREACH of her DUTY to the SELLER and can be sued for negligence. Therefore, she has to push you on price. If you make a comment like "I'm willing to pay $500k but let's offer $490k and see if the seller will take it", the realtor has a LEGAL OBLIGATION to tell the seller that you are willing to go as high as $500k. In a dual agency, the realtor represents the SELLER. This is why you should have gotten your own BUYER'S AGENT from the beginning.

What to do now? If you try to contact the seller directly, you will piss off the agent and no good can come of it. You can continue using the agent, knowing that she does not represent your best interests, and be careful what you say to her. Or you can go to her broker and complain that you didn't understand what you were signing and want to get out of the contract. Again, this option won't please the realtor and isn't going to help you get this particular house. Or you can go to the realtor's broker and request a different realtor from the same office. Ordinarily, this would give you the best advantage b/c the broker will want both the selling side and buying side realtor to be from his/her brokerage. However, since you already signed with them, they have little to gain. Your best bet may be to call the broker, tell him/her that you were misinformed about your representation (that the realtor does NOT represent you) and that you still want to buy the house. Make him/her pressure the agent into convincing the seller to take your offer.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Oh and if you ever have to go to court, don't waive your legal representation just because you have friends in the business. j/k

 

[Darkcyd]

Thanks for sharing that information. I think those tidbits will come in handy in the future.