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1. Are all real estate agents fiduciary?
2. Is there a non-biased source to find good real estate agents? (preferably with ratings/reviews)
3. Any other tips?
In which state do you live? The state laws make a big difference. I am in Florida and most brokerages do not act as fiduciaries. Our system allows us to provide complete services to both sides of a transaction, though, even if we don't act as fiduciaries. We work with our customers (typically) to achieve their goals. So, to answer your question, no, all real estate agents are not fiduciaries.
As far as non-biased reviews go, there's no such thing (if you think about it). Your best bet is to talk to people and ask them about their experiences. Then contact the agent and see what you think about them. See how well they listen and how well you can understand their answers. Do they go into the depth you want/need or do they skirt over their answers, even when you ask for more depth. Remember, just because several people have had positive experiences with a particular agent doesn't mean you will. Sometimes it is about personality.
Ask people you trust what Realtor they have used. Pick three and do a phone interview with each. As I mentioned on your other thread, go with the one you bond with the best.
Don't rule out someone just starting, either. Sometimes they have more time to devote to you and they will outwork the 30 year vet. They're trying to prove something.
1. Are all real estate agents fiduciary?
2. Is there a non-biased source to find good real estate agents? (preferably with ratings/reviews)
3. Any other tips?
Thanks
1-Depends on state laws and agency relationships. Some states practice transaction brokerage. You'll get a more accurate response looking at your state's REC guidelines or from a local agent.
2-No.
3-Interview multiple agents.
You'd be best off just assuming that there's no such thing as a fiduciary real estate agent (regardless of what their obligations are under the law). They all have an bias to make the deal go through.
You'd be best off just assuming that there's no such thing as a fiduciary real estate agent (regardless of what their obligations are under the law). They all have an bias to make the deal go through.
You'll get garbage like this reply also. But there is an underlying truth-Trust but verify. Interview multiple agents to increase the probability of getting a trustworthy agent.
You'd be best off just assuming that there's no such thing as a fiduciary real estate agent (regardless of what their obligations are under the law). They all have an bias to make the deal go through.
Only the ones that aren't going to be in the field very long because they don't make any money because they think one deal at a time.
A successful agent is always taking the long view - if I find this buyer the home that they are happy in (not just any home to close a deal) and do an excellent job for them, they are more likely to use me again and to refer people to me, turning into multiple deals (and many many more closings) instead of just one.
Anyone who thinks that all agents are only in it to make a deal go through and thus have no fiduciary responsibility to their client no matter what the law is usually projecting what they themselves will do in the same situation. Useful information when considering dealing with them, but says nothing about real estate agents in general.
Bias by real estate agents is incredibly well documented in studies by economists. Economists can study this by looking at how real estate agents behave when selling their own home vs selling for their clients. Here's what they found:
Quote:
it turns out that a real-estate agent keeps her own home on the market an average of ten days longer and sells it for an extra 3-plus percent, or $10,000 on a $300,000 house. When she sells her own house, an agent holds out for the best offer; when she sells yours, she encourages you to take the first decent offer that comes along. Like a stockbroker churning commissions, she wants to make deals and make them fast.
From the book Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner. And here's a link to the actual research paper.
Bias by real estate agents is incredibly well documented in studies by economists. Economists can study this by looking at how real estate agents behave when selling their own home vs selling for their clients. Here's what they found:
From the book Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner. And here's a link to the actual research paper.
Claims by real estate agents that, as a whole, they act in the best interest of their clients is simply not true. And this is backed by actual data.
A quick glance at the abstract and the data first mentioned in it, and actual experience in real estate and other agents selling their own houses versus sellers hiring an agent, tells me one thing - real estate agents selling their own houses actually do the things that will make the house sell for the best price. Sellers, on the other hand, frequently think they know it all (they watched HGTV or hang out at Zillow or something equally valid), or they don't want to go to the trouble or don't want to spend the money, and thus they don't get the results they would if they actually did what they hired the professional to tell them to do. And then, of course, they blame the agent when they don't get the results because they don't take the necessary actions. Reading further into the study I see that the people conducting the study really have no clue what's involved in selling real estate and are simply out to prove an agenda - not the most scientific of approaches, even in the soft sciences. At that point I stopped reading - I spent enough time when I was working at a School of Social Work pointing out the biases in questions that grad students had tried very hard to make unbiased (harder than you'd think) to spend time on something so clearly unscientific.
Sorry, you'll have to come up with something better to prove your point.
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