The Agent You See A Property With Should Be The Agent You Will Be Working With To Buy The Home.
Has Your Realtor Told You To Call The Listing Agent To Show You Homes?
This seems to be a practice that is tolerated by clients and I frankly do not understand why the public would put up with this.
We get one or two calls a month where a buyer wants to see a home that we have listed or that we display on our website through IDX. (a reciprocal agreement within our real estate board to display other realtor’s listings.) Upon questioning the potential buyer we find that they are in fact intending to work with a certain realtor after they have used listing realtors to find the home they wish to buy.
Very often they have been coached by their “realtor” to get us to show the home but not to sign anything with the listing realtor. When they find the home they wish to buy they will have a buyer’s brokerage agreement which they will present to the listing agent, who will then agree to just represent the seller as they do not wish to compromise the sale. What is wrong with this?
Let me count the ways!
The buyer’s agent has a responsibility to represent the client. If the client is viewing the home with a seller’s agent they may not be able to contain their enthusiasm, they may reveal details that would affect their negotiations. They have no agreement with the agent showing them the home,
The only thing we have to sell is our time. The listing realtor is busy too! If they are not busy showing another realtor’s client homes, they would be showing their own client or pursuing another listing. They may also be able to spend time with their family. I know that this has been the thing that makes me most angry is when they steal time from my familyI
If the Buyer’s agent is too busy to show you homes, they are too busy to be your realtor. How many ways do they have to tell you that you are not important to them unless you are ready to write an offer
Have we forgotten that the Buyer’s Brokerage agreement is to also protect the buyer, not to just protect the agent’s right to be paid? The Exclusive Buyer’s Brokerage Agreement spells out exactly what services are to be provided and what responsibilities the agent and brokerage have towards the client. It states how much and who will pay the fees for the Buyer’s Agent.
We are not saying from time to time that it happens that someone who is interested in a home calls the listing realtor not understanding how the real estate industry works. It is up to the industry member to explain to them how our industry works. It is when they have been coached by a realtor (that is too busy or too lazy to drive 5 minutes out of town to show them a property) to trick the other realtor into showing them a home. When they find the right home, they will dump all of the realtor’s that they have used to use the realtor who should have been doing the work in the first place.
As I said I am surprised that the public would put up with this. Buyer’s that we are working with get us from beginning to end. If we should be too busy to show them homes we will arrange for an agent to work with us until they can find the right home and then we will help with the negotiations. In this circumstance the agent that has been working with them will be paid by us for their time. They will also be protected by our agency relationship through the co-operating agent. Often if we cannot be available 100% we will help the client find representation with someone in the industry that we respect and trust to treat them the way they deserve to be treated.
