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What a crappy experience I had this week in our house search.
1. Went to see a 4 bedroom older colonial, house had some major issues.....washer dryer had no place in house....they were in the 2nd bedroom! ...no back door to yard except from garage, and a few other things. It was well kept, but was listed 80K above the tax assessed value which was redone in the height of the market...so most homes in that town are selling for 90% of the tax assessed value, but this one is priced 10% higher! It also had no basement, and when I mentioned it to the realtor she snapped at me and said "I will never find a home at this price with a basement." I took out my iphone and proceeded to show her about 5-6 listings in town that had basements, similar size, and lower priced, and she got all annoyed and said she had to tend to other customers.
2. Went to see a new construction house (in an older development), builder built two similar ones next to each other. The first one sold a yr ago, this one was completed later and been listed for 200 days. I called the realtor directly to get questions answered and she wouldn't talk to me unless I used her as my agent. I said I had a buyers agent but didnt' want to deal with going through him to get simple questions answered so called her direct. She refused to talk to me. I asked her about price and said the price is 100K higher than the one that sold last yr, is the builder flexible because it's high. She then said there is a ton of interest and if I think I am getting it even 50K lower don't waste my time with an offer! No wonder why nothing is selling...realtor's scaring people away from even getting an intial offer on the table!
Sadly a large % of realtors are morons. Not all of them are so dense or in denial.
They have the game/rules so TIGHT that they make sure they can cash in on their piece of the pie. It is sick but that is one fight that looks impossible to win. So just laugh at the crazy ones and hopefully your buyers agent has their head on straight and move along.
2. Went to see a new construction house (in an older development), builder built two similar ones next to each other. The first one sold a yr ago, this one was completed later and been listed for 200 days. I called the realtor directly to get questions answered and she wouldn't talk to me unless I used her as my agent. I said I had a buyers agent but didnt' want to deal with going through him to get simple questions answered so called her direct. She refused to talk to me. I asked her about price and said the price is 100K higher than the one that sold last yr, is the builder flexible because it's high. She then said there is a ton of interest and if I think I am getting it even 50K lower don't waste my time with an offer! No wonder why nothing is selling...realtor's scaring people away from even getting an intial offer on the table!
Unfortunately, it seems if you don't do everything through your buyers agent, it causes problems. But having them do everything unnecessarily increases their workload and doesn't always help a whole lot.
For example, I'm bugging my buyers agent to send me open houses of everywhere I might consider buying, because I was at an open house and I felt as though the listing agent was fishing for my buyers agent's commission (asked if he sent the listing to me or if I found it myself)
Well, on #2, I don't blame the agent on that. Your agent could have called for the info.
As far as #1, well, that's just annoying.
Don't expect much from buyers agents.
Do your own research, tell them what MLS reports you want sent on a weekly basis. Ask them to make the appointments.
When you get close to making an offer, do your own comp research as well as asking them for specific comp reports they have access to.
Most of them are just glorified tour guides and should be treated as such. And move on as you wish. That's the great part of being a buyer, you can go through 10 agents if you feel like it.
I believe the recent boom has caused many people to become realtors to try and take advantage of easy fast money. So now the industry is loaded with inexperienced unhappy dissatisfied real estate agents.
Yeah that's my problem, I am very hands on and analytical. I do my own comps and valuations, and like to explain my reasoning and backup with my offers so they are just not thrown out because the moron listing realtor thought it was too low. The first house, it's rediculous, everyone in that town knows that the tax assessment was done in 06 and homes are selling for 90% of them.....this house is priced like 10% above that, and still has some issues. The realtor didn't want to know anything about it. Oh well...another 2 yr listing.
Yeah that's my problem, I am very hands on and analytical. I do my own comps and valuations, and like to explain my reasoning and backup with my offers so they are just not thrown out because the moron listing realtor thought it was too low. The first house, it's rediculous, everyone in that town knows that the tax assessment was done in 06 and homes are selling for 90% of them.....this house is priced like 10% above that, and still has some issues. The realtor didn't want to know anything about it. Oh well...another 2 yr listing.
Well, that's good you do your own research! Then you're not dependent on them for much at all.
I don't think explaining your offers helps though, whether to your agent or the listing agent. People just tend to argue.
Most buyers agents are so useless to buyers it's just ridiculous. Of course, they are all just working for themselves. We used to call our buyers agent "Jane Smith, representing Jane Smith"
Although that realtor did not have to be rude, (she did not know, honey attracts more bees) I would like to share another perspective.
If one has a buyer's agent one needs to bother him/her with one's questions or hire another buyer's agent if the one you have does not respond well to your needs. The open house realtor is there to cater to agent-free buyers because of his primary duty (fiduciary) is to the Seller or as a dual agent to the agent-free buyer and the Seller. It is patently, risky and not advisible to give info. or speak otherwise to a buyer who has a buyer's agent.
And how equitable is it for a buyer to be concerned about the workload of THEIR agent while consuming time and energy (not to mention increased liability) of the other agent when both of the realtors are going to make the same amount of commission.
What a crappy experience I had this week in our house search.
1. Went to see a 4 bedroom older colonial, house had some major issues.....washer dryer had no place in house....they were in the 2nd bedroom! ...no back door to yard except from garage, and a few other things. It was well kept, but was listed 80K above the tax assessed value which was redone in the height of the market...so most homes in that town are selling for 90% of the tax assessed value, but this one is priced 10% higher! It also had no basement, and when I mentioned it to the realtor she snapped at me and said "I will never find a home at this price with a basement." I took out my iphone and proceeded to show her about 5-6 listings in town that had basements, similar size, and lower priced, and she got all annoyed and said she had to tend to other customers.
2. Went to see a new construction house (in an older development), builder built two similar ones next to each other. The first one sold a yr ago, this one was completed later and been listed for 200 days. I called the realtor directly to get questions answered and she wouldn't talk to me unless I used her as my agent. I said I had a buyers agent but didnt' want to deal with going through him to get simple questions answered so called her direct. She refused to talk to me. I asked her about price and said the price is 100K higher than the one that sold last yr, is the builder flexible because it's high. She then said there is a ton of interest and if I think I am getting it even 50K lower don't waste my time with an offer! No wonder why nothing is selling...realtor's scaring people away from even getting an intial offer on the table!
Where are you looking? Maybe someone here can recommend a realtor. Word of mouth is the best way to find a good realtor.
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