The Vine: August 10, 2007
Hey Sars,
I’m buying my first home and I wanted to ask you a question about real estate etiquette. My real estate agent is a nice person who hasn’t put any pressure on me at all and has given me good advice, but she also hasn’t been finding me any houses herself or telling me anything about the houses that I don’t know. I’ve looked extensively on realtor.com and Yahoo’s real estate page and I definitely feel like I know more about the area and the houses than she does. I recently told her that I wanted to see more houses in the one development and gave her two street names that I saw had houses for sale. She told me that they may have sold, so she needed exact addresses! Isn’t that her job?! I gave her a long list of addresses that I wanted to see, but I feel that I may be missing a good find that I wouldn’t know about since I’m not a real estate agent.
So what should I do? Am I allowed to dump her now after she’s shown me houses or is that bad etiquette? And what if want to buy a house she’s shown me after I use someone else, what do I do then? I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know how it works.
Can I get the commission then?
Dear Commish,
The agent works on a commission; she’s supposed to earn said commission by doing things that you can’t, or doing them better.She’s not doing that, and she can’t reasonably expect to get any money out of a prospective transaction because you feel bad for her or uncomfortable about telling her to get on the stick.
Or maybe she can, since you seem unsure enough about finding another realtor that she might just get by with it.Maybe she has before, I don’t know, and I also don’t know enough about real estate in terms of buying and selling to tell you what her percentage is or whether you’ve obligated yourself in some way to this woman or her company.The readers can weigh in, but my feeling is that you need to have a talk with her at the very least, to wit: “This is uncomfortable for me, but buying a house is a major transaction, so I really can’t just let this go, and the fact is, I don’t feel like you’re as well informed as you should be about prospective properties — and you haven’t informed me about any.I need a realtor who understands my parameters and is industrious about finding houses that fit them.”
Whether you want this conversation to be a “please work harder or I’ll move on” warning, or an “I’m moving on, thanks for your ‘help’ so far” thing, is up to you.I think some people do just want the realtor to stand silently buy while they think out loud, and then hold their hands a bit during escrow, and for those people, your realtor is probably a fine, inobtrusive partner who isn’t imposing her tastes on them, but if she’s not working for you, she’s not working for you.And she’s supposed to be working for you, literally.
Readers, please weigh in, as I’m used to the rental market (and to being basically held up for the 15 percent by the broker as a cost of doing business in this metro area whether s/he does anything or not) and may not know the etiquette here…but it’s not an etiquette problem so much as a customer service problem, to my mind.
Tags: Ask The Readers etiquette retail
I think you should have a conversation with her along the lines of what Sars suggested. She is working on commission and should be working harder to earn her money. You are not married to her, and if she is not doing her job you are free to move on. I live in Texas and we do not have any sort of contract with either the realtor or the company they work for while we are in the “looking stage”. They are independent agents working on commission, even if they are attached to a company. They work for you, the buyer. She should talk to you extensively to understand what you are looking for, what neighbourhoods you desire, they type of house, school district, proximity to work, etc., and show you everything that is available in that area within $50,00 up or down from your budget. She should also have pre-qualified you for funding, so in case you find the perfect house, you have a solid bargaining chip when making an offer.
I’ve only bought and sold one house and the same realtor handled both transactions. She was great and I was lucky to find her. Sometimes it can take months to find the right home for you and they should be willing to put in all that work with a smile and take you to see as many houses as you want. You should feel free to suggest places you want to look at, and then she should take your suggestions and come up with a list of several similar places within say 10 miles of that for you to look at as well. Proactive is key with a realtor. She should not be expecting a commission to drop into her lap with little or no work. She should be doing homework based on what she knows are your preferences are and if she hasn’t taken you out to look for a couple of days, she should be calling you with a list of places she wants to show you to keep you interested.
I think you need to find a new agent who’s willing to work for her money. When we were shopping for our house, our agent took down a list of areas we’d like to live in, the square footage we were hoping for, and the prices we could afford, and then she printed out a list of possibilities. In some cases she even drove us to the house. When we were preparing to close, she brought in an inspector who noticed EVERYTHING that the builder needed to fix before the sale, and she was able to tell us how our house compared to other houses in the same area and price-range. The whole point of having a real estate agent is that you believe it will be worth the extra money to have the agent do a lot of the work. Otherwise, you just do the work yourself and save some cash.
I’ve only bought/sold houses in Canada, but this may still apply. If you haven’t signed a contract with your agent, you should be able to just move on. If you have a contract, she gets the commission no matter who does the work for the length of the contract. You are allowed to try out agents, and if she’s not meeting your needs, you don’t have to stay with her. I’d look for someone who works in the area you are interested in, who maybe is selling some of the houses you want to look at. Or talk to people you know who have bought/sold in the area. Being happy with your agent is really important for such a big purchase/commitment — you don’t want to have any regrets later.
When I bought a house, my realtor did searches based on the areas we were looking at and price range and sent us groups of properties for us to pick from for showings. He sent us the information on the properties that was only supposed to be for the eyes of the realtors. He gave us his opinion on the properties and what he thought resale would be like. He wasn’t as helpful on advice for the actual price negotiations, but I think there are some legal reasons why that was. In other words, you can do better, and if you want a realtor who will be a consultant to you, they are out there, and will do far more to earn their commission than this woman. Her time spent with you so far is part of the cost of doing business–as Sars said, it may not be that she’s a bad agent, she just isn’t the right agent for you. Give her the chance to become so, if you want, but don’t feel too bad about “breaking up” with her–the last thing you want to do is spend the next however many years wondering if you missed The Perfect House because your agent couldn’t get off her ass and help you out the way you want.
When my husband and I bought a house, we didn’t use a realtor while we were looking. We used the realty companies’ websites, looked in the paper, etc. We used a realtor when we were actually purchasing, because we had no idea what was going on and it helped to have someone there who did. I feel a “Thank you for your help, I think I’m going to continue on my own” conversation would be the way to go. She should already be doing her best, and you know what you want better than anyone else, so I’d say start looking on your own. And if she gets pissy about it, lie and say you’ve changed your mind about buying. Then start looking on your own. She’ll live, and you’ll be happier.
House-hunting is exciting. We didn’t want to share it with anyone else, and that made our discovery of the house we now live in to be even better, because we did it on our own.
Hi,
I’m replying to the article recently written about whether or not to dump your underachieving real estate agent. I too, am having the same exact problem… except my real estate agent is my aunt. I have actually found more houses myself than what she has found for me, and she lost me a sale on a perfect house due to her lack of motivation. I have come to the point where I have given her more than enough chances, but haven’t had any results. I am actually going to use a more agressive realtor, one that I feel has more knowledge and drive to find me a house that I want. I’m really glad to have run into this article, and I really think if your realtor isn’t working for you, they don’t deserve the commision.
It all depends on whether or not you’ve signed a contract with that realtor (or the realtor’s agency), and, if you have, what the terms of the contract are. If you haven’t, then feel free to drop her like a hot rock.
Oh, the realtor totally needs to be doing more work. When I bought my first house I would send my realtor some houses I wanted to see from realtor.com, but she would have a huge list of OTHER houses in the neighborhood that I didn’t even know about. I ended up buying the perfect house – that she found for me. And this wasn’t even in a part of the city that she normally worked in. In general, if she finds you a house, she’ll be making anywhere from 3 to 6% – depending on if she sells you one of her own listings or not. That can be big bucks – and she needs to work for it. I’d move on – she doesn’t seem too interested in helping you out. There are other realtors out there who would bend over backwards to help you – and if you don’t know her personally, you have no obligation to her whatsoever. Move on.
I agree. You are focused on the wrong issue. The question is not one of etiquette but rather what legal relationship, if any, you have entered into with this woman. The question is, have you signed a contract for her services? If you have, then you need to read the terms because that will answer your questions about what you can do at this point as far as ending the relationship and if you have agreed to any limitations with respect to the properties you might purchase.
All that being said, and I can be accused of the same thing, you need to stop being so concerned about being nice in this situation. Train yourself to think about these things as strictly a business transaction. You should not be worried about hurting her feelings when it is ultimatley your financial future that could suffer because of her.
Did she sign a contract with this realtor? If she signed a contract, she’s not allowed to use another realtor until the terms of the contract are up. And is this a buyer’s realtor? Some realtors specialize in buyers, some in sellers, and some in both.
Anyway, if she didn’t sign a contract, then she’s free to find a new realtor immediately. When calling new realtors, she should get recommendations from people she knows, and ask potential realtors about their philosophy. When we were buying our house, I wanted someone who would response quickly to my emails but I didn’t need a lot of handholding — I would find the listings online and then email the realtor and ask for the details from the MLS, and then do a driveby, and then email my realtor to set up a showing if I was still interested. Some people like more handholding, and some need more help figuring out what they want.
In other words, realtors are different, and have different philosophies, and you need to find one whose philosophy matches yours. As long as you’re not tied into a contract.
You need to tell her you expect more. She sounds like a slacker to me.
I didn’t even have my own agent – I found my house online & just used the listing agent. The previous owners nearly sold to someone else, but because the agent was getting the whole commission, he really pushed for me & I got the house I love. When the furnace failed inspection, the previous owners asked if I’d cover half the cost. When I said nuh-uh, that agent paid for half my furnace. Yay!
Do you have any sort of contract with her? Do you HAVE to use her for a set period of time? If not, it sounds to me as though you’d do better without her!
Aren’t you glad she’s not your doctor or something? Sheesh!
There is a real estate agent who works as part of our office, and since he is close to retirement age and can’t use a computer/fax/copier, I do a fair bit of real estate-related work for him.
There is a large online real estate listing site for agents only, and giving this agent a street or complex name should mean that she can print out an entire list of all the properties therein, as well as their status (sold, on deposit, etc). She’s just being lazy.
The usual commission to an agent is 2-3%. It sounds like Commish has done well more than her share of the work, and is well within her rights at this time to drop this crappy agent pronto.
Commish,
Your agent is working for commission; i.e. no buy, no pay. It sucks to feel like you are leaving her twisting in the wind if you change agents, but You are the one who needs a house. She is not finding you one – find another agent. There is no contract as a buyer until you choose a house. Be thankfu that you did not hook up with this lady while selling a house; been there, done that, got the T-shirt. A good real estate agent is like a good GYN; find someone you click with and y’all will find the right place together.
I just bought a house — or, actually, will have bought a house once we settle on Aug. 31. My realtor called recently to say, “We did it! We did it!” And I was all, “We did it!” too until I stopped and asked, “We?”
She signed us up for a periodic email list. My partner and I did all of our own footwork as far as finding houses. When we found a house that we wanted (which happened to be the first house we saw), she was able to get us inside it — but then spent the first 10 minutes of our time in the house telling us about her crappy day at work. (She’s a realtor on the side.) Once inside, she wasn’t able to give us any kind of tour; she seemed as surprised about things inside the house as we were.
Later, when we asked about things like the neighborhood and stuff, she said that she was “ethically unable to give [us] any of that information,” since what might be “unsafe” to us might not be unsafe to her, “and vice-a verse-a.” I hate it when it’s pronounced “vice-a verse-a.”
When we made the offer, she was only able to negotiate down $3k from the asking price. And I find that I’m the one having to do most of the follow-up; she’s been very little help going forward in this process.
I’ve LJ-ed Sarah’s entry to let you know that you can break up with your realtor if she’s not doing the job you expect her to do. Especially if you haven’t yet signed a contract with her. And even if you have, you can break up with her in writing.
Don’t get stuck with a crappy realtor. You’re about to incur too much debt.
Hi, I recently bought a condo and was lucky enough to work with a great realtor. I told her what I wanted, what neighborhoods I was interested in and she took care of the rest, thanks to the resources of the multiple listing service to which realtors have access. She found me what I wanted, negotiated with the buyer and answered all my questions about the process and insurance and everything else. That’s what a realtor should be doing for you. If she is not, you should find a new one.
It really depends on the state you live in and whether you signed a contract. I signed a contract with my realtor (because in the state of Maryland, without that contract, she would have been the buyer’s agent for any property she showed me regardless of whether she had ever met the buyer). However, it was for a set period of time and had a reasonable out clause, that basically only required some written notice that I wanted to break the contract.
So if you didn’t sign anything, you should at least have the discussion so that she can understand why you are leaving and that should cover the “etiquette” of the situation, but you don’t have an actual commitment. If you have a contract, review your out clause.
I’m in California and in the real estate industry. Not sure how much it varies in other states, but just being shown properties by an agent out here does not mean you are obligated to that agent. The Buyer did not mention signing any paperwork with this agent, so there is no contractual reason to keep working with the agent. If the Buyer purchases a home with another agent that was originally shown to him or her by the previous agent, than the previous agent may be able to argue for a cut of the commission. That argument would be between the two agents involved, however, not the Buyer. The Buyer isn’t the one who pays the commission, that is paid by the Seller out of the purchase price. The Buyer needs to stop wasting his or her time with a bad agent- there are plenty of good agents out there that will offer much better service and will truly earn their commission. Also, the Buyer is not entitled to the commission in any case, as you need to be a licensed real estate agent. The Buyer could go into a deal without an agent and submit an offer less the amount of commission owed to the Buyer’s agent, but I would not recommend that at all. A good agent is invaluable in the buying process, and will make sure that a novice client such as this one will be aware of all the issues involved in the purchase of a home. The bottom line is that this will be the most expensive purchase you will ever make. Do you really feel comfortable with this agent giving you advice on that purchase? Don’t allow your hesitation of confronting the agent on her incompetence cost you potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Interview at least three agents- pick the top producers at established agencies. Go with the experienced agents that do a lot of business, but are still small enough to give you the personalized attention that you deserve. There are a lot of bad agents out there, and from your description this agent is one of them.
My husband and I recently bought a house, and we had to sign a contract with our real estate agent. I don’t remember all the details, but I believe we had to give her 30 days notice if we wanted to “fire” her, and if we found a house on our own – such as going to an open house without her – and ended up buying it, we were responsible for paying her commission out of our own pockets, whereas normally the seller pays the commission for both real estate agents. Be sure to read anything you’ve already signed and make sure there are no unpleasant consequences before you do anything.
My friend is the one who’s buying a property, so take my secondhand information with the required salt. She found herself in the same situation, unhappy with her realtor, and had no problems dumping the realtor for a new one. There were no penalties to her for doing so. Unless Commish signed some sort of contract with this person, I don’t see why they shouldn’t at least give the “shape up, or I’m out” speech if not just find a new agent. If you went to a hairstylist who handed you her scissors and combs, would you feel bad about finding a new one?
A note about “who gets the commission” – I once bought a couch after having it shown to me about four times. Who got the commission when I finally bought it? The guy, who I’d never seen before, who happened to be there that day and was the first person available to help me. And that wasn’t even “the previous salespeople sucked”, they just weren’t physically present… and they lost out. If your realtor isn’t cutting the mustard, and you are later being helped by someone else, I would think that guy gets the commission, not your original girl. Why pay her a fee for sucking and shaft the guy that actually helped you?
When we bought our house here in Texas a few months ago, we had to sign a contract ahead of time, saying that our realtor would be our realtor for the next 5 months or so. Which is to say we couldn’t switch, even if he sucked.
He sort of sucked in the search stage — I did all the looking on the web and found houses to look at, so he wasn’t really helpful on that front. He did, though, have a good amount of insight about the neighborhoods we were looking at, and he was able to pick out really obvious problems with the houses, like signs of foundation problems or leaks. He was an excellent negotiator, as well; he convinced the sellers to accept our first offer.
We couldn’t have taken care of the whole transaction on our own, so even though our realtor didn’t do the best job at finding our house, he did an excellent job later on.
I work in the investment industry, so, I don’t know the details about the real estate industry, but I do know about brokers in general. What it boils down to, is that you’re paying for something and if you’re not getting it, you shouldn’t have to pay for it. If a client of ours didn’t like the service we provide, it is their choice to pick up and take their account somewhere else. The firm will charge a minimal standard transfer fee to do this (and something similar might apply in the real estate industry). And as a consumer, if I’m paying for something and not getting what I want, I will take my business elsewhere, restaurants, hotels, shopping, salons.
Sorry I can’t help out with any actual regulations concerning this matter.
If you haven’t signed a contract with her that states she is representing your interests as the buyer, she is not working for you. She will be receiving her commission from the seller, even if she is not the listing agent for the property. This works through a little publicized concept known as “subagency,” whereby the agent who brings in the buyer (the “selling agent”) is acting as a “subagent” of the listing agent. Both the selling agent and the listing agent get a cut of the commission paid by the seller when the sale closes. Thus, the agent isn’t really motivated to show you any houses that aren’t listed by the broker heading up her firm.
Get yourself a buyer’s agent. Ask your prospective agent for references before you sign a contract, and then call those references. Once you sign a contract, there may be financial consequences for ditching it early, unless you can demonstrate that the agent failed in their fiduciary duties. A buyer’s agent will actually work for your best interests, because they don’t get paid until you buy a house. Usually, you don’t end up paying anything extra in the transaction. When your agent, as the buyer’s agent, refuses the offer of subagency from the listing agent, they can usually come to an accommodation about changing the listing agent’s commission and/or the house price so that the seller still receives the same amount at closing, and the listing agent receives as much as they would have working with a subagent.
Forget about etiquette here – that’s not the issue. This is a business deal. Get an agent who has a fiduciary duty to you, the buyer. You can find a buyer’s agent for your area using Google. Good luck!
I’ve gone through two real estate transactions (well, two buying, one selling), and here’s how I see it: when I was looking for a place to buy, I told my agent my “must haves” and neighborhood preferences, she threw a ton of options at me, pointed out the pros and cons of each, I weeded through them, and we kept doing that until we found the place that I wanted. Her job was to give me options and advice, and I needed her advice because I don’t have time to learn everything I need to know about real estate.
More to the point of your question, people do drop agents and pick up agents and move around as they go through this process. It’s expected/understood. My real estate agent mentioned to me once that she has had clients that she’ll spend two months showing places to every weekend, and then never hear from them again, and that’s just how it goes. It doesn’t annoy her, it’s par for the course. Real Esate agents play the numbers, and there is never an expectation that just because houses are being shown a deal will be made. I think as long as you handle it with a degree of professionalism, there is nothing to be concerned with here.
I wouldn’t be afraid to tell this agent that it’s not working out. I hate confrontation as much as the next girl, but I also hate giving someone thousands of dollars for sub par services, so… yeah. Real estate is a major business transaction, but it’s also a major emotional one, and personalities have a lot to do with it. There’s no shame in saying “Yeah, this partnership just isn’t working out. Thank you for your time”
In both markets where I bought houses, you’re not commited to a realtor (as a buyer) until you put an offer on a house.
I agree with Sars. It can certainly be helpful for you to send your realtor specific listings you want to look at, but once you’ve given her an idea of what you’re looking for (say, a three-bedroom on the east-side, where you’re particularly interested in neighborhood x), it’s her job to keep an eye out for houses you’d like. She should be calling you up to say a new place just went on the market in neighborhood x, not asking you to check MLS for her!
Your agent should definitely be finding houses for you (if that’s what you want her to do). I was really busy while house hunting and my agent previewed most of the houses that she took me to—aka, she found the listings and then went in person to check it out before dragging me all over. I would say that you should talk to her and tell her that she needs to look for houses for you and confirm that she knows what you want. If she doesn’t change her ways satisfactorily, I would switch realtors.
Some people start house hunting and give up–the realtor gets nothing from them (except perhaps future business recommendations). I’m not a realtor, but I would say its part of the business.
If you get a new realtor and want a house you saw with the old realtor…I’m not sure on that. I guess I would ask yet another realtor (someone who works in a different location so they wouldn’t be tempted to try and poach you).
When I was buying my condo ten years ago, my realtor sent me packets in the mail pratically every day (this was the olden days, before we did it all online) with info about places in my price range and preferred neighborhoods. She called me like, every other day, and set up tons of showings. You need a new agent, stat. You don’t owe her anything.
One of the key questions in this scenerio is whether Commish signed any agreement with her realtor says that she would work only with her for a set amount of time. While this is usually done on the listing end, sometimes it’s also done on the showing end, so be sure you’re not going to be in violation of anything if you drop her. That said, I think it’s worth giving her one more chance after articulating that you want her to be much more agressive. If she’s still not getting it, then drop her. When choosing your next agent, be sure to interview them briefly before you really start working with them. Be clear in your explanation of what you expect them to do and pay attention to their reaction. Remember, they are in fact working for you and you want someone who’s gonna be a good match with your needs. As for seeing properties that the old agent showed you, it’s okay, it’s not like they’re the exclusive domain of one realtor or one company. And if you happen to buy one of those? It will probably piss off your old realtor, but honestly, that sort of thing happens all the time.
And no, you can’t get her commission.
Sorry for the length of this but we purchased our house a few months ago so some of this is still fresh…
We signed a contract with the agency but since we were also selling our condo at the same time, that might have been more related to listing the sale property. That contract did have an expiration date though.
The things your agent said about Realtor.com listings are correct. The information in those listings is often several weeks old. So a property could be on deposit or under contract & it wouldn’t show that yet.
Ask your agent to e-mail you the MLS system alerts within your target price range, area, property type etc. All she has to do is set you up once & the system sends you the messages automatically. They list the address, price & features of each property & often have pictures. They are right up to date & dynamic as well – so you can go back to an old alert & see if the property status has changed.
I used to get them constantly. Then my husband & I would review them & make a list for our agent of the ones we wanted to see. It kept us from goose-chasing properties that were sold already & also from schleping to every damn house in the county.
Good luck to you!
AFAIK, (and IANAR: I am not a realtor) unless the Commish has signed an agreement for the realtor to be a “buyer’s agent”, she is free as a bird. She can’t use another agent to buy a property first agent has shown her, but if it comes down to that, the realtors will fight it out — she’ll be fine.
In big cities it’s not uncommon (although the realtors don’t like it, obviously) for buyers to use several different agents, each of whom specializes in a different area. That way they get the benefit of multiple agents’ expertise — nobody can know every neighborhood of a city like Chicago, frinstance.
Last time I bought a house I switched agents midstream after the first one was way too passive in putting in an offer for me (on a house I was ultimately grateful not to have bought, but I was PISSED at the time). It was a pure “Thanks for your time, I’m going in a different direction” kind of thing. No tears or recriminations. :-)
I went through 2 realtors before finding one I could stand. The first was like the one you are talking about – she just didn’t seem very interested. The second one went into full-on sell mode, specifically targeting houses I told him I didn’t like, and he kept trying to take me back to see the ones I’d rejected because I might change my mind. Drove me crazy. I was driving around, found a house for sale by owner, was told by the realtor that he wouldn’t handle that, and I told him I’d find someone else.
Find someone you can work with & you feel will match your style. This is a huge decision. You need to be working with someone who is earning the chunk of money they get out of this, and it sounds like you aren’t getting what you need. Either discuss your issues or just find another realtor – either way – but find someone that works for you. It’s worth it.
I’m a Realtor in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles. Your reader is dealing with a couple of different issues here; I’ll try to be concise.
First, unless your reader has signed a buyer-broker agreement (which I personally don’t like except in specialized circumstances), she is free to ditch her agent until the agent gets her into escrow. Once in escrow, it is virtually impossible to ditch an ineffectual agent and rarely worth the trouble. So, yes, if the reader feels that her agent isn’t working hard enough for her, now is the time to get out of the relationship.
However, most buyers have a ton of information at their disposal these days, thanks to the internet. Generally, this is more helpful than not. I think it behooves a buyer to be as informed as possible. It is a major financial transaction and shouldn’t be entered into lightly. That said, the information that a non-Realtor can access versus what a Realtor can see is usually a lot less detailed and can often be inaccurate. Realtor.com, for example, has kept several of my listings “active” long after they were sold and marked as such in my local MLS. Since Realtor.com put my listings on their site without my knowledge, I don’t really feel compelled to correct them. I use it as a teaching point when prospective buyers call.
As for the reader’s agent not knowing an area completely, that is unfortunate, but not necessarily a deal killer. Granted, I’m licensed in California and will probably be asked to help people buy in many different places. I can’t be a true expert in all of them going into the home search, but I’d damn well better be by the time they put in an offer. If the reader is asking the agent to look in many diverse locations for a home, the agent may not be boning up on each area until she feels like the reader is serious about one in particular. I mean, if a client came to me and said, “I’m interested in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, North San Gabriel, Sierra Madre, Alhambra, El Monte, Monrovia, Duarte and Temple City”, I would say, “Great. Now, let’s focus on three of those for a little bit and then move onto the others if we can’t find you something there. Where do you *really* want to live?” Sometimes we get new buyers who are really unfocused and are super looky-loos. That’s fine…there are a lot of houses out there and so many places to live. You want your client to make the right choice, but you also want to get to know your client and find out what really gets them excited. If you can’t get your client to settle down, you may start showing things that you know are wildly inappropriate, if only to get a response.
That was my defense of Realtors in general. To address this reader, if she’s saying, “Hey, I want to see these houses on Cherry Orchard Lane” (which sounds like a smallish street in a certain area), her Realtor should totally be able to email her a complete list of all transactions on that street for the past month, year, five years…whatever. If the reader is saying “I want to know everything about Pacific Coast Highway”, her Realtor is well within her rights to say, “Please be more specific. That’s a huge street.”
But it sounds to me like this reader isn’t getting great service from her agent. If that’s because she’s got champagne tastes on an apple juice budget, it’s up to her agent to gently inform her. If it’s because her agent isn’t following up on her client’s requests, shame on her agent. In either case, it’s up to the agent to direct, advise and inform her client. And this agent doesn’t appear to be doing that. My suggestion is for the reader to call or email the agent and simply say that she appreciates the work that has been done so far, but she’d like to take a break from looking and will find another agent when she’s ready to start again.
She’ll need to be careful if she ends up buying a house with another agent that was shown to her by the first. If the first finds out, she may have a claim for the commission based on procuring cause.
And one last word about buyers finding their own homes: it happens all the time. We, as agents, can’t be everywhere, especially if we cover a huge area such as Los Angeles County. And so many times, a client will tell us, “I won’t buy a house if it doesn’t have a garage and two full baths” and will then fall IN LOVE with a house that has a ramshackle carport and just one three-quarter bath. So, what buyers need to realize is that the home-finding part of a Realtor’s job is just a small part of it. Once the home is found, our real work begins: running comps to determine a good purchase price; writing up an offer that benefits our client but won’t insult the seller; getting into escrow; communicating with the listing agent, escrow officers, loan officers, title companies, insurance agents, and property inspectors; setting up inspections; negotiating requests for repairs and/or price drops; making certain all aspects of the contract are adhered to; and so forth. Finding the house is the easy part.
Good luck to the reader! I’m able to give referrals to highly competent agents around the world, if she’d like one, but it sounds like she’s well-informed about her market and should be able to find another agent easily. My only word of warning: as a first-time buyer, DO NOT buy a home directly from the listing agent. You need your own agent, who is independent of the seller, to represent YOUR interests. If you don’t know much about the process (and a first-time buyer doesn’t know much about the process, no matter how informed they are), using the listing agent to represent you is just asking for trouble. Otherwise…happy house hunting!
It really depends on any agreement or contract in-writing with the agent.
The specific contract may vary by state. If you have not signed anything or agreed to anything on the agent’s website, you are free to pursue a new agent. If you do have a contract with the agent, you will need to wait until it expires to use another agent.
If you are looking in a particular area, try a neighborhood or community publication. They are loaded with agents that have specialized themselves and who will know all the gossip on the listings.
Ultimately, you should find someone who makes you comfortable with one of the biggest decisions of your life and who is willing to work for their commission.
I have purchased two homes now, the first was with a full service agent that took the full (split) commission. At that time in my life, he was great and he really worked for us…although ultimately, we found our home on-line. For my second home, we found the property on-line again, called the listing agent for the showing, researched property values on our own and made our own offer. Their agent actually handled our paperwork at a reduced commission (less than 50% of standard).
Unless you signed a document agreeing to use only this realtor, you are under no legal obligation to stay with her. Shop for a realtor who suits you, then shop for a house.
You should definitely dump her! I think it would be kind to tell her why, as Sars suggested; but it’s up to you. You shouldn’t have to explain her job to her. When I was buying a house, my realtor picked me up on Saturday mornings, some four or five weekends running, and took me out to properties that SHE had identified on the basis of criteria I’d supplied (and some of which I knew nothing about but she thought I should take into account, like school districts.) It’s a realtor’s job to know this stuff and share it; if she doesn’t know more than you do, what’s the point?
I agree with Sars – this woman isn’t earning her commission. When I bought a house a couple of years back, I gave my agent my parameters (3 bedroom, 2 bath, attached garage, east side of the city) and she generated a list for me to weed down to the 5 or 6 we could see in a day. She was the one who had access to the MLS database, so she could tell me all the houses that were up for grabs at any given time. Whether you want to get rid of her or just want to give her a heads up is up to you, but you should definitely express your displeasure.
Also, FYI, if you buy a house that your agent already showed you, even if you’re using someone else at that point, she may be entitled to some of the commission. Your agreement should specify that. While that’s not a big deal for you if the seller is paying the commission (they usually do), you might be hosing your current good agent a little bit and paying your former bad agent for doing nothing.
I had the opposite experience with my realtor (he was very proactive, listened to what I didn’t like about particular places so he could adjust our search accordingly, etc). He was very upfront about the fact that working together had to be comfortable and a good fit for both of us. If it wasn’t, or stopped being so, then we were both free to walk away–with the caveat that I would agree not to buy a place he’d shown me using a different (or no) agent. It’s not illegal, but it’s borderline unethical and definitely poor form. Agents usually work straight commission, so regardless of the amount of legwork they seem to have put in, if they meet you at the door with the key, they’ve “earned” the right to that commission. It’s certainly not a perfect system, but that’s my understanding of how it works.
Doesn’t sound like your agent is doing much for you. Maybe a commission that will have to be split too many ways isn’t that much of an incentive.
Check out the Motley Fool website for some good information on what to look for and what to do. It probably isn’t too late to find someone who will work harder on your behalf, or maybe even do it on your own and save the commission. The seller’s broker may be just as helpful, especially if the market is slow in your area and they really want to make the sale.
http://www.fool.com/homecenter/find/find.htm
My grandparents had the same problem, but opposite. They had a realtor to sell their house in Florida, and he was doing nothing to attract people to come see the house. After 3 months with no inquires, they moved onto a new agent who then was able to get a lot more people to see the house. They haven’t sold it yet, but they’re happy enough with the agent they have now.
I think they also waited until their contract expired with their first realtor, so that might be something to consider as well.
A real estate agent is paid out of the commission from the sale of the house – it’s usually 6%, split in half between seller’s realtor and buyer’s realtor. Some realtors will try to focus you on property that they have listed, thereby earning the entire commission for yourself.
You owe the agent nothing. You have no contract with her. You can continue doing the work yourself, using the seller’s agent to show you the home, and then negotiate the percentage of the commission down at the time of purchase. Or you can switch agents to someone who is more aggressive. An agent can be a real help in protecting your rights during a sale. Or, you can ask this agent to be more aggressive, but be prepared, because she probably can’t change.
Sars has it right, I think. The commission your realtor earns as a buyer’s agent is smaller than if she were your seller’s agent; but one of the reasons realtors work for you when you’re buying your first house is that you’ll probably come back to them when you’re ready to sell and upgrade. It doesn’t sound like she’s bothering much with the long view. Or the short view, for that matter.
One note, though: have you signed a contract with her yet? There is generally an agreement you sign that basically says you agree not to work with another agent at the same time. I haven’t done this, but I’m sure you can get out of it; you just can’t start working with other agents yet if you’ve already signed. The first agent I spoke with when buying my first house basically wanted me to sign after she’d taken me to see one or two houses on the first day. Fortunately, I held off long enough to notice that she wasn’t calling me about prospective houses, and generally seemed to have made a decision that I was not ready. The agent I ended up with (a family friend) didn’t have me sign until we were doing the rest of the offer paperwork, and I just used him again when I sold my first house/bought my second.
One more note on the conversation you may have with her: ask her if there is some reason she doesn’t think you’re ready to act quickly. Have you already worked with a lender and been pre-approved for a mortgage, for example? That makes you a more serious buyer, both to your agent and to sellers (if there is any competition in your market). This may or may not change things for you with this agent, but you might get good information. Of course, if you’ve already done all these things, it’s safe to dump her. And as long as you either haven’t signed an exclusive agent agreement or get out of it, you can still buy a house that she showed you first.
If you don’t dump her, you could try to talk her into reducing her commission. That may not be too likely to succeed.
Definitely get a new realtor. It doesn’t sound like she’s doing her job, or at least she’s not doing her job the way *you* want her to do it. A good realtor will give you exactly the kind of help you need– if she’s not meeting your expectations, then why keep her around?
As for dumping her, there’s no need to make a big deal of it. I would suggest going to see a few new houses with one or two new realtors and seeing how you click with them. If you like one of the other ones better, then send your old realtor an email saying you’ve found someone you work with better and explain why. Many people try out a few realtors before they settle; it’s not that big of a deal.
However, if you do buy one of the houses she showed you I would recommend that you stick with her for that purchase. I think it would be rude/unethical to buy a house she showed you with another realtor.
We just bought a house in June and our realtor was just amazing– real estate sleuth, psychologist, contract manager, and mediator all in one. She helped us define what we wanted, helped us find it, and then went to bat for us to get us a good deal. You deserve a realtor who will do the same for you.
Commissions are generally 3-6% of the purchase price, paid by seller. What your Realtor will get depends on whether there is a broker on the other side as well. Typically they will split the percentage, but the usual break-down depends incentives as well.
The bigger question is whether you signed a Broker Agreement. These usually will make the Realtor your exclusive agent for looking for real estate. It also usually means that if you later buy a house she’s shown you, or even one you’ve found yourself during the period of exclusivity, she gets the fee. Usually you can leave, but there are all sorts of terms and conditions around it. First step would be to go back to the Agreement and see what it allows.
Unless you’ve specifically hired a “Buyer’s Broker”, keep in mind that ALL brokers work for the seller – meaning, they get paid by the seller when a house is sold. Of course, in this case, it doesn’t sound like your broker is working for anyone. ;) I only mention this because most buyers believe that “their” broker (no matter how nice or friendly) works for them. They may be walking around with you and showing you properties, but they WORK for the other guy.
Another big mistake people make when attempting to buy real estate is letting their emotions get the better of them. Remember, not only is this a financial transaction you’re dealing with, it will probably be among the biggest financial transactions of your life. Therefore, your best interests trump everything, including etiquette. You don’t need to be uncivil, just direct. Sars’ suggestions fit the bill.
Also, remember to check your credit with the major credit reporting agencies to clear up any mistakes…this is a big issue that will affect your ability to get a decent mortgage.
This info comes to you courtesy a fifteen-plus year marriage to a banker with a mortgage background. ;) Best of luck in your property search!
My husband and I bought our first house last year and our realtor bent over backwards to help us. He told us most of what we needed to know about the whole scary, confusing process before we ever looked at a house, so we would know what to expect. When we came to him, we had a list of a few properties we thought we might like. He took us to tour all of them so we and he got a feel for what we really wanted — and what we didn’t want. Anytime we found a listing online that intrigued us, he would supply us with all the information we wanted: annual property taxes, age of the roof, whatever. A month into our search, we found the perfect house and he helped us through every step of closing the deal, never once treating us like the dumbass kids were sometimes felt like. He earned his commission and then some, and even brought food and Guitar Hero to our housewarming party. He was AWESOME. “Commish” is not getting the service s/he deserves. In the current real estate market, agents should be falling all over themselves to please the buyer and make a sale.
Yes, you absolutely have the right to expect your real estate agent to do some legwork for you. I admit I kind of made this job hard for mine as I was obsessively checking the mlslistings page every couple of hours and shooting her emails with questions about places, but if I’d been more laidback about it I would have expected her to find places to show me. That’s why she’s getting 3 percent of my insane house price, man.
Around here new places on the market have real estate agent open house on Thursdays before they show up on the mlslistings site on Friday or so. Is she even going to those? Mine was definitely able to go to a few and at least figure out that they weren’t what I was looking for (ew…galley kitchen). The place I ended up buying was one we looked at on a weeknight schlep around town visiting five or six places I’d bookmarked on her site (a specialized MLS listings site with the ability to notify her about places I was interested in).
Does she at least take you to places *you* find online? Or have a site?
FWIW, the inability to plug street names into an mlslistings site would be an instant neg for me. That’s a truly basic level of effort, and if you can’t be that basic in an effort to impress me, how lazy-ass are you going to be on putting together all of my important, hugely life-altering house-buying paperwork?
It’s the agent’s bad etiquette for having her client do the agent’s work! Seriously though, it’s unclear from the letter whether the writer has entered into a contract with the realtor, in which case the standard clause generally binds you to them for anywhere between 6 months – 1 year (it may be limited to a certain geographic area). Even so, she *may* be able to be paired up w/another broker for the same company if she complains (the brokerage gets a sizeable %age of the agent’s commission) OR try and get out of the contract alleging a failure to perform by the agent (which could be tough to prove). If there is no contract, then she should seriously consider parting ways b/c while the agent’s failure to show properties is annoying, should the writer put a bid on a property, she will need the agent to be “persuasive” and represent her as they try to come to terms on a price with the seller. Don’t take this as legal advice (which I would not be qualified to give!) . . . . just my perspective from working with/knowing several realtors!
Wow, ditch her. I have no idea why anyone working on commission would be this much of a slacker other than she is really bad at being a real estate agent. There absolutely are houses that you don’t see on the web sites, or with a really good real estate agent you can (as a friend of mine did) get a house before it goes on the market because they have contacts with other real estate agents or the seller are their customers, too. If you get such a deal, the agent almost *always* gives both you and the sellers a break on their commission and they tend to know how low the sellers can go, and helps broker the deal easier (as happened with said friend).
But you really want to find an agent that knows their stuff. Preferably who has been in the business and in your area for a long period of time with measurable success. I have four friends who have all used the same agent- one of my friend found her through a friend at work and raved about her and I passed her info along to two of my friends and everyone of them has been very happy with her. That’s the kind of agent you want to find.
I bought my house six years ago and my agent sucked. He was always late and ended up being on vacation when I closed, so an agent I’d never met was there with me. I signed some sort of contract with him, and I am trusting and naive, so I never read it, but I believe it was to keep me from using another agent while associated with him. The process didn’t take that long, so I didn’t have to take any action. If you *signed* anything, find it, read it and figure out if you can get out of it if you want to dump this person, or just tell her exactly what Sars said: Be industrious. You gave her the damn development, she can’t find a house for sale in it? She’s lazy, or she doesn’t think you’re worth her time.
I would go with the first “please work harder or I’m moving on conversation”. It could be that she’s not as familiar with certain areas or that she’s a new realtor. Either way, it’s her job to help you find and look at homes in your area that meet your criteria. Now with the advent of the internet, a lot of prospective home buyers are much more educated and informed about properties than they used to be. When I was house hunting it wasn’t uncommon for my realtor to tell me about a new house only to find out that I already knew about it. From the internet, I was able to decide whether I wanted to see a house or not without even walking out the door. With that aside though, she should know or be able to find out very quickly for you whether there’s been an offer or not, whether it’s been accepted, how long it’s been on the market and if there are any disclosures and so on. Plus when you get to the price negotiating stage, she should be able to guide you through that and help you from feeling you’re getting fleeced. SHE’S THERE TO WORK ON YOUR BEHALF, and if she doesn’t start doing that after your conversation, you’re under no obligation to keep her (unless you signed a contract). So give her a chance and see where it goes from there. If she doens’t ante up, give her the boot and find someone with a little more backbone.
When we bought our current house (2004) we had been working with a Realtor who apparently didn’t think much of our buying power. She showed us every shithole broken-down shack in New Jersey. We were not amused. Then we got a tip about someone a friend of ours had used, and this guy, I tell you, worked his ASS off for us, and we found a house within two weeks of working with him. The first Realtor, we simply said “Thanks for your help so far,” and left it at that.
Although it can start to feel like a friendship (after all, you are pretty much telling this person your hopes and dreams with the idea that they will help you find a house that fits them), it’s a business relationship and can be terminated with very little worry of hurt feelings, etc.
As a buyer, you aren’t obligated to anyone for anything, I don’t think. If you signed something, you might be fucked, but I never heard of that on the buyer side. You can basically be a Realtor Whore and use as many different agents as you want until you find the house you’re looking for.
Pretty much all real estate markets have a web-based listing system that’s accessible to all licensed agents. These multiple listing services are very easy to navigate, and finding any active listed, pending, or sold property on any given street would be simple. Knowing this, I think the agent in question is not doing her best to help this client find a home. Whether or not the client should stay with the agent comes down to a buyer’s agreement. If the client signed one of these agreements, depending on the term limit, the client could be bound to this one agent contractually. Even if the client chose to use another agent regardless of the contract, the commission paid would be given to the agent with the active buyer’s agreement. Another thing to keep in mind is that a buyer’s agent will often lose interest in a client if the client takes a while to find a home. Showing 150 houses to one choosy person over a six month period can become tiresome and tends to wear an agent down. I think it’s difficult for them to sometimes seen the pot of gold waiting for them in the end.