Disaster Agents

You hear horrific stories about some real estate agents, painting Realtors in a bad light. Those agents are not every agent, and not all of us are bad humans looking out for our own interests. Some of us truly are looking out for our clients' best interests and work our butts off to make sure you're happy!

These are all things I have experienced, heard and seen in the FM.

#1 - More worried about the sale then their client's interest.

I recently heard a horror story of something like this happening. The instance was a realtor trying to push their client to still buy a house after a horrific home inspection report and convince them it's okay when it clearly needed to be tended to or negotiated and was going to cost their client a good chunk of money after closing. I have also heard horror stories of agents pushing their clients to offer higher on a home than necessary so they can get more money out the deal. (There were a couple times the agents were sued and had to pay the difference.)

#2 - Not good at checking their emails or being hands on during a sale.

This one breaks my heart; it's too often you see agents that are not responsive or hands on with their clients. I can't count on two hands the number of times I've reached out to an agent with by buyers' questions or troubles getting into the home with no response. Or reaching out to an agent that has multiple agents helping them, which is fine until it becomes unorganized and chaotic for your client.

One horrific example and a true situation that happened recently including myself, a buyer client of mine, and a very well-known broker agent. My buyer and I looked at a home and had afterwards given the agent a heads up that we would be putting in an offer and I'd get it to them that afternoon. I emailed over the offer that afternoon, and called the agent leaving a voicemail to let them know it was sent. I saw that evening that the listing had been pended and called for an update. It turns out that this agent did not present my offer nor look at it. My client's offer was $10,000 over the other offer, this agent had just lost their client $10,000.

#3 - Using their phone when taking listing pictures.

Every time I see terrible listing pictures it makes me cringe a bit, online pictures are typically the first thing a buyer sees of a home and what gets their attention leaving them wanting to see more. I always use my own Nikon 7500 or if I am unable to do my own pictures hire a professional photographer. Some agents are trying to save money and not spend money when listing a home, but I believe what you put into it will come back out of it.

#4- Purposely sending their clients expensive homes after seeing how much they were approved for even when they are only wanting a lesser expensive home.

I have actually gained clients from situations like these. One example being a couple that was pre-approved with the dad for a co-signer. With the dad being a co-signer, their pre-approval amount went from $220,000 to $800,000. Their previous agent was sending them houses towards the 800 instead of the 200 that they were requesting, this resulted in them cancelling their contract with the agent and how I gained a client.

#5 - Not doing their research when helping clients.

Part of a realtor's job is to research for you, to make sure you're not getting yourself into a bad situation. Some examples of realtors helping clients blindly and not benefiting them the best they could, are not doing research on remodel projects and looking for permits, not thoroughly looking through the home and disclosures, looking into neighborhoods and the covenants especially if the buyer is wanting to add a shed or fence to the property, doing research on builders and their contracts (some builders have hidden fees and stipulations in their contracts), if they know their client is concerned about crime sending them a crime map, and the list goes on. Always hold your realtor accountable and make sure you ask them for information or things you are curious about, it's our job!

#6 - Disclosing information that should and should not be shared in a sale to get a leg up.

It has unfortunately happened to me in the buying my own home, where the owner and agent did not disclose the flooding in the basement and the source of its problem. The first spring in the home my basement flooded and when attending to it I noticed the wood being water damaged and the carpet being stained from previous flooding. I re-looked at the disclosures to see if I had missed anything, there was nothing disclosed. I reached out MY agent and they had forgot to disclose it to me that there was an issue with flooding and convinced me to not take action. This was before I had my license so I was naive and looking back I definitely could and should have taken action. In this situation both my agent and the seller's agent were aware of the issue and did not disclose it to me. My guess is they just wanted the sale to close.

I have had agents ghost me and my buyer when I have asked questions about bracing and the last time it was turned, or why past offers fell through.

I have also seen times where agents have shared personal information and information that could compromise the seller/buyer without their consent. An example being that you are going through a divorce and desperate to sell - giving buyers and their agents a hint that you will take a lower offer. Mostly agents would do this because they want a fast sale and to get quick money from it, some even go as far as convincing their clients the low offers are the best they'll get and should accept.

"No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in success of those under him."

#7 - Not going the extra mile.

For example, I had a listing where my client had moved out of town when it went live. It was summer and twice I went over and mowed the lawn, so it looked presentable for buyers. I have gone and changed lightbulbs, vacuumed, helped clean, and made sure the garbage went out on garbage day to make sure it was buyer and showing ready. I have also moved stuff around the house such as boxes and furniture during pictures, helped paint walls, decorate, and taken the dog during showings. The list goes on, but I won't bore you any longer. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and what you get in a realtors. Some realtors think that once they get a listing or buyer client that now that they've secured the client there is no longer a need to be extra.

TIP: Make sure when signing contracts with an agent you check to see if there is a cancellation clause. If you are not happy with your realtor, you should not be forced to work with them. Cancel and find a realtor who does go the extra mile. Don't let yourself become a horrific story!

#8 - Not being brutally honest and transparent with their clients.

I've sadly seen this in the FM mostly when agents just want a deal to work and close. Some examples of this would be not being brutally honest about an inspection report or pointing out things they notice during a walk through that they know will pop up on an inspection report, not being honest on things that are hitting their life end and will need to be replaced meaning cost money, being honest on what they can afford and showing them homes out of their price range. Part of being an agent is having those hard conversations, another example being when a seller wants to list his house overpriced and instead of the agent not giving you their professional opinion on where the price should be, they list it overpriced and it gets zero attention. You then have to lower the price and try to salvage your exposure and days on market. Not being honest and transparent only leads to miscommunication and in my opinion is not helping the client to the best of your abilities.

#9 - During the building process caring for the builders needs more than their clients.

I've sadly seen it where agents push buyers to do the upgrades they cannot afford or aren't hand on during the building process. There are a lot of meetings and walkthroughs when building, and in my opinion your realtor should be along to everyone! In reality a builder wants to build you an amazing house and wants you to make upgrades making your home unique to you, BUT they also don't want to get to the closing table and not be able to afford to home you just built. This is also why it's so important to work with a realtor when building, it puts someone on your side looking out for your interests and helps you navigate through upgrades and being realistic.

#10 - Not taking their time putting together a listing.

A listing of a house for sale is typically the first thing buyers see and how they find a house they'd like to see more of or in person. Listing pictures, the description, having all the proper documents uploaded, correct specials, taxes and home details, inclusions and exclusions listed, and amenities listed. All of these details are super important to peak buyers interests and to not set the seller up for failure.

#11 - Taking things from vacant homes.

There have been agents who have taken things that were left in homes without their client's knowledge, examples of ones I've heard in the FM being a hot tub and snowblower.

Diamond in the rough

Some realtors give us a bad name, but I promise we are not all bad and some of us are actually very good at our jobs and make our clients #1 priority looking out for their best interests. A client's happiness should lead to a realtor's happiness.

Note: If you have been stuck in a bad situation, don't be afraid to report the realtor.