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But yet the listings being sent to me keep on as turn key tiny little ranches and other places that just do not interest me for various reasons--I wont want to pay a premium for some house I will probably be making various changes to in any case.
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Originally Posted by Ted Bear
Most realtors are incapable of listening and understanding. If you say that you have $200,000 to spend, they immediately jump that up to 250/300 and that is what they screen for.
It seems they are incapable of synthesizing anything other than 'here's a house in your price range'. If you tell them that you want single story living, they invariably show you two story houses; That you want a 'fixer upper', and they show you move in ready houses just demonstrates that they can't listen.
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Originally Posted by TwinbrookNine
Fire her and start over. She is one of many realtors that are crumbags. You have be careful who you deal with. They can really scr*$w you. Read on.
Years ago I was looking for a house in a specific area… She kept repeatedly contacting me about listings outside the area I was interested in…. These realtors are such scumbags. I rank them with used car salesmen and politicians.
As I keep saying, buyer's agents who are compensated as if they are seller's agents have a strong incentive to behave as if they work for the seller. Personally, I think the results have been terrible for the industry's reputation.
Anyway, I agree with many others here. Fire the agent immediately and look for another, and look long and hard. It is much harder to find a good buyer's agent than it is a seller's agents. Be sure to ask them how they get paid, and run very, very far away from anyone who claims their services are free to you, as this is extremely deceptive advertising. The reality is that you pay them indirectly through the seller, usually a percentage of the sales price -- exactly why many of them work to maximize that price. Try to find one willing to work for flat fee instead.
As I keep saying, buyer's agents who are compensated as if they are seller's agents have a strong incentive to behave as if they work for the seller. Personally, I think the results have been terrible for the industry's reputation.
Anyway, I agree with many others here. Fire the agent immediately and look for another, and look long and hard. It is much harder to find a good buyer's agent than it is a seller's agents. Be sure to ask them how they get paid, and run very, very far away from anyone who claims their services are free to you, as this is extremely deceptive advertising. The reality is that you pay them indirectly through the seller, usually a percentage of the sales price -- exactly why many of them work to maximize that price. Try to find one willing to work for flat fee instead.
(my bold emphasis added). That certainly has been my experience; the two sellers agents I have worked with over the years have been fine, no problems. I have worked with various buyers agents over the last 12 years however and the experience has been decidedly less positive.
Like I had mentioned the other day, the first agent I got back at the start of this summer was downright awful and unprofessional.....if there is one thing I can not stand it is a lack of professionalism and in the real estate world reputation is very important. The agent in question (I have now) is actually very nice, considerate except for the odd steering factor. The first agent this summer did not listen at all and was highly unprofessional.
I did get curious yesterday and looked her [the original agent] up on the broker's website. No mention of her now, no listings by her, nada. There are some blog entries mentioning her up into late July, thats it. She had "started back" with this broker back early this year. I guess bad behavior catches up with agents after a while, especially in a field where reputation is so important. I think how an agent treats a client in general is probably the most important factor in referrals and good reviews and therefore success.
Yikes, we keep getting the same thing from ours. We are finally telling ours what to show us..
I have been looking online myself on Redfin.com. It allows you to go in and favorite, and also (my fave part) X-Out the homes that you don't want to see show up on your list again. ALSO, it shows you the last amt that it sold for in the last 5-10 yrs, with those pix from that MLS listing.Realtor.com doesn't show you that. That allows you to compare what they did to the property since it transferred ownership. Pretty Snazzy...
Yikes, we keep getting the same thing from ours. We are finally telling ours what to show us..
I have been looking online myself on Redfin.com. It allows you to go in and favorite, and also (my fave part) X-Out the homes that you don't want to see show up on your list again. ALSO, it shows you the last amt that it sold for in the last 5-10 yrs, with those pix from that MLS listing.Realtor.com doesn't show you that. That allows you to compare what they did to the property since it transferred ownership. Pretty Snazzy...
Tell your buyers agent to get it together!
I only checked out Redfin yesterday after someone on here told me about it--it looks pretty neat.
The buyers' agent I am with now uses something similar it looks like, though not as sophisticated, called "mlspin.com" which is similar in terms of being able to see current assessment for taxes, when it was listed, etc....also rate, save, delete listings from your list, but not see some details like last sold price, date etc. (at least on any listings I have). Any I am really interested in I send agent an email and we discuss it in more detail..or on the phone as we have for a few of them so far.
The Redfin definitely looks more detailed in what is offered so thanks for pointing that out! I took one listing I am interested in and plugged it into it--a few more pictures of the inside are there which are not present on Realtor, etc. so cool
As I keep saying, buyer's agents who are compensated as if they are seller's agents have a strong incentive to behave as if they work for the seller. Personally, I think the results have been terrible for the industry's reputation.
Anyway, I agree with many others here. Fire the agent immediately and look for another, and look long and hard. It is much harder to find a good buyer's agent than it is a seller's agents. Be sure to ask them how they get paid, and run very, very far away from anyone who claims their services are free to you, as this is extremely deceptive advertising. The reality is that you pay them indirectly through the seller, usually a percentage of the sales price -- exactly why many of them work to maximize that price. Try to find one willing to work for flat fee instead.
I agree with this 100%. I would add however, that while I think the current buyer's agent compensation mechanism is major part of the problem, I don't think it is the entire problem. How agents define themselves and self identify is also a part of the problem. Many agent consider themselves to be only or primarily salespeople, so the service they offer to buyer's is sales, i.e. "I sell you a house," rather than actually acting in a purchasing/buying capacity.
Many states have changed the title on the license from salesperson to broker, agent or licensee, and expanded the definition of services the license specifies may be provided to include buying/purchasing services, yet the strong identification with the selling/sales side continues to exist. Unfortunately when combined with the current compensation mechanism, the "buyer's" agent is more often than should be really acts as a selling agent rather than a buying/purchasing agent. Just try to suggest on many real estate forums that an agent should be something more than a salesperson, or if they are representing buyer's as well as sellers that maybe a more neutral title is in order, and watch for the wrath and indignation from the real estate salespeople (it seems to be even worse if it is suggest by an agent, and in a state where the title on the license is still salesperson). My personal opinion is that agents that identify that strongly with the selling side of the transaction, should be offering services as "buyer's" agents. I also think it is probably worth trying to figure out as part of the selection process, you can't do much about the compensation mechanism if you buy an MLS listed property, but you can try to find an agent who is capable of acting on the buying/purchasing side of the transaction.
I had the same problem. I had to be more blunt about what my terms were about fixer upper. I finally got the results I wanted.
Everyone has their own definitions. It's best to sit down with them at first and go over all the details. How many floors, style house, age of house, sq ft, property size, location, etc..
Well today the agent sent me four new listings, two of which I had not seen before and one has only been on market for a week. Lovely places and definitely more in line with what I am wanting so I guess she is starting to listen more on that note. But this seems to be a common issue.
The new listing she sent is probably the most "on the mark" as I had explained last week to her again. Wonderful old farmhouse (built c.1795) on 3 mostly wooded acres, near town and main highway--even has a carriage house, currently used as a workshop/storage. Looks like it needs some care but certainly not a 'dump' by any means; the price is pretty good for what it is so I told agent that can be added to the list if it is still available in a month to look at.
When I list; I only use an agent that has been listing and moving homes, preferably close to the one I am selling. I used one I selected simply because she had the back, glossy page in the supermarket real estate magazine. She had it sold in less than a week for 15K more than another listing agent told me it was worth from the same company. Now for buyer's agents, my two best were college degreed rookies. Neither had lost their integrity, and both were eager to make a sale. Requests about specific properties were answered in a very timely fashion. Low ball offers were greeted with "I'll make any offer you want." Not, "I don't think........." In fact the neighbor at one of them was shocked to find out that I was able to get my unit for 5K less than what his agent wouldn't offer.
I would add however, that while I think the current buyer's agent compensation mechanism is major part of the problem, I don't think it is the entire problem. How agents define themselves and self identify is also a part of the problem. Many agent consider themselves to be only or primarily salespeople, so the service they offer to buyer's is sales, i.e. "I sell you a house," rather than actually acting in a purchasing/buying capacity.
Well, I believe the commission compensation is the reason so many self-identify as a salesperson. After all, the ones that act to maximize their commission will generally earn more than the ones that do not under this system, and the ones that earn less are less likely to stay in this business. But I guess we can't really find out for sure unless they ever change the system. I'm not holding my breath, but maybe if they lose enough market share to Redfin and the Internet.
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