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When I have wanted to buy a house I have looked for myself, online or driving around and then went to see those houses I had selected, with an agent. My latest house I saw online in WV while Living in CA. in this case I called the listing agent and went through them. My husband flew back to WV for one day to make sure the place was not falling down or anything else obvious, and made a full price offer that same day.
I have also accompanied my sister in looking for property here on Cape Cod, when she has been out here, [the Cape] visiting. In these cases we were shown mostly homes of the agents choosing and none of them came close to what she was looking for.
I would NEVER go to an agent and say I want a five bedroom house with three baths on a corner lot, etc. and wait to see what they want to show me. To me the agent is there as an escort, [the quieter the better] and to do the paper work efficiently. Sorry not meaning to offend any of the agents here but that is how I feel about it.
Access the MLS yourself and visit open houses on your own. You know yourself best and when ready, reach out to an agent. Always respond yes when asked if you are working with an agent.
This is an interesting thread - and an eye-opener. Are you who are agents saying anyone can show and sell any property even though the sign out front says a certain company or a certain agent is handling the sale? Say I see a house listed for sale somewhere, I can call any agent I want to call to find out about that house? I'm not limited to who posted the sale ad?
Just because it's my listing, doesn't mean all buyers have to come to me (of course I'd like that ).
Many buyers go out with one agent once they have established a trusting relationship and work only with him or her, regardless of whose listing they are viewing.
Ooops, sorry for the duplication. Didn't read all the threads in between :-(
Last edited by Elke Mariotti; 02-11-2014 at 11:58 AM..
Access the MLS yourself and visit open houses on your own. You know yourself best and when ready, reach out to an agent. Always respond yes when asked if you are working with an agent.
Visiting open houses would get you into a very small percentage of the inventory available here.
What is the advantage for a buyer to arbitrarily limit their selection like that?
I would NEVER go to an agent and say I want a five bedroom house with three baths on a corner lot, etc. and wait to see what they want to show me. To me the agent is there as an escort, [the quieter the better] and to do the paper work efficiently. Sorry not meaning to offend any of the agents here but that is how I feel about it.
I don't agree with you one bit.
A really good agent is not a chauffeur.
I would expect a really good agent to get to know me a bit, listen to my criteria, find out my qualifications and show me some houses I saw online that I wanted to see. But I would be welcome to other recommendations and would be flexible to hearing about other properties. If the properties they picked were too far away from what I had in mind (isolated in the middle of the woods when I wanted a vibrant town, etc.) and they did not shift gears I would question whether I was working with the right person.
I would hope that they knew the inventory by first hand experience rather than what was on the website. If I could not afford the town of first choice, they would be able to recommend a similar more affordable town.
With customers like you, no wonder some of them have become passive.
When I have wanted to buy a house I have looked for myself, online or driving around and then went to see those houses I had selected, with an agent. My latest house I saw online in WV while Living in CA. in this case I called the listing agent and went through them. My husband flew back to WV for one day to make sure the place was not falling down or anything else obvious, and made a full price offer that same day.
I have also accompanied my sister in looking for property here on Cape Cod, when she has been out here, [the Cape] visiting. In these cases we were shown mostly homes of the agents choosing and none of them came close to what she was looking for.
I would NEVER go to an agent and say I want a five bedroom house with three baths on a corner lot, etc. and wait to see what they want to show me. To me the agent is there as an escort, [the quieter the better] and to do the paper work efficiently. Sorry not meaning to offend any of the agents here but that is how I feel about it.
Every buyer is different and has different needs and desires as to how they want to conduct their search....nothing wrong with that! I've had plenty of buyers like that.
However, we typically do a little more than just escort.......
I would expect a really good agent to get to know me a bit, listen to my criteria, find out my qualifications and show me some houses I saw online that I wanted to see. But I would be welcome to other recommendations and would be flexible to hearing about other properties. If the properties they picked were too far away from what I had in mind (isolated in the middle of the woods when I wanted a vibrant town, etc.) and they did not shift gears I would question whether I was working with the right person.
I would hope that they knew the inventory by first hand experience rather than what was on the website. If I could not afford the town of first choice, they would be able to recommend a similar more affordable town.
With customers like you, no wonder some of them have become passive.
Part of that is definitely true...LISTENING to the client.
But some clients are like him, and that's ok. I always tell my clients that I am like their "soldier"....when they give me my marching orders, I march. Some buyers need much more guidance and want more guidance that others.....every one is different. We custom tailor our services to the wishes of the client.
Anyone who refers to legal documents as "Paperwork" to be done efficiently by a deaf dumb and blind person, because of "feelings" needs an agent. Or a legal guardian.
And I'm not offended. Just my "thoughts." "Thinking" is a GOOD habit.
Part of that is definitely true...LISTENING to the client.
But some clients are like him, and that's ok. I always tell my clients that I am like their "soldier"....when they give me my marching orders, I march. Some buyers need much more guidance and want more guidance that others.....every one is different. We custom tailor our services to the wishes of the client.
When your client misses a material defect or fact, would you mention it even though you were ordered to keep your trap shut?
Would your E&O company prefer you mention what you see that the client did not notice?
There are some buyers who just cannot articulate what it is they're looking for.
When I was an agent, I dealt with a number of relo's.....from the Northeast.......and I was in the desert southwest. My clients' frame of reference was much different from what they were seeing in the market.
I was getting a little frustrated so I asked one couple at lunch to draw me a picture...........they drew your typical central hall shingled colonial.......to them.....that meant HOME, not the "H" plan stucco ranches, the two story spanish revivals or the mission brick splanches.
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