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First, if you are dealing with the seller's Realtor, you should obviously expect them to look out for the seller's best interest. But, even when dealing with your own Realtor, you need to recognize that nobody gets paid until you buy something. Thus, there is a degree of 'enlightened self interest' on both sides of the transaction, even though the Realtors want both the seller and buyer to be happy.
Once the transaction is completed, YOU alone, not either Realtor, must pay for the house you have purchased. Therefore, it is incumbent on you to take full responsibility for the price and terms YOU offer. But, then, everyone knows that, so why (OP) are you asking the same question again??
I have a couple of agents in my home base area (SF), who have worked with me on past deals and know what I am good for with regard to funds and intention. When I want to buy something, even if in a different county 300 miles away, I go to them and check if they are comfortable representing me.
I tell them I will do my own research and due diligence; they don't even need to go see the property; they just need to, if and when asked, offer me their professional opinion to the best of their ability, and help me write the offer. I use them mainly as a consultant, intelligence gatherer, strategist, and when the 2nd pair of eyes when the paperwork starts.
Since they know I am a bona fide buyer, they don't mind if I sometimes low-ball on a bid. My habit is to, where I sense the situation permits (like when a property has sat on the market for 9 months), give a lower bid, then if not accepted, I then consider raising it.
A few times my local agents had agreed to help me deal with properties in another market; a few times they declined without giving me a reason. I suspect those are when they think there are certain risk elements that they are not familiar with. I don't force them. For my latest venture, a mountain/lake property, none of my acquainted agents would help me, and I had to engage a new stranger broker. That did not work out too well.
Or maybe I am just too used to the good model I have had.
I would agree that even agents don't know exactly what would happen with every property sale. They can only make their best judgement and sometimes situation does not pan out that way. All you can ask for is that there is trust between you and your agent; the rest you leave to "win some, lose some".
I have a couple of agents in my home base area (SF), who have worked with me on past deals and know what I am good for with regard to funds and intention. When I want to buy something, even if in a different county 300 miles away, I go to them and check if they are comfortable representing me.
I tell them I will do my own research and due diligence; they don't even need to go see the property; they just need to, if and when asked, offer me their professional opinion to the best of their ability, and help me write the offer. I use them mainly as a consultant, intelligence gatherer, strategist, and when the 2nd pair of eyes when the paperwork starts.
Since they know I am a bona fide buyer, they don't mind if I sometimes low-ball on a bid. My habit is to, where I sense the situation permits (like when a property has sat on the market for 9 months), give a lower bid, then if not accepted, I then consider raising it.
A few times my local agents had agreed to help me deal with properties in another market; a few times they declined without giving me a reason. I suspect those are when they think there are certain risk elements that they are not familiar with. I don't force them. For my latest venture, a mountain/lake property, none of my acquainted agents would help me, and I had to engage a new stranger broker. That did not work out too well.
Or maybe I am just too used to the good model I have had.
I would agree that even agents don't know exactly what would happen with every property sale. They can only make their best judgement and sometimes situation does not pan out that way. All you can ask for is that there is trust between you and your agent; the rest you leave to "win some, lose some".
I stick with that approach as much as possible.
It sounds like you are purchasing investment properties ?
I have heard that some realtors won’t accept offers written by realtors from out of the area , but I don’t know how common that is .
It sounds like you are purchasing investment properties ?
I have heard that some realtors won’t accept offers written by realtors from out of the area , but I don’t know how common that is .
That reminds me of a conversation I was having with someone at the office today. If you don't belong to the particular MLS system that a property is listed in and don't get a compensation agreement a head of time from the listing agent they do not have to pay you if you write an offer for a buyer. Doesn't matter if you are licensed in the same state. I knew it, but the guy telling me this story didn't and just recently found out the hard way and only walked away with a small referral fee at the end of his latest transaction. I think it may be what you are talking about. It seems wrong to me that this goes on and I thought I'd ask others out there if every state is the same regarding this.
Sure, but a buyer's agent is still paid commission on the sale. It's in their interest for the buyer to pay as much as is humanly possible and close the sale as quickly and with the fewest man-hours as possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johngolf
While I agree it is in their best interest to get the deal closed ASAP, the small % commission on say $300K versus $280K or $320K is not the issue. The issue is get it closed ASAP no matter $280K or $320K. Get it closed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmichigan
That's a tired refrain. Are you saying that because that is what you would do??
Granted, there are people in every profession who shouldn't be trusted, but blanket, ill-informed statements really are a disservice to the many professional people who live and work with high ethical standards. Why do you think that so many agents advise people not to buy properties if a quick commission is their goal? Think about it. For those in it for the long haul, it is good business to have satisfied clients.
Frankly and with respect, what is a tired refrain here is that when anyone mentions how agents are incentivized (i.e. how their compensation plan works - nuts and bolts of it, not how they like to make people happy, etc but HOW THEY ARE PAID), agents all jump up and say that YOU only are talking about this because YOU are untrustworthy, etc. and YOU would only follow the money. I don't know if this is taught in agent school because it's a well repeated refrain (so very tired). Question the integrity of someone who questions your incentive plan? Come on.
Instead of questioning the integrity of anyone who brings up your incentive plan, I think it's a much better approach just to be open about it and talk comfortably about it rather than attacking back. Frankly if I asked, for example, an agent about bonus incentives for new builds or whatever and he started to question MY integrity because I would only work to the highest bonuses or whatever....I would run out of there so fast. It's a very poor approach to dealing with consumers, in my opinion.
There is an old business adage that essentially says that the best way to predict anyone's or any organization's behavior and priorities is to look at how they are incentivized (i.e. the mechanics of how they are paid). It's not rocket science. Is senior management paid to grow business revenue? Or profitability? If all bonuses are on revenue growth, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce why profitability might be poor. Are call center people getting bonuses for the number of calls they take per day or by the customer satisfaction measure of callers? Are sales people paid more to sell product X vs product Y? Etc, etc. And incentives are not just about making more money. If your board of directors pays you on revenue growth, that's the measure of your success. That's their priority which becomes your priority. Most people want to be successful and achieve good numbers for the things they are measured on, whether that is the number of widgets they assemble per day, quality level of their widgets, or whatever.
Trying to convince people that incentive plans don't matter is fruitless and a tough sell. Trying to turn it around to question the integrity of anyone who talks about your incentive plan is.....well....unsavory.
We're all adults here and agents should be able to have an adult conversation about their incentives without turning it around and attacking people for bringing it up.
I don't know if a buyer's agent is still paid commission on the sale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RoamingTX
Uh. Yeah. They are. Do you seriously have that small of a grasp on the business?
Uh...the point is that nobody knows if the OP was dealing with a buyer's agent or a seller's agent. So we can't say anything about buyer's agent commissions. But thanks for pointing out the obvious. So much for your grasp on context.
We're all adults here and agents should be able to have an adult conversation about their incentives without turning it around and attacking people for bringing it up.
There you go again, JB...
I don't attack people for bringing it up once. But when you bring it up repeatedly, while ignoring any answers you don't want to accept, it becomes suspect. If you're not going to accept the answers, maybe you should stop pretending to ask a question.
Do you think as a rule, hourly employees work as slowly as they possibly can because they get paid more if it takes longer?
Do you think as a rule, salaried employees don't care about the actual outcome of negotiations, because they're paid anyway, regardless of whether the new deal gets signed or not?
In payment models other than straight commission models, are there in fact any incentives for employees to do good work, or are all people motivated only by the short term gains of the moment?
Good agents are motivated to make happy clients, because that's what makes the business grow in the end. For agents that have been in the business more than a year or two, MOST will say referrals from satisfied clients are a large or even primary part of our new business. We don't get that from consistently caring only about ourselves. I truly enjoy taking part in the fulfilled dreams of my clients, and I am sad and work to try to fix it if they are not happy, even if there is no promise of any future compensation from it. Because their happiness makes me feel good, and useful and worthwhile and appreciated and keeps us going, long after the money is gone. And those happy clients will send their friends and sisters and brothers and parents and children to us, because they know and trust us. And we are honored and motivated to be worthy of that trust.
JB, we have answered the question, for you, over and over again. Maybe some would say I'm insane or ill advised to keep engaging an answering you, but I do it, at least in part, because I care about others who will read this, in case they wonder. If we can't inform you.... perhaps we can at least inform those others.
Let it go, Diana.
There is no intent there to engage with intellect or integrity.
Just let it go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook
There you go again, JB...
I don't attack people for bringing it up once. But when you bring it up repeatedly, while ignoring any answers you don't want to accept, it becomes suspect. If you're not going to accept the answers, maybe you should stop pretending to ask a question.
Do you think as a rule, hourly employees work as slowly as they possibly can because they get paid more if it takes longer?
Do you think as a rule, salaried employees don't care about the actual outcome of negotiations, because they're paid anyway, regardless of whether the new deal gets signed or not?
In payment models other than straight commission models, are there in fact any incentives for employees to do good work, or are all people motivated only by the short term gains of the moment?
Good agents are motivated to make happy clients, because that's what makes the business grow in the end. For agents that have been in the business more than a year or two, MOST will say referrals from satisfied clients are a large or even primary part of our new business. We don't get that from consistently caring only about ourselves. I truly enjoy taking part in the fulfilled dreams of my clients, and I am sad and work to try to fix it if they are not happy, even if there is no promise of any future compensation from it. Because their happiness makes me feel good, and useful and worthwhile and appreciated and keeps us going, long after the money is gone. And those happy clients will send their friends and sisters and brothers and parents and children to us, because they know and trust us. And we are honored and motivated to be worthy of that trust.
JB, we have answered the question, for you, over and over again. Maybe some would say I'm insane or ill advised to keep engaging an answering you, but I do it, at least in part, because I care about others who will read this, in case they wonder. If we can't inform you.... perhaps we can at least inform those others.
Frankly and with respect, what is a tired refrain here is that when anyone mentions how agents are incentivized (i.e. how their compensation plan works - nuts and bolts of it, not how they like to make people happy, etc but HOW THEY ARE PAID), agents all jump up and say that YOU only are talking about this because YOU are untrustworthy, etc. and YOU would only follow the money. I don't know if this is taught in agent school because it's a well repeated refrain (so very tired). Question the integrity of someone who questions your incentive plan? Come on.
Instead of questioning the integrity of anyone who brings up your incentive plan, I think it's a much better approach just to be open about it and talk comfortably about it rather than attacking back. Frankly if I asked, for example, an agent about bonus incentives for new builds or whatever and he started to question MY integrity because I would only work to the highest bonuses or whatever....I would run out of there so fast. It's a very poor approach to dealing with consumers, in my opinion.
I was not questioning their integrity--I was challenging them to think (and they are not a customer, they are an anonymous poster to an internet forum). I have to assume that most people would respond, "No, that's not what I would do." Why, then, would they assume that everyone else would be different?
Of course, incentives affect the behavior of some people--sometimes for bad and sometimes for the good. People with high ethical standards are able to navigate the territory.
Last edited by jackmichigan; 03-24-2018 at 07:15 AM..
Reason: bolded "think" for emphasis
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