Realty Agent refuses to show house. (closing, live, cost)

[jackdon]

Originally Posted by mark311

So the only website that you should be using is Austin Home Search. It sounds like you are setting yourself up to be "scammed" if you are using anything else.

Gee, I thought I was pointing out the scams so others would not use them.

The web site you list usually gives misleading taxes amount (gives after homestead deductions).
But I will give it a + for not having a deceptive, misleading "schedule showing" button.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by jackdon

Gee, I thought I was pointing out the scams so others would not use them.

The web site you list usually gives misleading taxes amount (gives after homestead deductions).

You should be getting the taxes from wcad or Traviscad for each specific address.

[jackdon]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

I have no idea what website you were on, or how you worded your request or question, or whether or not Agent X is still employed with Realty X.
I also have no idea how your answer tied in to the comment I made which you quoted.

You were talking of shysters. I gave you another example.
Agent X has his name and number on the sign. I would think he would still be employed.

Ok, now I read their FAQ. They didn't give away my phone number, just this:
To connect with an individual agent, just hit the "contact" button on their profile. We'll pass your request on to the agent to make sure that they're available to work with you. If they are, we'll pass on your request, if not, we'll share your request (but not your full name and contact info) with the next most comparable agent that is available. That agent is then prompted to contact you via a temporary phone number that we assign to forward to you. Once connected, you can decide to provide your direct contact info, otherwise the temporary number will expire upon the conclusion of your inquiry.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by jackdon

You were talking of shysters. I gave you another example (it is a big name agency).
Agent X has his name and number on the sign. I would think he would still be employed.

Frankly, why does it matter to you WHO shows you the house?

When I was working in real estate, I was extremely busy. I not only was a realtor, but I also co owned and managed a brokerage with about twenty agents. Often, I was busy and asked another realtor if they wanted to show someone a home I had listed if I got a call. I mean, there are only 24 hours in a day, and I'd rather someone else show the house in a timely manner, than put a buyer off and possibly lose the buyer, the sale, or both.

Believe it or not, successful realtors are usually very, VERY busy. And the most successful realtors are listing realtors. Professionally managing a bevy of listings is very time consuming. It is a common practice to team up with someone and pitch hit for one another with showings.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

So you use one experience to slander an entire occupation? And why did you give them a gift?


And yes, anything can be faked, but is anyone REALLY going to go through that kind of trouble if they're just out tire kicking? And, if they are actually serious, they're probably not going to fake a pre-qual letter.

No, I don't base it on one experience. I don't jump to conclusions as some people obviously do.

Why a gift? Because we are really nice people and that's just how we roll. Later on we found out from friends (who are also in real estate - loans and title) that she was supposed to give us a gift. Well, she just disappeared off the face of the earth and we never heard from her again.

I just thought it was becoming more than a coincidence that more and more people I'd come across kind of acted the same way. I know that there are all kinds of people in any profession. I know that the agents around here have a practiced scam going on (this is from THEIR MOUTHS). It wouldn't have mattered who we picked and we actually worked with four different ones over time.

As to whether they'd fake a prequal letter...well, hell...you're already assuming they'd waste their time looking at houses for fun. Why would the prequal letter be that far a jump from there?

[stan4]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

So you bought an $800,000 house?

Yes, I did. With 45% down, perfect credit scores, and a foot ready to boot anyone who 'demanded' a prequal letter.

The super sad irony was that my wife found it, not our agent, who was trying to get us to buy a different house and 'respect' that fact that the buyer had 'lots of pride' in his home (so we should feel better about overpaying?). But we still used her to do the negotiations, etc.

Then the listing agent wrote all over facebook about how her genius marketing was the reason that house sold in a week. Really? Really? Laughable.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by stan4

Yes, I did. With 45% down, perfect credit scores, and a foot ready to boot anyone who 'demanded' a prequal letter.

The super sad irony was that my wife found it, not our agent, who was trying to get us to buy a different house and 'respect' that fact that the buyer had 'lots of pride' in his home (so we should feel better about overpaying?). But we still used her to do the negotiations, etc.

Then the listing agent wrote all over facebook about how her genius marketing was the reason that house sold in a week. Really? Really? Laughable.

$800,000 homes are generally very hard to sell. I have no idea how long it was on the market - was it truly a new listing, or was it just a new listing FOR THAT REALTOR? I don't know what your market is like, for that matter - maybe houses in that price range are common, but they certainly aren't run of the mill around here and would generally take quite a bit of marketing to sell.

You said your realtor was already exhibiting signs of incompetency by expecting you to pay too much for another house. And yet you continued to use her for your negotiations? I have to ask, "Why?" And why complain afterwards, for that matter?

One more thing - if you had a problem with the amount of the commission, you should have approached your realtor about it before the sale closed. If she hadn't worked with you for very long, and she didn't find the house, she may have been willing to cut her commission a bit, in order to allow you to purchase the house for less. Who knows? Each situation is different.

But I have no idea how long she worked with you prior to your wife finding the house. How did your wife find the house, by the way?

And remember, the $24,000 commission is the BROKER'S commission -which is then split with the agent - and these splits vary widely depending on many factors. So unless your agent was also the broker, her commission was not $24,000.

When I sold real estate, occasionally I would meet a new buyer, and we'd find a house on the first day of looking, make an offer, and BAM! The deal was done. Or a new listing would sell immediately. Sometimes that would actually happen with a large sale - and once in a blue moon, I would have a buyer or seller say something along the lines of "Wow, that was pretty easy money for you, huh?" In one or two cases, I did forfeit part of my commission, but that was very rare, because the law of averages is always at play. For every slam dunk, there's that listing that sits, and sits, and meanwhile, I'm spending hundreds of dollars advertising it, many hours showing it - or something happens and buyers disappear (one time a hurricane hit a house that was about to sell - and one time one of my realtors had a seller actually GET KILLED IN AN ACCIDENT on the way to the closing!).

In real estate - it ain't over till the fat lady sings - and the title company disperses those checks. Sometimes it's STILL not over!

As for a realtor demanding a prequal letter - I never said a realtor should DEMAND one. But surely you realize that any Tom, Dick or Harry could traipse into a realtor's office and say they had 45 percent to put down on an $800,000 home so let's go shopping! A good realtor knows how to screen buyers before jumping in their car and driving all over town with strangers she doesn't know from Adam.

I have personally had "buyers" tell me they had cash to pay for a house, or their financing in place - and yet over the course of a day or sometimes just a few minutes of questioning, their story (ie, their lie) begins to unravel. But they certainly did try. Some sickos out there actually do enjoy claiming to be "big shots" looking at big, expensive homes - when in reality they are actually casing the homes for a potential break in, or nosy neighbors, or simply just bored and wanting to be treated like they imagine "rich people are treated." Sad, but true.

[jackdon]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

... A good realtor knows how to screen buyers before jumping in their car and driving all over town with strangers she doesn't know from Adam.

So, maybe you can tell us about your screening process??

[stan4]

The reason we used the agent is because I said to her (and I honor my word) from the beginning of our relationship,
"Listen, I don't sign any papers that say we're exclusive, or whatever...but if we're working together, then you are our person and we will honor that."

So we honored it.

She did take us to see several other homes prior to that home being put on the market (yes, it was truly a new listing, and no, in the area we were looking in, this was not a terribly expensive house). So she put in legwork and I wasn't going to just cut her out of the deal. That is NOT how I roll. We worked together off and on for 3 months - it was sporadic because inventory around here tends to be low with low turnover. My parents have lived here for 23 years, if that tells you anything. So it's not like we were out every weekend looking at homes. In fact, most of the homes we saw were ones we found online and asked her to show us.

The amount of the commission is between the seller and the agents. That's none of my business as it does not come out of my pocket.

My wife found the house by driving right by it. We lived 2 streets over. It had been on the market for 4 days when my wife drove by it, and we were both surprised that our agent hadn't mentioned it. But we asked her to take us to look at it, and so she took us. Then a couple of days later, they had an open house, so I went and wandered around again...and we made an offer 2 days later.

Everything between us was always very friendly and congenial and she even took us into her confidence about her divorce (from a builder we actually knew) and other stuff going...personal stuff and real estate dish, etc.

[CatchingOn]

Sounds like Austin is a seller's market. So that explains, at least in part, the lack of interest from the seller's agent. She's probably after the sharks, not the guppies. I personally would not want to waste an agent's time unless I was a serious buyer- in any market. Open houses are for the dreamers, the "maybe someday-ers", and the looky loos, in other words the guppies. So if you are in that category it's better to stick with open houses or find another more "guppy-friendly" agent who will spend some time flirting with you till you eventually grow into a shark and decide to bite.

Maybe you are already at the shark stage of house hunting. If that's the case, you could call up on the phone and offer to fax a letter from your lender showing your loan pre-approval, then maybe you would get the interest and assistance you are seeking. After all, agents get paid at time of closing so they should probably be choosy and make sure they are spending their time working with actual clients and not window shoppers. The problem is they are too polite to say so. Hence the confusion. So, just be clear about what your intentions are and you will find an agent to work with you at your level.