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My sister was going to sell her home and decided to do with FSBO, listed her home on MLS, had a real estate attorney. She did get some traffic (her home in a desirable area on a dead end quiet street, really nice home) She mostly had individuals not with an agent come to view home. She was horribly harassed by agents who wanted her to sign up to be her agent. She relented a bit with one agent who wanted to show her home to some buyers who were looking for a home, but made it clear to him she is not hiring him to be her agent. Shortly thereafter he started threatening her that must sign with him because he showed her home to some of his buyers, even threatened to sue her. She called her lawyer and was told that to report him to the state license for realtor. She had proof of harassment from a letter and voice mail. She didn't bother has too much in her life to keep her busy but did call the real estate company and complained and sent a copy of letter and emailed the voice recording. She never heard from him again.
She found out that this type of blacklist is common. Agents are strongly discouraged to bring to or point out FSBO homes to pressure owner to go with a realtor, even have specific agents to hard sell FSBO into signing up, apparently even to the point of harassment and threats.
So just to let buyers shopping for homes. Look yourself without your agents at FSBO homes. You may miss something that your agent is basically forbidden to show you because of pressure from their home real estate office.
You do realize that your home is not listed on multiple listing services unless you sign up with an agent or a company that will list your home, right? So you yourself are limiting your market. No one is forcing you to do that. It is a very short-sighted, uneducated way to attempt to sell your home (including liabilities you don't even know about).
She did pay for the MLS listing and had an attorney who specializes in real estate. You could look online at her home, had pictures she took herself, which were as good as any other listing with pictures taken professionally. She has a really nice camera with fancy lenses, not cell phone pictures. The home showed up on Zillow and every other MLS source in the area. Also had a friend with a drone that took video from above. She didn't go about this haphazardly. She was told by someone she knew that had been in the business that is what's done, you get blacklisted and agents are warned about not dealing with FSBO listing as a way to preserve their livelihood and force FSBO to sign up with a agent. As evidence to the hardsell agent they sent to harass her, it was really bad.
Not so 2bindenver. She paid a fee and was listed as FSBO on MLS. It won't show as being listed with such-n-such realtors but is listed. I could easily find her home under the city she was in, in the price range. She did get individuals who viewed home on MLS when they came and they were not with a agent.
Last edited by Izzie1213; 09-04-2017 at 02:14 PM..
I've been an agent since 2005 and worked for three different agencies. I have never been directed to avoid FSBO or limited service broker properties and I've never heard of any other agent being so directed. I can believe that your sister had a bad interaction with a jerk agent but it doesn't make sense to me that an agent would pressure her to list with him if she was already listed with a limited service brokerage which, based on your post, I assume she was since she had her property on the MLS. Even with a limited service brokerage, there are stiff penalties for trying to "steal" a listing....as there should be.
I can't speak for other locations but I don't believe there is any sort of blacklisting going on. However, if she was offering a lower co-broke commission and/or made it difficult to show and/or wasn't priced right and/or the photos were amateurish and/or the description indicated a seller who had unrealistic expectations or demands....or anything along those lines...that might explain the lack of showings more than a perceived "blacklist" would. Mostly, though, I think agents working with buyers prefer the path of least resistance and prefer whenever possible to deal with another professional on the other side because, between the two agents, there is a much greater likelihood that the deal will close and the buyer will be happy. It's not really rocket science.
Not so 2bindenver. She paid a fee and was listed as FSBO on MLS. It won't show as being listed with such-n-such realtors but is listed. I could easily find her home under the city she was in, in the price range. She did get individuals who viewed home on MLS when they came and they were not with a agent.
MLS stands for multiple LISTING service. Your sister signed a listing agreement. Sometimes they are limited service agreements, but she signed an agreement with a brokerage.
meh. I've been shown houses that were FSBO's by 3 of my 4 past Realtors. I even put in an offer on one (the owner agreed to pay her a reduced commission - like 2% or something or other). The owner stubbornly refused to budge on his price, and we saw that it was foreclosed on just a few years later.
Why. Didn't want to pay a selling agent. They, my sister and her husband put a lot of blood sweat and tears into the home, built it themselves, literally. The had hired out foundation builders, the roof rafters and shingles the rest they finished themselves. He did home building when younger and really a jack of all trades type of guy. Really amazing work. Did 2x6 framing instead of 2x4, extra deep basement all high quality stuff through house. So after 20 or so years bought a smaller simpler home and rehabbed that and plans on moving there, daughter out of house etc. Figured they would show the home themselves and save paying a realtor.
After dealing with unscrupulous agents trying to get them to sign with them their daughter talked them into staying and renting out the other home. I guess they can thank the cruddy agents for that too. In the end they are happy.
We have been around for a while and always check out any FSBO that is in our normal area that we come across. We determine what conditions the owner is looking for. If it should fit a client we tell them about it and ask our buyer to agree to cover at least a minimal commission. If it is workable we may settle for a commission from the buyer and seller for running the deal. Never failed so far with mostly the FSBO agreeing to pay an acceptable commission. A little more work than a normal deal and you end up in one of those places where you can't represent anybody.
We do warn sellers that a low buyer's agent commission may lower showings. Fact of life. Buyer's agents will move low commission listings to the back of the pile.
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