Would this irritate you?

[Abby'sMom]

We're getting ready to dive back into the real estate market and need to find a buyers' agent to help us out. I'm feeling iffy about using the folks who helped us three years ago, and am wondering if I'm overreacting about what happened, or if I'm justified in feeling annoyed. Here's the story -

DH and I were shopping for our first house in a super hot market in the summer of 2004. We made it clear to our agents (a husband/wife duo) that we were on a really limited budget, but that we wanted to buy something small and practical (which is really hard to find around here) since I was pg with our first child at that point and our apartment situation was NOT working out.

They showed us maybe 10 properties, and we made an offer on one and didn't get it. Then we decided to make an offer on another. This second property happened to be FSBO. I should say in advance that they had NO issue with showing us this house. Anyway, when the wife saw the specs on the house, she threw a fit when she saw that the seller was only offering a 2.5% commission. We were sitting in the living room of the agents' brand new 4000-square foot home getting ready to sign the offer papers when she told us that the 2.5% commission offer wasn't good enough, so she didn't want to write up the contract. We were frustrated, and after a few awkward moments of silence (we'd driven to their house to sign said offer, after all), DH uncomfortably said that we'd pay the difference. She said that was fine and we moved on. I was PISSED when we left their house - after all, they knew darn well that an extra $4000 was a BIG deal to us, but we didn't end up getting the house after all so it didn't really 'matter'.

Anyway, would you want to work with someone like that again? We were young, first time homeowners expecting a baby and she was actually willing to let US pay the extra commission. I thought it was totally unprofessional of her, but I don't know; maybe I'm just overreacting.

[Cali_Katy]

I would definitely not use them again

[camberne]

Anyway, would you want to work with someone like that again?
Um, HECK NO!! They agreed to show you a FSBO house and there was a commission already included in the seller's price... they should have accepted that. She's looking out for HER interests above yours. That's the type of story that leaves a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to realtors. But, I won't go off on a tangent. ;)

[lml41981]

Nope. She threw a hissy fit about her own pocketbook when she was supposed to be advocating for you. Is half a percent really that much to her?

I'd certainly use someone else.

[diam124]

There are so many realtors, why settle for someone you weren't happy with.

[kindermom]

There is no way in hades I would use them again. Real estate agents in my neck of the woods are a dime a dozen. There are some great agents out there who are looking out for your interest. Talk to your friends/family/coworkers to see if they had any positive experiences.

[Sophia]

Hell no. It was unprofessional and rude..

[SunnyAB]

I think the main deciding factor is that you are questioning their (and you can insert anything in here - professionalism, ethics, hygiene) whatever the case may be. It really doesn't matter what they did or didnt do, big or small. You are making a major investment - you should be COMPLETELY happy and comfortable and at ease with the 'captain of this boat', and since you have a bad feeling from a few years ago, that should be reason enough not to use them again. Just curious - do you feel some sort of 'loyalty' to them for some reason? Good luck and happy house hunting! :D

[Rose]

Yes it would irritate me, as a Realtor I think it was very unprofessional and rude.

[MrsSmith]

You should not have this kind of concern with a realtor. I would certainly find someone who I thought had my best interest in mind.

[daener]

No way. I would not even consider using this agent in the future. There are way too many other good agents out there to use one who threw a hissy fit the last time you used her.

[Liz]

Absolutely not. I would find someone else.

[Abby'sMom]

Sunny - Nope, no reason for loyalty. :)

Thanks for the feedback! That's what I'd already figured, but wanted to be sure I was on track.

[happy1nuv]

Heck YES it would irritate me! Don't even consider using them again. That was SOOO unprofessional its not even funny.

My real estate agent GAVE UP some percent of her commission (i forget what - it was so long ago) when the deal would have fallen through (not on our part, on the other parties part... it was a multi-house transaction thing..but i forget the exact details now)

[Asha]

i would not use her again. i think it is not uncommon for buyer's agent fees from fsbo's to be lower than the usual rate. she should have researched ahead to find out what the seller was going to be offering the buyer's agent. it is also not uncommon for agents to lower their fee from the usual to make sure a sale goes through. she seems to only be interested in the thickness of her wallet, so i would avoid using her in the future. of course, everyone wants to get paid, but in that situation she was going to get paid.

if you decide not to use her, perhaps you could write her a letter informing her that her greedy attitude turned you off.

[mamax2]

I agree w/everyone else here, your Realtor's behavior was unprofessional and unethical. She was very ball-sy to say something like that knowing full well you could have walked out and written the d@mn offer yourself leaving her with nothing!

There are MANY good Realtors out there (like me - ha ha! :p ) who would never do something like that. Ask around for references this time and find someone who is advocating for YOU.

[Abby'sMom]

Asha, I *am* thinking of writing them a letter. The husband looked mortified when she threw the fit, so my guess is he won't be surprised, assuming he remembers back that far. I was especially upset since they were clearly NOT having financial issues and didn't seem to care about ours. Eh well.

Thanks again!

[Renrel]

I agree with everyone else, she in essence choose to get an up front profit and throw away the long term profit - your loyality, willingness to use her again and recommend her to other clients. My agent is actually kicking back some of the commission to us, but he is a good friend. It is not unusually for agents to cut their commissions to make a sale however. I really wonder what this agent woudl have done it you and your DH had said. OK, then we won't sign either, it was nice doing business with you. And got up to leave. She would have pissed away they whole commission and lost all the time spent showing you homes, since you were going to find yourself a new agent the very next day.

DH has had fantasies about getting to a closing, looking at the some of the redisculouse fees, like title insurance when the bank is the one that checks that the title is good in the first place, and, at the last minute, saying no. I will not pay these fees. You guys split the cost anyway you want, but if those costs on there I won't pay. It won't happen, but he likes to dream of turning the game around.

[mamax2]

DH has had fantasies about getting to a closing, looking at the some of the redisculouse fees, like title insurance when the bank is the one that checks that the title is good in the first place, and, at the last minute, saying no. I will not pay these fees. You guys split the cost anyway you want, but if those costs on there I won't pay. It won't happen, but he likes to dream of turning the game around.

OT, but obviously, the Realtors aren't making any money on those fees either. The only person you'd be messing with in this case is yourself in the form of losing your earnest money deposit and having the pay a title company or attorney (depeding upon where you live and who conducts closings in your area) AGAIN. I'm with you, though, on how ridiculous and redundant many of those fees seem to be. And if you re-finance? Well, get ready to pay many of them all over again! :rolleyes:

[Rose]

DH has had fantasies about getting to a closing, looking at the some of the redisculouse fees, like title insurance when the bank is the one that checks that the title is good in the first place, and, at the last minute, saying no. I will not pay these fees. You guys split the cost anyway you want, but if those costs on there I won't pay. It won't happen, but he likes to dream of turning the game around.

No offense to Dh but that's a pretty crappy thing to do. Buyers also need to research what fees they are responsible for especially since in the contract it is agreed by buyer & seller who will pay these fees.

That's much different than something like a repair that comes up at the last minute that the seller won't fix and the buyer can't pay for so the agent takes care of it.

[lawyerlee]

That would definitely bother me, and I would not use them again. I hope you have good luck finding an agent and a new place. :)

[Tanya]

I agree w/everyone else here, your Realtor's behavior was unprofessional and unethical. She was very ball-sy to say something like that knowing full well you could have walked out and written the d@mn offer yourself leaving her with nothing!

No, not if you'd signed a contract with her, as I'm sure she had. Most buyers' agents require contracts that state if you buy a house they have even stepped foot in to show you, you owe them the stated commission. Technically, she may have been entitled to the full 3% depending on the contract (so if the seller doesn't pay it, it's up to the buyer), but it was entirely ridiculous for her to insist on it.

[udsweetpea]

She was going to be lucky enough to get a commission on a FSBO in the first place. I wouldn't use her again, and I would certainly look for another agent. Ask your friends and family for some recs.

[kimthebride]

I would absolutely not use them again. You need a team 'on your side' and they definitely weren't. Realtors have a fine line to balance on, because they get to know you, know your financial situation, yet they this is a business relationship they plan to make money from. The unprofessional manner in which the wife acted was way, way out of line. She would have looked at the comms. rate before even bringing you there, so her lip-pouting act was baloney IMO. She took advantage of people who she knew couldn't afford to pay her more, and if her husband was truly embarassed he would not have accepted that extra cash.

When we bought our condo we were "young" but could afford it, no problem. The realtor we used (we thought we had to, for this particular building) treated us like children, acted like we couldn't afford it, and actually made side comments over and over about how unlikely it was we could actually be real about the buy because there's no way someone as young as us could afford it. In the end, we loved the place, bought it, and now many years later we are selling it and f- her for treating us that way. :D We are using someone else, and she knows it. Her loss, she knows for a fact we're using someone else but she also knows she can't be a baby about it - its business.

Good luck!!

[mamax2]

No, not if you'd signed a contract with her, as I'm sure she had. Most buyers' agents require contracts that state if you buy a house they have even stepped foot in to show you, you owe them the stated commission. Technically, she may have been entitled to the full 3% depending on the contract (so if the seller doesn't pay it, it's up to the buyer), but it was entirely ridiculous for her to insist on it.

Why are you sure she'd signed a contract? Maybe this is just one of those things that varies a lot from market to market because no agent I know would 'require' you to sign a contract. The agent is required to give the buyer information about agency laws in that state. We have to keep record that the buyer has been made aware of the information, but very few buyers sign the type of agency agreement to which you refer.

I also assumed (although perhaps incorrectly) that being the property was a FSBO, the agent wasn't necessarily the procuring cause of sale (I could be wrong, that was my assumption). If the agent wasn't the procuring cause, she generally has no recourse.

My main point was, of course, simply that the agent was behaving poorly. And, very few agents would actually follow through on a lawsuit against a buyer for lose of commission. It's simply not worth the the negative attention it would draw upon you in the community, so for that reason alone, I'm sure the agent was aware the OP could have walked away and left her in the dust quite easily. If nothing else, she should have thought better of alienating a client and all the potential referrals that client could have created for her.

[Tanya]

Why are you sure she'd signed a contract? [...]

I also assumed (although perhaps incorrectly) that being the property was a FSBO, the agent wasn't necessarily the procuring cause of sale (I could be wrong, that was my assumption). If the agent wasn't the procuring cause, she generally has no recourse.

Around here, you generally do sign contracts (AFAIK), so for cases like these or cases where the buyer walks into an open house on their own and uses that agent instead, the original realtor doesn't lose out. Even if the agent wasn't the procuring cause of sale, they'd done legwork to show them other houses, so assuming the end result was to purchase a house, they are losing out, so I do think they'd have legal recorse even then.

I still think it's ridiculous this is even the case (in what other job would you have nothing to do with a sale, but still get a commission?), but since it is, that was my point. What about cases where the buyers just decided not to buy? The agent loses out then, so I don't think it's fair to insist on a commission for any house you buy within a certain timeframe of them working with you, but this is the norm. I agree with everything else you are saying.

[camberne]

There are several companies around here that post signs stating that a real estate agent will only be compensated by the seller if the realtor accompanies their clients to the location on their initial visit. So, if you find a place on your own, your realtor is out of luck and you have to compensate them on your own if you've signed a contract.

[BSBC]

Not only would I not use this agent, but I would let other agents I might be screening know exactly why I wasn't chosing to work with this person again. You want to make sure you pick an agent who will work with you and support you, not one who is going to act like a child at a key juncture.