How to trust a real estate agent? (new agent, sale, price)
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I must say, I had to register just to post to this thread...In all the homes searches I have been in, I have never had an agent who:
1. drove me in their car, anywhere. I had one who asked me to give them a ride, however.
2. searched for me for houses on the MLS...I have had to do my own searches, every single time.
3. called an FSBO for me
4. gave me any advice toward how much house I could purchase (I have heard, however, to "get the bank to give you all you can; if a debt doesn't show on your credit report you don't have to tell them")
5. ran me any sort of comps, at any time, in order to make an offer.
I HAVE had agents who:
1. refuse to submit good and decent offers, knowing they had to by law, even after I reminded them of this. Multiple times.
2. Said they couldn't help us because we weren't going to be buying "enough of a house". Multiple times.
3. did not show up for showings. MANY TIMES.
4. were late for showings, sometimes as much as 2 hours (they called later and asked why I hadn't waited.) Multiple times.
5. forgot to get a lockbox combination, as we are standing on the porch of a home and I took time out of MY day to drive all the way over there, sometimes in 90 degree weather with babies in the car. MANY TIMES.
6. were "dedicated" buyers' agents, call a listing agent to discuss how much I was approved for and what my offer might be.
7. tell other area agents not to work with me because I had no loan and bad credit (I was pre-approved with 2 different loan products at two different lenders. They were mad I had fired them.)
8. Signed my name to a page of an offer they had reprinted and re-submitted after I crossed out something I didn't like. (I found out later only AFTER the offer had been rejected and countered.)
9. Slip in "brokers fees" on BOTH SIDES of the transaction, even though I was representing myself, without any notification ahead of time nor any explanation about what the fees were for. I was the buyer.
10. Had an agent who I was not working with call my lender to ask how much I was pre-approved for and how good my credit was. Multiple times. (The loan originator called me later and asked why I hadn't discussed this myself with "my" agent. I was like, that's not even my agent!)
11. Told me a house wasn't on the market when it really was.
12. Told me the seller would cover all repairs, no matter what, before closing. Sounded too good to be true, submitted a full-price-offer anyway. Offer rejected flat out by seller, no counter, sellers notes say, "Seller will do no repairs under any circumstances." Agent says, "But you really wanted that house, didn't you? You should just ignore that and re-submit your offer without any repair or inspection contingiences, I promise they'll do the repairs!" (The listing agent had already bold-faced lied to us, and wanted us to re-submit without any contingiencies! She thought we were stupid because we were representing ourselves.)
12. explain to me when I was pricing my house to sell, that their suggested price was not too high (yes, I as the seller thought my price was too HIGH), because all the houses of whatever area you sell in has "price tiers". He proceeded to show me why I should price my house that way, explaining that "all the agents know not to go too low, or all the houses would start selling too low." He was basically explaining to my naive mind how price-fixing the local markets works. That's when I understood why no local agent had ever run me comps; it would tell me the actual sales prices.
I could go on and on. I have always interviewed agents ahead of time who presented good fronts and then were total train wrecks later. Believe or not, I ALWAYS want to use agents, because I really don't have time for the back and forth. But I have ended up every time doing it myself. Total I have been through more than 10 agents in various home purchases.
And I'm sure some of you are wondering, where is this real-estate hell? Northern Ohio.
(Just to add this is, one day a few weeks ago we went on a local RE website to check the listings in one particular good school district-as we are trying to buy, and it seemed like all the ones of one particular agent were all the same price. So we clicked on the search parameters to show prices "lowest-to-highest" and funny enough, ALL of the listings under $275,000 were in "price tiers"; nearly all of the listings fit in 4 tiers, all within $5000 each way. There was the $269,900 tier, the 249,900 tier, the $219,900 tier, and the 189,900 tier.)
I read some of the postings on here by agents and I really do think some of you might be really good people that are really good at what you do. I also read some and think, "wow, you'd fit right in here in Ohio."
I'll put my hands up now, one of you agents grab the nails and hammer, I know what's coming, lol...
********
Oh wait, I forgot, the whole reason I intended to post...I have had multiple buyer's agents that have told me they submitted an offer on my behalf, and that it was rejected, when they never actually submitted it to begin with. The first two times I was clueless, it didn't occur to me that my agent never had me sign any offer papers. Then when I submitted with a different agent, this agent had me sign offer papers (which is when I figured out the first one totally d***ed me around). Other agents have told me offers were rejected and I later find from the seller's agent the offer was never given.
Last edited by Pokemom; 06-24-2012 at 07:31 PM..
Reason: Edited to add the "oh wait i forgot" part
I could go on and on. I have always interviewed agents ahead of time who presented good fronts and then were total train wrecks later. Believe or not, I ALWAYS want to use agents, because I really don't have time for the back and forth. But I have ended up every time doing it myself. Total I have been through more than 10 agents in various home purchases.
I'll put my hands up now, one of you agents grab the nails and hammer, I know what's coming, lol...
No hammer.
Once of the great things about the internet is that it allows you to check out agents. I make referrals all the time and I interact with agents on various forums. There are agents that I think are thoughtful in their responses and seem to have a solid ethic. Then I go and look at their listing photos. The words don't match the action. I've pulled many agents off my referral list due to this inconsistency. No consumer should rely on the presentation they are given for a listing. It is a starting point to sorting out agents The internet has given consumers a means to check out agents like never before. If an agent doesn't have a web presence that says something too. Actions need to match the words. It isn't a perfect system, but it will help you get closer to a good agent.
Unfortunately, things like the exclusive buyer agent sharing your confidential information with the listing agent isn't something you could find out online unless there was a review. So, that is my suggestion to you. Get on Zillow or Trulia and leave a review. The fact is that consumers need to take the time to review agents, positive or negative, so that other consumers can make informed choices. Can you imagine if you had read a review for that buyer agent about a breach of confidentiality? Wouldn't that have been nice to know?
You know, Silverfall, I'm a bit of a chump that way...I'm that consumer who talks with their feet, you know? I walk if I don't like something, rather than call a company or launch a complaint. I still know that at the end of the day, some of these dippier agents have a family to feed, and I just can't bring myself to going online and solidifying my problems with them in print. Oddly enough, there have been 2 times I did not name in my list where I actually lodged a complaint with CABOR (Clev Area Board o Realtors) and there was not even an investigation, follow-up or anything, I was utterly ignored, by both phone and email.
You know, Silverfall, I'm a bit of a chump that way...I'm that consumer who talks with their feet, you know? I walk if I don't like something, rather than call a company or launch a complaint. I still know that at the end of the day, some of these dippier agents have a family to feed, and I just can't bring myself to going online and solidifying my problems with them in print. Oddly enough, there have been 2 times I did not name in my list where I actually lodged a complaint with CABOR (Clev Area Board o Realtors) and there was not even an investigation, follow-up or anything, I was utterly ignored, by both phone and email.
The REALTOR® boards aren't going to be helpful as they don't control licensing. The state does that. CABOR is just an arm of the NAR, which is a trade organization.
I am not a fan of real estate agents. At best they are a necesary evil and at the worst, some do lie.
I have bought and sold some 8 homes which means I have paid (one way or another) some 12-14 (maybe more) of them all over the US (including OH) and I have never had as many issues as you claim to have had.
As I "claim" to have had? Right, cause I sit around during my free time thinking of ways to "claim" I've been wronged by people I no longer have any business contact with. It's the highlight of my day.
Since you don't exclusively do business in Ohio, as I do, I tend to think you are comparing apples to oranges. I imagine I could have better luck with certain professionals in other areas of the country as well. Hell, I keep using real estate agents at the beginning of my transactions, so even I tend to think I might find one good one at some point.
But don't insinuate that I'm lying, or even stretching the truth. You don't know me and you don't know how serious I really take something like that.
.In all the homes searches I have been in, I have never had an agent who:
1. drove me in their car, anywhere. I had one who asked me to give them a ride, however.
2. searched for me for houses on the MLS...I have had to do my own searches, every single time.
3. called an FSBO for me
4. gave me any advice toward how much house I could purchase (I have heard, however, to "get the bank to give you all you can; if a debt doesn't show on your credit report you don't have to tell them")
5. ran me any sort of comps, at any time, in order to make an offer.
I purchased 30 properties in three different states before I acquired my license. Each and every agent I have worked with did all of the above and more.
LOL...very well could be with my track record, I may just not be able to sniff out a rat...but that would be me and everyone else I know (My mother's RE agent was very good, but that was 15 years ago-next door neighbors were happy with theirs 5 years ago too, but neither are still agents). However, I do live in an area where 40 peace officers were busted for running drugs all at one time (some of them DARE officers) and that whole Cuyahoga County Corruption scandal thing going on (the Jimmy Dimora trials, which extend well past Cuyahoga County and most definitely into real estate-I mean COME ON...the Cuyahoga County AUDITOR is on trial for fixing ELECTIONS!!!!)...it could also be I'm trying to find a good apple in a rotten barrell.
On Jan. 21, 1998, Greater Cleveland was rocked by the news that 44 law enforcement officers were arrested in a massive FBI sting of a police-protected drug courier ring. Most of the police officers and jail guards thought they were protecting drug shipments for a mobster named John Amico. However, Amico was an undercover FBI agent. Unknown to most Clevelanders is that Amico and the rest of the FBI began its investigation in March 1995 by targeting a regional network of organized crime figures -- the cop drug courier sting was simply an offshoot.
Also, you can check out on Cleveland.com's entire series of articles on the FBI's Public Corruption trials
under the County In Crisis headlines. Frank Russo, Cuyahoga County Auditor, pled guilty and is doing 21 years. Many of the people/companies in the corruption probe were construction companies and other real-estate related industries. There are dozens of articles so I'm not posting specific links, but it's a good read if you're interested.
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So I'm not just talk:
