Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Posting here because, as I am learning from this forum, some of our real estate-related stuff is done differently here on LI...
A couple of years ago, I accompanied a friend to several open houses over the span of a few weeks. The house-hunting process was new to both of us at the time. This friend was represented by a buyer's agent. Upon arriving at an open house, he disclosed this right away to the seller's agent who was running the open house. Mostly, they would say, "OK, that's fine, just sign in here," and my friend would sign in, and we'd get the tour.
One seller's agent got extremely belligerent with us after the tour was over. I don't remember anymore what precipitated this, but it was probably my friend mentioning that he would get in touch with his realtor because he liked the house. The seller's agent claimed that my friend's signing in on the sign-in sheet had legally obligated him to buy the house through that seller's agent and not my friend's buyer's agent (if he chose to buy the house at all, I mean), and that my friend's buyer's agent sucked because she was not there with us. He repeatedly spoke down to me in a patronizing and sexist manner, and was quite aggressive and threatening towards my friend. I wound up dragging my friend out before there was a fight.
Another open house we went on a week or so later yielded similar results, although without the same epic levels of douchery. The seller's agent claimed that it would be a waste of his time to escort us through the house if we were already working with a realtor. Our offer to simply escort ourselves around the house did not placate him, and we were the only ones at that particular open house anyway, so I doubt this was the real reason he was pissed off.
Any decent realtor is, I would imagine, very busy with multiple clients, and is unable to personally escort her clients on every single open house they're interested in. I would also imagine that a sign-in sheet is not a legally binding contract to work exclusively with the seller's agent should you wish to buy the house. But I'm no expert, so what do I know?
Can someone explain this to me? I thought the sign-in sheet was so you would know who'd looked at the house, and to follow up if you wished. Do seller's agents at an open house honestly expect that buyers MUST be accompanied by their own agents at all times, and if not, they are fair game to poach and secure the full commission? We were shocked and repulsed by some of the behavior we encountered. I'd love some insight, just out of curiosity and so I'm prepared when my own house-hunting begins.
This is the kind of attitude that leads people to falsify their information on sign-in sheets, I'd wager.
. I would also imagine that a sign-in sheet is not a legally binding contract to work exclusively with the seller's agent should you wish to buy the house. .
Of course it's not. Have you ever seen a blank contract? Was there verbiage indicating what this RE agent said on the sign in sheet? Of course not.
Better not to interact with people like that. You just smile and exit the house. Better yet, use a fake name and phone number when you sign in and avoid any issues at all. The few times I've looky-looed an open house that's what I've done.
I can speak from my experience that our agent (buyer's agent) advised that we shouldn't go to an open house without her. When we did go to an open house she advised not to speak to the seller's agent. If we had questions, she would speak to the agent on our behalf. We've gone to a few and we never signed anything and our experiences at the open house events were always positive.
When we had a buyer's agent we sometimes went to an open house without her, not realizing it meant the open house realtor may get both sides of the commission. We were corrected and from that point we gave any open house realtors our buyer agent's card upon sign-in if she couldn't come. We actually felt it would be wasting our buyer agent's time by asking her to go to an open house with us, but in reality the representation of it all was more important. Anyway, it just sounds like you came across some really desperate seller agents.
Sorry you had to experience two rude and ignorant agents. You are under no obligation whatsoever to deal directly with the listing agent, or anyone else for that matter. You were treated in a highly unprofessional manner.
When I am acting as a buyers agent, I alway try to accompany them to open houses. However, there are times when I cannot. In those cases, if I know my buyer client is planning to attend (and I always ask them to advise me) I will call the listing agent ahead of time and "ask" if it's ok to send the buyers without me. It's just the polite and professional thing to do.
Keep in mind that it may not have been the listing agent who you were dealing with. Often, very busy listing agents, will allow junior agents in their office to do open houses so that they can obtain buyer leads. But, in any case, they need to learn that everyone needs to be treated professionally whether you have an opportunity to make money from them or not.
Boy would I be ticked off if my house was up for sale and my realtor sent a junior agent to host the open house. It sure wouldn't make me feel like a priority. Especially not for the commissions RE agents earn. I would want my agent to be there to pump up the house the way a realtor should to earn their money.
I can speak from my experience that our agent (buyer's agent) advised that we shouldn't go to an open house without her. When we did go to an open house she advised not to speak to the seller's agent. If we had questions, she would speak to the agent on our behalf. We've gone to a few and we never signed anything and our experiences at the open house events were always positive.
If you don't mind my asking, what did you say when you declined to sign in and how did they respond? Aside from the two rude and unprofessional seller's agents we dealt with, I can't imagine the other agents being okay with us not signing in, either. I am imagining in my head that welcoming smile darkening like a thundercloud in the instant that someone says no! I'm surprised this worked for you and am curious as to how you pulled it off.
When I am acting as a buyers agent, I alway try to accompany them to open houses. However, there are times when I cannot. In those cases, if I know my buyer client is planning to attend (and I always ask them to advise me) I will call the listing agent ahead of time and "ask" if it's ok to send the buyers without me. It's just the polite and professional thing to do.
You are making me start to wonder if maybe my friend's buyer's agent was maybe not that great of an agent. I don't think she ever mentioned anything like the above. We were hitting 6-7 open houses each weekend for a few weeks. Based on what I can recall, she didn't seem like she was on top of things enough to have called each one of those listing agents to give them a heads-up, even if we had told her in advance.
We liked her but she did seem very busy and was often pretty slow to respond to e-mails and the like. I wish I could remember what she told my friend to do after we'd reported these incidents to her.
It sounds like you're telling these people too much. I agree with PP that if you feel compelled to sign in, leave a fake name. You can always contact your agent who will call the seller agent if you like the house. You don't owe the seller agent an explanation - I would laugh in their face if they got "belligerent" with me - that is bad business. So go in, smile, look around, and stop telling them your life story
It sounds like you're telling these people too much. I agree with PP that if you feel compelled to sign in, leave a fake name. You can always contact your agent who will call the seller agent if you like the house. You don't owe the seller agent an explanation - I would laugh in their face if they got "belligerent" with me - that is bad business. So go in, smile, look around, and stop telling them your life story
I don't think we were telling them our life story -- just that he was already represented by an agent -- but point taken! When my househunting days come, I will definitely be leaving fake information. That is not how these things are supposed to work, but I certainly have no desire to leave myself open to hounding or misplaced aggression over representation.
I am sure there are plenty of agents out there who are honest and ethical, but boy, it's the d-bags that really stick in your memory.
Oh, and by the way, in case anyone was wondering -- that house with the really huge jerk seller's agent never sold. I believe it is currently off the market. LOL.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
